NZ Travel Guide
Here we present details about:
Best airlines to fly to New Zealand
Frequent Flyer Programmes to get you free flights at home
Cheap internet & Free Wifi
and more useful information for your travels
Best Airline to fly to New Zealand?
From the many European flights to and from New Zealand I would rate Emirates, Singapore Airlines & the new service from Air New Zealand from London to Auckland via Hong Kong or LA as the best way to fly to New Zealand.
Each of these companies flights are the best for in flight service and comfort. Air New Zealand frequently has the best leg room on any flight to New Zealand but only flight select routes to Auckland.
All have in flight entertainment second to none with over 400 hours of video entertainment available & stop start when you want on seat back TVs!
If you are flying from provincial city in UK, then Emirates can be good as they fly direct from Scotland or Manchester to Auckland via Dubai. Singapore Airlines flies direct from Manchester to Auckland via Singapore. Each time this means you miss the busy London Heathrow route of Air New Zealand which you may want if you live in the South of England.
Obviously these may not be the cheapest airlines to travel with but I consider them to offer some of the best inflight experiences of any airline in the world. Many of the cheaper airlines offer some perfectly good flights but I am only rating what I consider the best from numerous flights I have made.
Frequent Flyer Programmes
When flying to New Zealand you gain alot of frequent flyer miles. In some countries this isn't well known about. I have spoken to many passengers on flights who didn't know about this only to be missing out on free flights.
What Frequent flyer membership entitles you to is free flights, hotel stays, car rentals & more for each mile you fly with an airline. As you can imagine as New Zealand is one of the longest flights, these miles can build up.
For example a return trip from London to Auckland can accrue enough miles on may schemes to get you a free flight within Europe from London or you can save up the miles for a trip to USA, if you plan on doing more flying.
Once you have frequent flyer membership, it is worth trying to fly with that airline or the same airline alliance.
There are 3 main Airline Alliances:
If you're flying try to fly with airlines within the same alliance as you should get frequent flyer miles no matter which airline in that alliance you fly with. Check out the above links to read more about this.
You can ask to join on-board your flight or information is frequently in your in flight magazine.
Always keep your boarding passes to claim back unclaimed miles in case they don't add them from your trip.
Stopover or not?
Always consider when flying to New Zealand having a stopover for a few days as I can tell you from personal experience you don't really want to consider flying direct unless you are really limited on time as you feel rotten after 24-27 hours flying (and that is if you have short connection times in your stopover airport)
SIngapore Airport has to be one of the best airports in the world. It has frequently been voted the best in the world by a number of travel journalists (it has a cinema in the airport and you can even pay to go for a swim in the pool at a gym).
Dubai airport is ultra modern with a fantastic shopping experience and very pleasant experience for a stopover. There are no problems in regards to it being a muslim country, so don't worry if there are any concerns re this.
Airport Hotel
Always remember it may be worth booking yourself into a airport hotel if you're there for a few hours as I know how difficult it is to get a good sleep on the plane's and you need it if you flight is 24 hours! Sometimes you can just book in for 4-6 hours if you are only on a short stopover. So google your airport and check to see what hotel facilities they offer at the airport.
Free Internet & WiFiMost of the libraries in New Zealand now offer free internet.
Auckland and Nelson/Marlborough libraries offer free internet at the library and the later also offers free wifi!
Some hostels offer free wifi:
Some I've stayed at include the excellent Bug Hostel in Nelson
Most internet cafe's have skype to call home and even have webcam including Nelson/Marlborough Region libraries which is an excellent free service.
Otherwise there are some nationwide internet service such as
Internet Access Company NZHere you can buy internet access for your own computer as you travel around but if so many libraries offer free internet then it may not be worth it!