Air New Zealand warns of holiday disruption as wild weather, sickness hits network

Travellers departing on their school holidays have been warned to prepare for disruption as a combination of staffing and weather problems hit airlines.

Air New Zealand is advising passengers of "potential disrupts and flight changes" due to sickness and inbound weather at peak travel time.

Airline CEO Greg Foran was quick to tell passengers there could be disruption to holiday plans.

"Much like other businesses around New Zealand, we're experiencing higher-than-usual employee sickness. This coupled with tumultuous weather is likely to cause some disruptions across the network over the coming days," said Foran.

The airline is expecting 672,000 passengers to fly with them over the next fortnight.

Travellers flying with Air New Zealand are advised to check their 'Travel Alerts' and airport schedules before heading to their flights.

Wait times for international and domestic call centres are currently at over 2 hours 30. The airline advises passengers use their website to manage bookings rather than call.

While airports and airlines are aware of the challenges heading their way, potential disruptions are going to be hard to navigate with limited capacity to find additional staff or air links.

"As flights are incredibly full over the next few weeks there is unfortunately limited spare capacity to move customers to alternative flights."

Earlier this week Auckland Airport warned travellers that it was expecting three of the busiest dates for travel over the July holiday period, peaking today on Friday 8 July.

Auckland International's GM of operations Anna Cassels-Brown asked for patience from passengers saying that there could be some delays.

"We know this means that queues may form, but we anticipate they'll be reasonably fast moving so please be patient and do factor in some extra time for your journey," she said.

Cassels-Brown told passengers travelling with children to plan parking, arrive in plenty of time and bring snacks as the airport is still seeing disruption to catering services and building works.

The return of several international links with Tahiti, New Caledonia and several Australian airports is shaping the July winter holidays into the busiest period in over three years.

As of this weekend Auckland will be served by 33 routes and 18 international airlines.

Tips to cut through airport chaos

Check your flight status Airlines will try to flag disruptions as soon as possible. If your flights have been affected it's best to know ahead of time, so you can replan your travel.

Arrive in plenty of time particularly for international flightsCut-off times for most flights are at least an hour before travel. However airlines are advising passengers to turn up even earlier. Although many destinations have eased most Pandemic-related restrictions - Australia dumped their 'Digital Passenger Declaration' this week, some destinations still require lengthy checks which add time at the airport.
With volume of passengers adding to pinch points at AVSec screening, it's worth making sure you have plenty of time to get through the terminals.

Bring a snack

It's not only airlines that have been hit by staffing issues. Many contractors in retail and catering options are low on workers, with some facing short-notice staffing issues from Covid. If you've not flown internationally for a while Don't expect the usual selection of food and beverage options. (Or any at all if you're flying late.) Bring a snack!

Fly light
Air New Zealand is advising passengers on the domestic network to fly with hand-luggage to avoid queues at check in kiosks.