Airline update
American Airlines seasonal service between Auckland and Los Angeles re-commences with their daily Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight on Tuesday 29 October. The flight departs AKL at 14.20hrs and lands same day at 06.35hrs into LAX. The early morning arrival avoids the Tom Bradley Terminal’s infamous Customs and Immigration lines so frequently experienced later in the day. The flights are code-shared with Qantas Airways.
The day prior United Airlines increases to a daily schedule between Auckland and San Francisco flying on board a Boeing 777-300. This service also has an afternoon departure from Auckland and an early arrival into San Francisco – making connections to every corner of the US achievable.
Hawaiian Airlines has released a new set of short life sale fares to their 13 Mainland USA cities, which includes the two East Coast destinations Boston and New York (JFK). One of the stand-out fares is to LA/Long Beach for just NZ$1136 return – all up. Sale concludes 13 September 19. Travel dates are 07 Oct – 27 Nov 19 plus dates in 2020.
Travellers flying Virgin Australia and Qantas are reminded of a new policy around carrying MacBook Pro 15” laptops. These must be carried in your hand luggage and remain switched off at all times. This is following the recall notice issued by Apple.
Our business travellers are creatures of habit – and the road warriors amongst them often work on remote control assuming their usual flight will be just that. However from 28 October we need an ‘awake moment’ when flying LAX to AKL on Air New Zealand as the airline has adjusted the departure times of the NZ001 and NZ005 services. The flights have been switched around with NZ005 to depart earlier from LAX at 20.05hrs (currently 2230hrs) and NZ001, the through flight from London, now departing LAX at 21.05hrs. NZ001 from London previously connected through to both NZ001 and NZ005 but now only to the same plane NZ001. This will disappoint those flying ex-London and looking for upgrades on your Frequent Flyer as having both flights in the mix allowed you to hedge your bets to take the flight with the best availability – regrettably that’s now not possible. Seemingly you can’t run an airline just for the Frequent Flyers!
Air New Zealand has introduced a charge of NZ$19 per flight to select a seat in advance on its lower Economy Class fare categories on its flights to the US. The airline’s Gold Frequent Flyers as well as Koru Club members are exempt. If you are fussy about your seating we recommend asking your usual ATPI Travel Consultant to add the charge onto your airfare in advance to get the seat you want. Waiting for the online check in to open 24 hours in advance is risky.
We welcome a new entry for flights to the US, this time via Canada. Air Canada will operate between Auckland and Vancouver for the Summer months (14 December – 07 March). Air Canada offers excellent connections into the US, in particular New York to where it operates an international caliber Dreamliner. Those who have experienced Vancouver airport will also know it’s an easy, efficient, calm and peaceful facility to enter the US through! The bonus is that the pre-clearance for US Customs and Immigrations occurs in Vancouver.
Hotels
Travel better! At ATPI New Zealand we’re a member of the prestigious US-based Virtuoso, an invited group of the world’s leading travel agents and where we can achieve benefits over and above any other travel agent or booking site for our clients. For a similar level as any advertised rate included on the hotel site, Bookings.com or Expedia you’ll receive:
· Upgrade on arrival, subject to availability
· Daily Breakfast for two
· Food & Beverage or Spa services credit usually around US$100
· Early check-in/late check-out, subject to availability
· Complimentary Wi-Fi
· Often some other kind of personalised in-room amenity
· Take a look at www.virtuoso.com or call one of our BWT Travel Advisors
For your next Team Building or Employee Incentive don’t go past New York. Take advantage of our seat sale fares and create WOW in your next Executive Team conference, incentive or team building. Our ‘on the ground partner’ can arrange a 5-day mind-broadening experience that your team will never forget. Options range from Improv Classes to get team bonding started – that’s right – in the heart of Broadway your team can learn acting skills as a team – be prepared to laugh so heard that your belly hurts. Next on the list is Escape Rooms on steroids – NYC has some of the best escape rooms where the team work to solve the puzzle (basically how to get out quickly in order to get to dinner!). Then we’re arranging a scavenger hunt which will create healthy competition and get involved with local New York and its people. Let’s round this out with a private food tasting tour around Chinatown and Little Italy. Ask our Meetings and Incentives team to help you take your employee incentives up a notch in New York.
The pinnacle of southern charm, Charleston, South Carolina tops Travel + Leisure magazine’s list for best American Cities for the 7th year in a row. Located in the very heart of downtown Charlestown and in the historic district is our Virtuoso partner hotel, Belmond Charleston Place. The Belmond is the perfect base to explore from and blends gentility and old-world charm with a leading-edge spa and innovative cuisine. By booking through us, we’ll provide full breakfast for two and a US$100 food and beverage credit, in addition to the other usual Virtuoso amenities.
From 01 October your international visitors to New Zealand may require an electronic travel authorisation to land in New Zealand NZeTA. There is essentially two parts to this – the basic electronic visa required for relevant nationals and the IVL – International Visitor Levey – which is the NZ$35 payable for us to build smarter facilities in National Parks (hopefully potentially more than that!). Have your visiting colleagues look at https://nzeta.immigration.govt.nz/. As with the US ESTA site its likely that many copycat sites will show up and charge more than is necessary. The best source is our website noted below – refer to the Traveller Resources section for the correct websites.
ATPI New Zealand
Level 5, ANZ Bank Building
187 Broadway, Newmarket
PO Box 99088, Auckland, New Zealand
Auckland: Telephone: +64 9 529 3700
Wellington: Telephone: +64 4 470 6044
NZ wide: 0800 508 580
www.atpi.co.nz
The new name for ATPI Business World Travel is ATPI New Zealand
