During my time in New Zealand, I’ve had the chance to try Air New Zealand on several flights. This review features the flight from Queenstown to Sydney, which I booked a so-called ‘The Works’ ticket. I’ll also review my other Air New Zealand flights later on.

Flying with Air New Zealand is quite an obvious choice when it comes to most domestic routes in New Zealand. Yet, on the bigger routes and especially flights between Australia and New Zealand, there is quite some competition.

• Airplane: Airbus A320
• Cabin Class: Economy (The Works)
• Daytime: Afternoon
• Food: Lunch
• Seat Pitch: 32 Inch (81 Centimeter)
• Seat Width: 17 Inch (43 Centimeter)

On the day I had to flight from Queenstown to New Zealand, the other possible option was Jetstar.

Cabin of the Air New Zealand Airbus A320

However, with Jetstar being only slightly cheaper, I decided to book a ticket with Air New Zealand in the so called ‘The Works’ fare, which not only includes the flight and luggage, but also something to eat and drink as well as free entertainment.

Seating when flying Air New Zealand The Works

This flight was operated by an Airbus A320, which is pretty much the backbone of Air New Zealand’s short and medium haul fleet. The plane comes with seats in a 3-3 configuration and without special seating for Business Class.

Seat

Seat

Seat

Seat

Instead, Air New Zealand offers a fare system with little extras like better seating, more legroom and things like that. As I had booked a ‘The Works’ ticket, I was able to select one of the front seats.

The seat pitch in the front rows is very good

Row 2 offered a decent legroom and a normal seat width, which you’d expect for a narrowbody aircraft. The cloth seats are fairly comfortable and come with a rather neutral dark blue design.

The lavatories are basic, but were mostly clean on this flight

It’s worth noting that Air New Zealand doesn’t differentiate the fare classes by any color inside the plane, so there is no ‘The Works’ section as such.

Catering when flying Air New Zealand The Works

Air New Zealand The Works comes with the benefit of a free meal and drink. Having booked the flight for just me and buying a cheap ticket in the lowest fare class for Anna later on, it was still no problem to get two or three complimenatry drinks.

Complimentary meal with Air New Zealand The Works

The staff is well aware of who on board booked which class and thus proactively serves your meal and asks for drinks. For the latter, you might either choose soft drinks or alcoholic beverages.

Meal

Meal

You might also order further drinks after the first service (though this service isn’t offered proactively). The meal service on the flight from Queenstown to Sydney consisted of rice with beef and peas.

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A vegetarian option was offered as well. In addition, I was handed a roll and ice cream for dessert. While nothing special, I found the meal to be quite good.

Entertainment when flying Air New Zealand The Works

Another benefit of flying Air New Zealand The Works is free entertainment. While other passengers got to pay for the service, you might stream as many movies, shows and music as you want.

The entertainment selection is very good for medium haul flights

Flying The Works, I was also handed over headphones, which I found surprisingly good for a three hour flight. Especially compared to what you usually get in Economy Class, the headphones were a real highlight.

The headphones were also of surprisingly good quality

Other than that, the screens in the Air New Zealand are rather small, but easy to use. The same is true for the entertainment system, which is easy to navigate through and comes with dozens of movies and shows to choose from. In addition, there are games, news and music.

The screen could be a little bigger

I’d say that the entertainment options are absolutely sufficient for three or four flights. Moreover, I was quite happy to see that the entertainment could be used during taxi, take-off and landing.

Bottom line Air New Zealand The Works

All in all, I found the Air New Zealand The Works experience to be quite good. While it’s a shame that there is an additional cost for pretty much everything on flights between Australia and New Zealand, while everything free on domestic flights in both countries (at least when it comes to the full service carriers), The Works guarantees you a hassle-free experience.

Air New Zealand The Works is a nice way to get to Australia

As a Star Alliance Gold member I was even able to check two pieces of luggage and benefit from lounge access. Even without these additional benefits, I had a very nice flight with decent food, a nice entertainment selection and a seat in the front of the plane. Overall, there’s nothing bad to say about the experience for a three hour flight!

Book your Air New Zealand flight now:

• Expedia
• OneTravel

You want to read more flight reviews? Check out our other posts!