Beware Air NZ Baggage Policy

[winmag]

I'm headed over to New Zealand next month to hunt red deer/tahr/chamois and just got a nice surprise when I called Air New Zealand to notify them that I was flying with a firearm. Apparently now you cannot check a firearm on an Air New Zealand "codeshare" flight. So I cannot bring my rifle with me on the itinerary that was sold to me on Air New Zealand's website because it originates in Denver on an United Airlines plane. The first three people I talked to at Air NZ told me that I was out of luck; the only way I was getting there with my rifle was to throw away my $1200 non-refundable itinerary and rebook separately with United for the domestic legs and Air NZ for the international legs. The fourth person got creative and rebooked all 6 flights directly with United Airlines; they matched the original fare amount and waved the $200 change fee because I have Star Alliance Gold status, but I still had to pay the $50 service fee.

I was a guide in New Zealand and have advised many clients and friends on how to navigate the travel logistics; this codeshare thing was never an issue. This is my 7th personal trip back to New Zealand to hunt for myself (the most recent was May 2019). Looking back at my previous itineraries, all 6 prior trips were codeshare flights, and I never had any issues checking my firearms on those.

Air New Zealand told me this has been the policy all along. They didn't come right out and say it but they essentially said that now, since all the recent new firearms regulations in NZ, they're just starting to enforce it.

So my advice to anyone hunting New Zealand and taking their own firearm with them on Air NZ is to either:
1. Call Air New Zealand within 24 hours of booking your flight (during the free cancellation period) to sort out if you can in fact bring your firearms with you.
2. Book separate itineraries for your domestic and international travel.

 

[Kiwi]

Air NZ can be weird about firearms and glad you got it all sorted. I have booked with them for Oct and co-share an internal USA flight. I’ll give them a call to check details if leaving from NZ.

 

[glass eye]

Another thing to beware of is if you fly to NZ with a stop over in Australia. On my first trip to NZ we had a connecting flight in Australia and we were asked to present our AUS firearm permits. We explained that we didn't have any because we were not leaving the airport and that it was just a connecting flight. We were told that if our flight were to be delayed and it reached the 8 hour mark that our guns would be confiscated. Don't fly to NZ via Australia.

 

[Kiwi]

Well that was interesting. I too had to change my tickets to make the internal flights United ticketed. Seems completely weird to me. I refused to pay for the change and they agreed reluctantly.

 

[devon deer]

I posted this on another thread, not just NZ
South Africa, you might already be aware, South African Airlines have announced that from 1st March they will be cancelling all internal flights within South Africa except to Cape Town. At present what this means is there is no one else, besides SA Airlink, who will carry firearms.

 

[kiwi hunter]

all easily overcome by using rifles provided by guides etc

 

[Kiwi]

Looking at fights for this years USA trip I noticed the following on the Air New Zealand website, pretty sure this wording is new:

Switching to another airline's aircraft:

• Be sure to declare the firearm and ammunition to the new airline.
• We can't transfer any bag containing a firearm or ammunition to another airline.
• If you're switching to a non-Air New Zealand aircraft, you will need to clear customs, collect your bags and check them in with the new airline.
• This applies to our codeshare partners, even if the flight has an Air NZ flight number.

I did try and call to check but was disconnected after 3.5hrs!

 

[winmag]

Sadly, NZ is on the fast track to implementing UK’s firearms laws. When both the government and private sectors make it a giant pain in the ass to legally use firearms, current firearm owners may just give up, and potential new firearms owners are severely discouraged from becoming firearms owners. Then with dwindling voices in opposition, bye bye firearms.

I’m planning a trip for 2024 and I’m not even going to try to bring a rifle this time. I’ll use a kiwi friends rifle but I still need to get a visitors firearms permit so I can possess a firearm while hunting alone, but even that will probably take me 3+ months to obtain.

 

[Kiwi]

You’re probably right winmag.

BTW Air New Zealand is majority government owned so their firearm policy’s are probably pushed from them.

 

[HONEYBADGER]

NZ,AUS,Canada are all quickly headed for communism

 

[Buzzy]

Heading there next year so I'm glad I ran across this information now. Thanks