A former New Zealand immigration minister has labelled the state airline a "flying sweat shop" for paying Chinese flight attendants little more than a quarter of their New Zealand colleagues' wages.

Tuariki John Delamere, now an immigration consultant, said today that Air New Zealand's attitude was "disgusting" in paying more than 30 Chinese workers less than their New Zealand counterparts, particularly as it was 76-per-cent owned by the government, Radio New Zealand reported.

Link: url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/air-new-zealand-a-flying-sweat-shop/2008/03/17/1205602240328.html

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Air New Zealand will raise fares on flights to Australia and the Pacific Island from the end of the month becoming the latest airline to succumb to rising fuel costs.

The airline's group general manager Bruce Parton said fares would rise by an average of 3% from March 26.

Link: url=http://business.theage.com.au/air-nz-raises-fares/20080316-1zrq.html

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Air New Zealand has upped the ante in the hard-fought battle for the Pacific, by signing a codeshare agreement with US giant Continental Airlines....

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/air-new-zealand-and-continental-in-pacific-deal/story-e6frg8zx-1225852028718

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http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2010/04/15/biz.trav.economy.sofa.bk.c.cnn

SKY COUCH

I know that this has been discussed previously, but with the launch coming soon, I wonder how this is going to be priced. I cant see it being of benefit to a family of 3 or even 3 people occupying the row. For one person to take the space (3 seats) it is going to have to be priced more competively than a business class seat. It certainly looks interesting, my view is that if you are horizontal and asleep on a night flight, it doesnt matter whether you are in First, Busienss or economy (except of course for any noisy adults playing in the aisles and running up and down!!).

If anyone has any advance notice of prices and "how it works" I would be interested to hear.

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BT covered the pricing structure in an article dated 06/05/10:

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/air-new-zealand-releases-skycouch-tickets-on-lo

By Air New Zealand's admission, this is not a flat bed, hence the use of the 'SkyCouch' terminology. The lateral width of the three seats together is a little over 5 feet, so anyone requiring a full-length bed in which to be able to lie down completely will still find Business Premier to be the only option.

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