Domestic flights within New Zealand
 

We will be in New Zealand next February for 1 month. I read in my travel book that flights within New Zealand were pretty cheap but when i went on the Air New Zealand website, I was shocked by the rates displayed. I called Air NZ and was told to look on the New Zealand site rather than the US site for better fares. They have Grab A Seat fares that are very reasonable but of course they are not changeable/refundable. How readily available are these flights if you book them at the last minute (as opposed to now) bearing in mind that it would be high season?

as its a captive market there they can charge whatever they want. As with all airlines, thought, if you want the flexibility to book last minute you will pay more. It also depends on which flights - Auckland to Queenstown , for ex. is a pretty common flight with several options.

Depends where you want to fly. On the main trunk - AKL/WLG/CHC/DUD/ZQN - there is competition and you can get cheap fares. On the provincial routes AirNZ is the only carrier and fares are higher, though they do still offer Grabaseat fares from time to time.

One thing to remember when considering fares - the quoted price is the final price. It's not like the con tricks you get from overseas airlines (did anybody immediately think Ryanair?) where the initial price is a joke, not a quote.

In New Zealand any business that indulged in that sort of bait pricing would be prosecuted.

Look for fares on http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/ and http://www.jetstar.com/nz/en/home for fares.

I regularly fly AKL/CHC or v.v. and usually pay around $NZ69 - 79 but sometimes as low as $NZ49.

Sorry . . . forgot to add that those are pre-paid, no-refund fares. If you want flexibility it will cost. Best idea is keep a watch on the above sites and when they offer good looking fares grab them.

We will fly from CHC to AKL on the way out of NZ but if we can get a cheap fare we would prefer flying AKL to Bay of Islands, Bay of Islands to Rotorua, and Rotorua to Nelson, maybe even MT Cook to CHC. It is all price dependent.

PS - Thank you all for the info!!!

The cheaper grab a seat flights are gone in a day, I regularly watch for Nelson to Wellington and by the time I see them, normally at 7am the good times have gone. New fares come out each day for different places and different periods. February dates probably won't come out for a few months yet.

In saying that you should be able to get a reasonable normal fare now, the closer to the date the more expensive they will be.