Air New Zealand scraps Works Deluxe seats

I'm pretty sure that this has nothing to do with the "customer" experience/feedback but rather the "extra" NZ$500 that they can make across the 6 seats?  AirNZ are terrible - from customer service all the way through to the end of your flight - I have never understood why Kiwi's are so enthralled with them - they are (by and large) always decidedly more (by a lot) expensive than any other airline to get offshore and service matches or is less than can be obtained from other service providers.  Aviation in NZ sucks generally - there is not and never has been a domestic "business" class, for example - and we have a CEO (note that AirNZ is owned 51% by the "people") who can only tell us to buy far ahead if we want cheaper seats - of course they want us to buy ahead - once they have your money (and more often than not you will have a change/cancelled flight to deal with come that time for you to fly) guess who is earning the interest - not you.  Post pandemic we have only Jetstar/AirNZ (main trunks) and AirNZ (domestic with other very expensive "bit" [read tiny aircraft] as options and from where I am that means that I can either fly south through Christchurch or north through Auckland [with terrible connections - either extremely short [often delayed arrivals and then having to proceed through security for "jet" serviced routes - and security don't give a damn that your arrival in was delayed, believe me] or extremely long - PMR to DUD can take as long as 8 hours to complete and it's less than 700km from me.  AirNZ shouldn't be worried about "removing" middle seat blocks but rather on figuring out how to get NZ moving - our current per hour flight costs domestically (non-trunk) are about 4x what Australians are paying for on their domestic travels.

Huge shame, a pleasant up from economy and half the price of business.  I wonder exactly why ???

Would be better if they dumped the Euro Biz approach all together one would think 🤔 

Air New Zealand is now a true low cost carrier for the Tasman & Pacific Islands, it just keep on getting worse for them. Cut backs in capacity out of Christchurch & Wellington on these routes now make it cheaper flying through Auckland. Their long haul business product is obsolete but they gouge on prices. They are more interested in spending their money on marketing and spin rather than look after their customers. 

I would expect this is driven by the engine issues in NZ's 16 A320/321 NEOs.  More aircraft will be taken out of service from Jan 24 for remedial work.  The resulting schedule reduction will mean more passengers in fewer seats, hence freeing up the middle seats will drive more $$$

The works deluxe seat that promises " an empty seat " next to you for use was a stupid idea ! It's all very good having an empty seat along side you but so does the third passenger in that row. Who has the use of the empty seat then ? Obviously both passengers adjacent to the empty seat which make it hardly worth while as it can be quickly filled with gear by either passenger once the aircraft has taken off . My niece had this exact issue wit Air NZ and it made for a very uncomfortable flight .

I am not sure what your point is. Works Deluxe is the first 3 rows with the middle seat empty. Did you niece have the window or aisle seat?

krisdude.  I does not matter which seat she had , either the aisle or window seat is of no consequence. The issue was who had the use of the " middle empty seat "? As it turned out t it was either passenger , not just one passenger. This meant that both would pay to have an empty seat next to them but not just for their exclusive use. How do you then determine who spreads out into the empty seat or puts carry on luggage (that was stowed in the overhead locker for take off ) into the seat for use during flight?  When one books and pays for this " empty seat " there wasn't anything to inform either passenger that they would have to share the seat.  The cabin crew did say this did present " issues " on some flights.

Guys, QF has the same middle seat free model available on domestic sectors - As far as QF are concerned, they own the middle seat and the 2 other passengers cannot place items or utilize the area for their own gain. It is purely to supply space and social distancing only - Simple! QF also go one further to say they can actually sell the middle seat last minute if they choose and refund the extra fees paid by the 2 passengers who booked this added benefit.

As to NZ removing Works Plus, am sure it is to do with maximizing revenue and selling the 3rd seat with passenger loads exceeding supply - simple revenue raising and nothing to do with customer feedback as mentioned earlier.

Simply, to share the spare seat on NZ would be the way to go till the option is totally removed next year.

Whatever drove this decision, it was not "customer driven".  Every A320/321 flight I/we have taken the Works deLuxe section was always fully utilised.  Other travellers confirm their love of the choice. There is no other comparable option on these aeroplanes. It is a pity AirNZ have done this - it just puts them back amongst all the rest.  The concern over who 'owns' the middle seat is never an issue (unless travelling with your partner!!) and the feeling of a little more privacy, plus a front seat, was always worth the extra. Latest trip across we decided to try JETSTAR, felt we had nothing to lose given that Works deLuxe was being scrapped by AirNZ,  and Guess What -  the aircraft was the same, the cabin was spotless, the seating was comfortable, booking was easy, the communication was great, the inflight service was friendly and attentive - and all at a reasonable cost.

I'm sorry to say that this is not always the case with AirNZ - service and cleanliness standards are not consistent, delays and cancellations (particularly Domestic, but also increasingly on International legs) are becoming more frequent, and AirNZ prices no longer feel justified.

Loyalty to AirNZ will only tolerate so much . . . . .