We waded through the terms and conditions of the airline’s rebranded loyalty programme so you don’t have to. Here’s what we found.
What’s new?
Koru, which replaced Air New Zealand’s Airpoints loyalty programme earlier this year. Not to be confused with the Koru Club, Air New Zealand’s paid membership programme, or the Koru Lounge, the VIP part of the airport, where high-flyers go to sip free drinks and schmooze with one another.
What’s in the big print?
Air New Zealand is calling Koru a “simpler, more rewarding platform” with “clear, relevant benefits”.
And what are those benefits?
It’s unclear. The most obvious change is that two new tiers have been added to the membership structure – while Airpoints had Silver, Gold and Elite tiers, Koru has Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Black. The middle three map directly on to each other (although “Elite” has had a name change to “Platinum”). Bronze is a new entry-level tier, with no minimum points required, and Black is a new ultra-fancy tier, even higher than Platinum.
So I get Koru Bronze status even though my Status Points are in the single digits? Brilliant!
Congratulations. As a Bronze member, you can now earn Airpoints, spend Airpoints, earn Status Points, join a Shairpoints account and use Airpoints Flexipay.
But … I could already do all those things.
Correct. Koru Bronze status doesn’t give you any new benefits; it just sounds cooler. To quote Air New Zealand’s press release, “Loyalty is about recognising and rewarding our customers in [a way] that feels meaningful.” Emphasis on the “feels”.
Tell us about your airline issue
Make your complaint count and help us fight for clearer information for passengers.
So who DOES benefit from Koru?
The big spenders. When you graduate from Platinum to Black, you get extra flight upgrades and “Koru Circle” privileges, meaning you can share your VIP benefits with your family or friends. And both Platinum and Black members will get to hang out in the ritzy new Koru Premier Lounge, due to open next year at Auckland International Airport.
Sign me up!
That’ll be 3,200 Status Points, please. You can earn some of those via an Airpoints-earning credit card, if you have one, but at least 1,920 have to be from qualifying flights. That’s the equivalent of flying Auckland–Wellington between 54 and 640 times in one year, depending on your ticket.
Actually, never mind. What else did you spot in the fine print?
It’s more about what we didn’t spot – namely, the word “dollars”. Under the old Airpoints loyalty programme, members earnt “Airpoints Dollars”, which they could then spend on flights or in the online Airpoints store. Under Koru, members earn “Airpoints”, full stop.
What difference does it make?
None, if you go solely on the T&Cs. Even under the old programme, there was no guarantee that 1 Airpoints Dollar equalled 1 New Zealand Dollar. In fact, the fine print specifically said, “We will determine the redemption rate by which you can use your Airpoints Dollars to redeem Flight Rewards and we may change this rate from time to time, acting reasonably.” That wording is identical in the new Koru T&Cs, minus the “Dollars”.
I sense a “but” coming.
But it’s all about customer perception. Even if Airpoints Dollars weren’t identical to New Zealand Dollars, there was a general understanding that if an Air New Zealand plane ticket cost $119, then 119 Airpoints Dollars would cover it.
Is that not true anymore?
So far, it is, and at least one Koru press release explicitly states, “Airpoints … will still be equivalent to one Airpoint for $1NZD when spending with Air New Zealand.” But the T&Cs make it clear that this is subject to change. We hope the move from Airpoints Dollars to Airpoints doesn’t mean Air New Zealand is planning to toggle the value of its rewards in the future.
Any other fine-print discoveries?
Not in the T&Cs themselves, but we also compared the list of old Airpoints partners with the list of new Koru partners – that is, all the places you can earn Airpoints besides Air New Zealand. We were expecting major differences, based on the hype about a “more rewarding platform”, but no dice. Only two companies were added to the list when Koru kicked off – New Zealand Bed Company and Kantar (“the world’s leading marketing data and analytics business”).
Can you give me the short version?
Air New Zealand’s Airpoints loyalty programme has been rebranded as Koru. There are two new tiers – the entry-level Bronze, which sounds impressive but actually carries no new benefits, and the top-level Black, which comes with upgrades, perk-sharing options and exclusive lounge access. The list of partner companies hasn’t changed much, but the lingo has – Airpoints Dollars are now Airpoints, which we hope doesn’t mean a devaluation is on the horizon.
Thanks to the support of our Consumer NZ members, we’re able to pore over pages and pages of fine print every day. Become a member and help us advocate for all New Zealanders.
