Air New Zealand has announced its popular Fast Bag service has returned its regional network from today.
The service was put on hold when domestic flying resumed after last year's nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, and frequent flyers had been calling for its return ever since.
Fast Bag is a service which essentially ensures a customer's bag will be one of the first offloaded.
On a regional flight, luggage is placed at the bottom of the stairs when you disembark, so you can pick it up and be on your way immediately.
Newshub Travel is often contacted by travellers asking why the service couldn't return when the risk of COVID-19 had lowered to a level that domestic travel was available again.
Air NZ says it undertook a series of customer trials to improve the flow of the service and lighten the load for customers going through the airport.
"Through our trials we learned the most important aspect of the service to our customers was being able to pick up their bag while disembarking - they want to be able to grab and go once their flight has landed," said chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty.
"We also found having customers check in their fast bags prior to departure, rather than carrying them to the aircraft door, made for a smoother journey through the airport without having to lug baggage around.
"Our teams are also working hard to deliver some digital enhancements to the Fast Bag service over the coming months, making it even more seamless for our customers."
Fast Bag is available to Airpoints Elite, Gold, Elite Partner and Koru members travelling on an Air NZ regional flight with a Seat+Bag, FlexiTime or FlexiDate ticket.
