Hundreds of travellers across New Zealand, Asia and North America are racing to rearrange their plans as Air New Zealand pushes ahead with an unprecedented strike by its international wide body cabin crew. With the airline cancelling dozens of long haul services centered on its Auckland hub, key transpacific and Asian routes are facing severe disruption, leaving many passengers scrambling for scarce alternative seats just as the peak southern summer travel period reaches its height.
An Unprecedented Strike Hits Air New Zealand’s Long Haul Heart
Air New Zealand has confirmed that wide body cabin crew represented by unions E tū and the Flight Attendants Association of New Zealand will stage a two day strike on 12 and 13 February 2026, following months of stalled negotiations over pay and working conditions. In preparation, the carrier has preemptively cancelled around 46 long haul services operated by Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft, rather than risk last minute mass cancellations once the strike begins.
The scale of the disruption is significant for an airline that has generally enjoyed a reputation for stable labour relations. According to figures shared by the airline and reported by several outlets, approximately 9,500 passengers are directly affected by the confirmed cancellations, with additional knock on disruption expected as aircraft and crews fall out of position on either side of the strike window.
While domestic and regional flights within New Zealand, along with most services across the Tasman to Australia and to nearby Pacific Island destinations, are scheduled to operate largely as normal thanks to fleet redeployment and schedule retiming, the blow to long haul operations marks one of the most serious challenges to Air New Zealand’s global connectivity since the pandemic era.
Key Routes to Asia and North America Bear the Brunt
The industrial action is tightly focused on Air New Zealand’s international wide body operation, meaning the heaviest impact falls on routes linking Auckland with major hubs in Asia and North America. These are the very flights that connect New Zealanders to the rest of the world and carry a high proportion of international visitors arriving into the country.
Travel alerts and schedule updates indicate that services to and from key North American gateways such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston and Vancouver are among those either cancelled outright or heavily retimed around the strike dates. On the Asian side, flights connecting Auckland with high demand markets including Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong are also affected, with some rotations removed from the schedule and others restructured to skirt the 48 hour strike window.
For many of these long haul sectors there are only one or two daily options, and in some cases just a handful of departures each week. As a result, even a single cancellation can strand hundreds of travellers and create a multi day backlog that takes time to clear, especially at the height of the southern hemisphere summer when cabins are already near capacity. Travellers connecting on to other carriers in Asia or North America are particularly exposed if their onward journeys are built on tight connections that no longer exist.
Thousands Scramble to Rebook as Seats Run Short
Across social media, airport concourses and call centre queues, the human impact of the disruption is playing out in real time. Families returning from holidays, students heading back to overseas campuses and business travellers bound for conferences and meetings are among those reporting last minute cancellations and overnight delays as they vie for new seats on remaining services.
Air New Zealand says it has contacted impacted customers directly and is offering a menu of options including rebooking on alternative dates, travel credits or full refunds. Where possible, the airline is also re accommodating passengers onto partner carriers, particularly fellow Star Alliance members operating across the Pacific and within Asia. In practice, however, the peak travel season means that spare seats on comparable routes are limited, and some travellers are facing circuitous routings via third country hubs or several day waits before they can be accommodated.
For travellers holding complex itineraries that involve cruises, package tours or onward flights on separate tickets, the disruption can be especially costly. Missed embarkation dates, lost hotel nights and rebooked regional flights often fall outside what airlines will reimburse, leaving travel insurance policies to fill the gap. Travel agents in New Zealand, Australia and key Asian markets report working around the clock to rebuild itineraries, with some customers accepting long detours via the Middle East or North America on other carriers simply to keep time sensitive plans intact.
What the Strike Is About: Pay, Rosters and Post Pandemic Pressures
Behind the scenes turmoil at check in counters lies a deeper dispute about the conditions facing Air New Zealand’s wide body cabin crew. Union leaders at E tū and the Flight Attendants Association of New Zealand argue that the work of long haul crew has become increasingly demanding and unpredictable, and that current pay and roster systems no longer reflect the realities of the job.
Representatives have highlighted the irregular nature of long haul schedules, with crew rosters changing month to month and duty hours stretching across time zones, nights and weekends. They point to mounting fatigue and work life balance concerns as aircraft operate fuller schedules and the airline seeks to restore profitability following the pandemic. For many crew, the strike is framed as a last resort after months of negotiations they say failed to deliver a fair and realistic offer on pay, allowances and roster stability.
Air New Zealand for its part has acknowledged that wide body operations are complex and that long haul crew perform demanding work, but insists that it must balance staff expectations with financial sustainability and the need to remain competitive in a global market. The airline has entered facilitated bargaining with unions in an effort to close the gap, yet with no agreement reached by early February, the decision to proceed with strike action has brought the dispute into the public eye at the very moment when travellers most rely on the carrier’s international network.
Air New Zealand’s Response and Contingency Measures
In public statements, Air New Zealand’s leadership has emphasised that the decision to cancel flights ahead of the strike is designed to give customers as much notice as possible and avoid the chaos of on the day cancellations. By thinning out the schedule in advance, the airline can concentrate its available crew and aircraft resources on a reduced but more predictable programme of flights.
The carrier says it has retimed some services and redeployed parts of its fleet to protect the majority of Tasman and Pacific Island operations, while ensuring that domestic and regional flights within New Zealand continue to run as normal. A limited number of cargo only services are being operated on some international sectors to keep exporters connected, highlighting the broader economic stakes at play beyond passenger travel alone.
Customer care teams have been bolstered to manage the rebooking task, with the airline promising assistance ranging from meals during extended airport waits to accommodation for passengers who must overnight due to missed connections. Even so, the strain is visible, with some passengers reporting long waits to reach call centres and congested airport service desks as the disruption ripples through multiple days of operations.
Ripple Effects Across the Wider Region
The fallout from the strike is not confined to those travelling directly on Air New Zealand. As the country’s main long haul carrier and the dominant operator at Auckland International Airport, any disruption in its wide body schedule can quickly spill over to partners, regional tourism operators and connecting airlines.
Australian and Pacific Island gateways that depend on inbound traffic from North America and Asia via Auckland could see softer load factors in the coming days, as some long haul passengers are unable to make their connections onward. Hotels, tour operators and cruise lines that had counted on timely arrivals into Auckland, Sydney or island hubs may find guests arriving late or not at all, forcing last minute adjustments to schedules and staffing.
At the same time, carriers that compete with or partner alongside Air New Zealand on key routes, including airlines from Asia, North America and the Middle East, are fielding a spike in demand as displaced travellers search for alternatives. Some are adding capacity or upgauging aircraft where possible, but the ability to absorb thousands of passengers at short notice is inherently limited, particularly during a peak travel period.
Advice for Affected and Prospective Travellers
For travellers already holding tickets on Air New Zealand long haul services between 11 and 14 February, the most important step is to monitor booking details closely and respond promptly to any communication from the airline or travel agent. With rebooking options tightening as departure dates approach, those who move quickly are more likely to secure seats on alternative flights or adjust plans with minimal extra cost.
Passengers connecting onto other airlines on separate tickets should pay particular attention to minimum connection times and consider building in extra buffer hours or even overnight stays if travel is essential and cannot slip by a day. Where possible, consolidating itineraries onto a single ticket can offer greater protection if one leg is disrupted, as the operating carrier is then responsible for rerouting to the final destination under its own rules.
Prospective travellers who have not yet booked but were considering travel between New Zealand, Asia and North America around the strike dates may wish to avoid the most affected days or look to alternative routings until the situation stabilises. For essential travel that cannot be deferred, robust travel insurance that includes cover for strikes and industrial action can help soften the financial blow of missed connections or extended delays, though policies vary widely in their definitions and exclusions.
What Comes Next for Air New Zealand and its Passengers
As the strike dates approach, attention is turning to what happens after the scheduled industrial action ends. Even if services resume as planned from 14 February, it could take several days for Air New Zealand’s long haul operation to return to normal pattern as aircraft and crew are repositioned and waitlisted passengers are gradually accommodated on subsequent flights.
The dispute also raises broader questions about the sustainability of current working models in long haul aviation. Around the world, airlines are grappling with similar tensions between cost control and the need to attract and retain skilled cabin crew who are willing to work increasingly demanding rosters. New Zealand’s national carrier is far from alone in facing industrial unrest, but the visibility of this strike, focused on high profile international routes, places additional pressure on all sides to reach a durable compromise.
For travellers, the immediate concern is practical rather than political: getting where they need to go with the least possible disruption. Yet the experience of scrambling for scarce seats and reworked itineraries will likely shape perceptions of Air New Zealand’s reliability long after operations stabilise. How the airline communicates with affected customers, the flexibility it offers and the speed with which it restores its long haul schedule will all play crucial roles in rebuilding confidence once the picket lines come down and the aircraft return to the skies.