3 legs BP
Quick summary of my three legs BP AKL-LAX-LHR-LAX over a long weekend. (currently in "holding pen" awaiting fourth LAX-AKL leg)
Seat: 7K all three legs. Great seat as others have posted. Feels very private as you are tucked away into the plane. Was my first time with the new mattresses and they really are very soft. Slept well. Even enjoyed breakfast in bed coming into London! propped myself up on three pillows. If you like looking out the window you can prop yourself up with the bed down and look out at the horizon cocooned in your own space. Pretty awesome. Also, with 7k you are one of the first off the plane if that matters to you. Was not disturbed by passengers going to restrooms or bar etc.
IFE: Touchscreen worked well, easy to use lying down as it tilts. Selection of TV shows excellent, but personally struggled to find many movies I want to watch, but I think that a personal issue!!
Food/Drinks: Enjoyed the food service overall, but (seem my post on menus) the steak from AKL-LAX was bad, but excellent from LHR-LAX. Drinks great, wine kept topped up (especially by LON crew, see below).
Crew: I thought the crew from LAX-LHR were excellent (and same crew today LHR-LAX again excellent). Nothing particularly wrong with the service from the NZ based crew on AKL-LAX but the London one was just better, they seemed to be walking through the cabin a lot more often, they kept the restrooms clean (filthy by the end of the AKL-LAX leg). Little touches, like sitting down and individually talking to each passenger, this was not done by the NZ crew. on AKL-LAX leg one thing that I found a little offputting was when I asked a female crew member (very nicely) if I might have an extra pillow. Instead of giving me one, or just saying there were none (which is fine) she went a got another male crew who said "dont you already have two pillows?".) They seemed to act like getting me a third pillow was a really big deal. Now, if there aren't any thats fine, but surely if there are its no issue. I wanted to prop myself up in bed, and the third pillow made all the difference. No problem getting it from the other crew. Maybe I was just lucky with this particular group of individuals!
Overall: Fantastic flights, great bed and despite what I said above excellent crews.
A note on the LAX transfer process. On the way out I decided to clear and get a shower. Queue for passport control not bad, and no line at customs. However, the customs man insisted i had to collect my bag. He said he had "never heard" of a flight transiting with luggage on board. It became somewhat of a standoff, he even refused to acknowledge the card I was given onboard which says specifically no need to collect bags. A second customs officer backed up the first, saying i had to get my bag. Finally an older man overhead us and said it was fine. But this took about five annoying minutes. The flight goes through 2 times per day so how can they not know?!
Once in the lounge, after going back out through security, it was great to get a shower and I probably did get about 45 minutes time so it was worth it, but it is stressfull. Now in the holding pen and it is better than I thought, no showers but some drinks and snacks and we apparently will be first on the plane.