Air New Zealand Air Points - Review and criticism of NZ's Y, cuddle class and Y+ onboard new B777-300ER

I came across this review in an Australian magazine which I thought would be of interest.

As far as I know, it's the first time so many photos of the new seating have appeared in a business travel publication.

Judging by the pictures and some of the comment, the new Y class does not impress the author.

http://www.ausbt.com.au/air-new-zealand-s-economy-and-skycouch-cuddle-class-on-the-777-300er

I'm not the author but posted similar comments on new Air NZ 77W (http://boardingarea.com/blogs/theglobaltraveller/2011/02/air-new-zealand-new-longhaul-product-a-mixed-review/) on my blog. There are a few good seats, and lots of bad ones.

The guy who run aus-b-t sources much material from blogs and sites like this and AFF. e.g. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qantas-frequent-flyer/1145809-virgin-blue-offers-free-velocity-gold-status-match-qantas-frequent-flyers.html

The guy who run aus-b-t sources much material from blogs and sites like this and AFF. e.g. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qantas-frequent-flyer/1145809-virgin-blue-offers-free-velocity-gold-status-match-qantas-frequent-flyers.html

Not sure I would agree that AusBT "sources much material" from FT and AFF, Serfty. For any single instance you might cite which looks like a forum-sourced yarn I could list scores of stories we've done which have zip to do with blogs or forums.

I would suggest there's much more of our own unique content produced from regular media sources ranging from 'insider' tips to interviews (eg Cathay Pacific reveals rollout timetable for new business class seats (http://www.ausbt.com.au/cathay-pacific-reveals-rollout-timetable-for-new-business-class-seats), which was news enough to be fed back into FT, see 33E deployment schedule (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cathay-pacific-asia-miles/1183057-33e-deployment-schedule.html); and United considers ‘personal media players’ for 747 economy cabin (http://www.ausbt.com.au/united-considers-personal-media-players-for-747-economy-cabin)).

That said, of course the Internet at large is a source of information for us - that's as it is with most modern and smart media, and one would be a fool to ignore it. Deeply niche forums such as FT and AFF are naturally going to be one small part of that mix alongside scores of other forums plus hundreds of sites (thank God for RSS!) and Twitter feeds which span from mainstream travel to the travel industry, and from the aviation sector through to pilots and crew. Those are all part of the broader mix.

If you're suggesting that KiwiFlyer's review was in any way a 'source' for our report on the new AirNZ seats, however, that's simply not correct.

John, our NZ journalist, spent the better part of an entire day on AirNZ's plane taking copious notes of his own experience (and copious pictures too).

That he found many of the same shortcomings as KiwiFlyer is not only to be expected when two savvy flyers put product under close first-hand scrutiny, it underscores that these shortcomings are very real and valid concerns. (As it happens, KiwiFlyer has met our NZ journo John and would, I imagine, vouch for his own knowledge on these things and that he's no cut-and-paste guy).

If you're suggesting that KiwiFlyer's review was in any way a 'source' for our report on the new AirNZ seats, however, that's simply not correct.

John, our NZ journalist, spent the better part of an entire day on AirNZ's plane taking copious notes of his own experience (and copious pictures too).

That he found many of the same shortcomings as KiwiFlyer is not only to be expected when two savvy flyers put product under close first-hand scrutiny, it underscores that these shortcomings are very real and valid concerns. (As it happens, KiwiFlyer has met our NZ journo John and would, I imagine, vouch for his own knowledge on these things and that he's no cut-and-paste guy).

Correct. I was not the source for the article and sorry if this was implied in any way.

Correct. I was not the source for the article and sorry if this was implied in any way.

Thanks for that but no worries from this end, as you didn't make that implication (and for what it's worth, all of us at AusBT love your work!).