Air New Zealand Air Points - 767-200 Business Class

I was on a 767-200 (ZK-NBB) from Sydney the other night, and was quite surprised to find the International Business Class seat installed (with PTVs). I was also surprised to find that the seat's recline seemed to be much much more than the J class seat on the 744 I had outbound, and also seemed to be far greater than say CX's old J class seat. Last time I was on a 767-200 in July 2002, the seats were old - no PTVs and seemed worn (ZK-NBA). As I understood that NZ plan on phasing out 767-200s for the A320, why have they gone and refitted them with the newer seats?

Not that I'm complaining, the 767-200 seat was the best I'd ever had on NZ - especially the recline and legroom, which seemed very generous. Which brings up another point - the 767-200s are used primarily for short-hauls, why is the recline so much better than those on the long-haul 744 and 763?

ZK-NBB, as far as I know, has had the current J class seat for a long time - I don't think there have been any recent refits. For a while now the 762 fleet has been a mix of old and new seats. I am surprised to hear that you preferred it to the 744 seat - the pitch is supposedly identical (however the 744 seat is significantly wider) which would lead me to assume that the recline is also identical... Could you perhaps have been in a seat on the 744 which had limited recline for some reason??

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mad_atta:
I am surprised to hear that you preferred it to the 744 seat - the pitch is supposedly identical (however the 744 seat is significantly wider) which would lead me to assume that the recline is also identical... Could you perhaps have been in a seat on the 744 which had limited recline for some reason??</font>

I don't think so - I was in 12B on the upper deck of the 744 and it seemed to me that 3J on NBB had a lot better recline and legroom than NBV. Perhaps it was simply a matter of perception...

A bit off topic, but...

I am flying SYD-AKL in J in a few days. I was wondering if I should take a seat on upperdeck or lower? Your experience/preference?

Thanks in advance.

I found the upper deck very spacious and not too full. I think you can also get seats in the First class cabin if there are any seats open, as Air NZ doesn't sell F on SYD AKL.

On the 744 trans tasmin services, the downstairs J cabin is economy (I think usually for *G and maybe full fare Y passengers) so you'll be upstairs. In terms of space and ambience upstairs is better anyway. I don't think they'd open up the F cabin (as they do on the Japan routes) unless maybe upstairs J is full, because the aircraft often have tight turnaround times in AKL and the F cabins are prepared in advance (or so I've heard). Enjoy your flights http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Cheers, Zac

Thank you all.

When I called NZ to request seat assignment, the agent asked me if I wanted downstairs or upstairs. So I got the one upstairs.

I am also flying F on AKL-LAX in about 10 days, so I am really looking forward to it...