Air New Zealand Air Points - NZ vs UA Business Class

I have an upcoming flight currently booked SYD-AKL-LAX on NZ in business. I'm considering switching to the direct SYD-LAX on UA.

Can anybody offer me some advice or a comparison of the two offerings (I've never flown NZ before)?

Thanks.

------------------
"I've got a fever, baby, and the only prescription is more cowbell!" -- Christopher Walken

UA is better seat, NZ is better everything else.

Ditto that.

I'll take NZ service over UA service any day.

I agree also.All UA has got going for it is the great J seat.Food and wine offerings have gone down the drain .Combine that with UA FAs who often are quite elderley and only there for the ride,you would get most value for money with NZ despite the extra stop .I would have a different opinion had NZ maintained their cardboard/plastic joke transTasman J class service but they have gone back to their previous excellent offering .I'll be travelling BNE-AKL-LAX in J/F next tuesday with my wife ( both very excited about it )and I will certainly keep you informed but I have always been happy with NZ.
Ozflier

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by number_6:
UA is better seat, NZ is better everything else.</font>

I agree. Although both don't have the lie-flat seat, I prefer UA's business class seat with the lumbar support massage mechanism, which I haven't seen on other airlines'. I also think UA's IFE is better than NZ's.

NZ's food and wine are better in my opinion, especially with the selection of New Zealand wines. The food portion is just right, and fresh and tasty. Its colorful napkins still have a button-hole, which UA used to have but doesn't anymore.

I would also like to add that UA has the noise-cancelling headphone, but NZ doesn't.

[This message has been edited by jazzhou (edited Feb 03, 2004).]