Air New Zealand Air Points - NZ First Class

A nice brother organisation wants to fly me F class AKL to LAX next January/February.
After some comments earlier ,I am a little concerned about booking on NZ-although i would prefer to after reading such glowing reports here.
Is there any truth to the suggestion that NZ will downgrade their F class service to the USA.
Ozflier

Not sure about downgrading service.

NZ's current F service in fantastic. The seats are not LH or UA, but they are still sturdy and comfy.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by zrs70:
NZ's current F service in fantastic.</font>NZ does have a very nice service, and has a special charm thanks to the excellent staff, but to put fantastic into context, ignoring the seats it does not quite make the top 5 airlines in the world. Including the seats, it does not make the top 10. I admit to not having flown NZ in the past year, but I've heard there have been some service reductions and other irregularities (such as crew action due to schedule change). My next flight LAX-AKL is booked on QF -- despite having 2 class service. Those wanting luxurious F service from AKL should consider flying CX, which does offer a service that is several notches above NZ (and QF, UA and most other airlines, for that matter).

I would love to see your top ten!

I can think of BA, LH, QF, SQ, CX, ANA and perhaps a couple of others then I begin to scratch my head as to what you think is significantly better. Incidentally, I have always beleived that in every cabin QF is is the world's most overrated airline. Good yes, but best or exceptional I think not.

Okay, they do not have beds which is a significant issue but do have very comfortable seats that recline around 160 degrees, with a footbvall pitch of space. Also they have only 12 seats in F rather than the 14 that QF and BA have.

It is still a great service. Very attentive staff and the consistenty best food I have had of any airline in First (Okay just NZ, BA, QF and UA!) . The wines suffer from snob value of those who look wines up in value books. i.e. NZ wines might be around $40 whereas say SQ or BA might $100 but find an NZ wine that in NZ sells for USD$100. Ignoring the snob factor the 1998 cloudy bay pinot is a great wine and you cannot complain about Dom.

All in all enjoy the flight, it is great and the service makes up for the seats which are not quite up with beds but no where near as bad as what TG has - which is what some descriptions would have you believe! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Mark

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Koru Flyer:
I would love to see your top ten!

I can think of BA, LH, QF, SQ, CX, ANA and perhaps a couple of others then I begin to scratch my head as to what you think is significantly better.</font>A decade ago NZ would have been in my top 5 list. No longer. You mention my current top 5.
JL is equal to ANA (but barely better than NZ on some routes, equal to SQ on others). I would rank LX (Swiss), AF and AA solidly ahead of NZ mostly due to the seats, and UA marginally ahead (entirely due to excellent seat and good ground service, offsetting the poor inflight service). That is 11 ahead of NZ. Then there are the fringe J carriers, like VS and BD that offer a business class service that is roughly comparable to F on NZ. Of course there are lots of airlines worse than NZ, even comparable ones like SA, AZ, KE, not to mention TG.

NZ is just below critical mass to survive. Lots of good, even great, things about the airline, but falls short in some areas. Like the dated interior, erratic lounges (and awful lounge/terminal conditions at LAX), shrinking route network. It is sad to see but understandable. Less clear is how NZ can work its way out of this; my own opinion is that the QF merger is the best way, but who knows if it will happen. And NZ should convert to 2 class and abandon F to airlines like CX that do it better, if it can't afford provision it properly.

Air NZ's F service is superb! Far better than UA, I would rate it better than BA in terms of food, service and general comfort! You should give it a try!

Delta141

Does NZ First offer VOD and noise cancelling headphones?

AirNZ First Class offers VOD via Sony Video Walkmans. They have a selection of around 14 movies.

There are no noise-cancelling headsets.

Does anyone know if NZ has portable DVD players in F yet? I would like to bring a couple of DVD's with me.

Just flew NZ 1 in first from LHR-LAX. No DVD players but there were portable SONY video players. Excellent service

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by RTW4:
Just flew NZ 1 in first from LHR-LAX. No DVD players but there were portable SONY video players. Excellent service</font>

Thanks RTW4. I presume the Sony's use the Kiwi VHS format as opposed to the NA. I would hate to lug a couple of videos only to find the players won't play the NA format. Can anyone please confirm this for me?

Good to hear of the service, 3 more sleeps, get to use it ourselves.

The players are Super8 format. (I think that is what the format is - anyway they are the small cassettes slightly bigger/wider than a audio cassette tape).

Mark

I think taupo is asking if the broadcasting system of the cassetts are either NTSC (North American Standard) or PAL (Kiwi and other areas).

I can check it tomorrow on NZ 3. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Thanks Flyman and KF. Yes, Flyman, that is what I was wondering. No need for me to pack tapes if they machines are Super8.

Just travelled on NZ from AKL to LAX in F.From the moment we had the pretakeoff drink of Dom,I was in heaven.The food was unbelievable,there was even a 6 course breakfast.Great choice of wines and no queues for the toilets .What about the seats you say - well they looked old but did all I needed - even had some sleep but not too much as I didn't want to miss all the attention and my personal video player.
I cannot conceive of United ever getting to this level of service and catering.
Ozflier

I COMPLETELY agree with OzFLIER. I took the LHR-LAX flight in first and thought the food was incredible. In fact the afternoon meal was sensational with KIWI pound cake that was the best pound cake I have ever tried. Incidentally , there were 8 of us in first and the DOM was flowing for most of the flight

We have just completed two flights in NZ F.
NZ 3 Feb 08 and NZ 6 Feb 20.
Service was exemplarary.
Food was outstanding. Seats are comfortable. As previously mentioned, the NZ website picture of the F seat does not do it justice. It reclines to almost flat. I am 6'4" and had no problem getting comfortable in it, both on may back and side.
The amount of personal space is bordering on the absurd, but please don't change it.

We had some humour on the way home. We travelled with our 20 month old, she was quiet for the first 9.5 hours (slept), then was awake, making the occaisonal happy shrieking noise. She entertained the other passengers except for one, who was completely pi**ed. ThenI recognised who he was, lost all sympathy for him. Remember the man who ran for political office in NZ many moons ago, he is a NZ bizz tycoon, takes himself very seriously, was knigted (why I don't know), punched out a helicopter pilot on the shores of the Tongariro river. Any guesses??
My only complaint is that the luggage with Priority and First tags seems to come off with all the others. At least ours came before those of Sir I Am More Important Than Anyone Else's http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Sir Bob Jones by any chance?????

You got it.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by taupo:
My only complaint is that the luggage with Priority and First tags seems to come off with all the others. At least ours came before those of Sir I Am More Important Than Anyone Else's http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif</font>

Presume you are talking about LAX? Priority tags seem to make no difference there.

At AKL the priority tags are recognised, but seems just in one category (and of course over half of pax are priority so doesnt mean much). My experience at AKL ranges from first bag through to ten minutes after the first bag. LAX OTOH always takes ages.

Bags were slow off in both Lax and Akl.

All my luggage - incl. hokey-pokey ice cream box w/dry ice and Gibbston Valley wine box - are the first ones to come out this morning at LAX via NZ 6.

When I flew in AKL two weeks earlier, my stuff came out after Y class pax bags.

According to my Air NZ friends at AKL, LAX bag handling people often put priority and normal bags into the same container without considering "priority" handling before loading to an aircraft.

BTW, NZ 6 First Class was really good - great service, yummy food... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by FlyMan:
All my luggage - incl. hokey-pokey ice cream box w/dry ice and Gibbston Valley wine box - are the first ones to come out this morning at LAX via NZ 6.

When I flew in AKL two weeks earlier, my stuff came out after Y class pax bags.

According to my Air NZ friends at AKL, LAX bag handling people often put priority and normal bags into the same container without considering "priority" handling before loading to an aircraft.

BTW, NZ 6 First Class was really good - great service, yummy food... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

Good stuff http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Trust your wine is in one piece with no wastage.

Sooo, its LAX (insert other airport here) ground crew's fault that priority sometimes doesnt work at AKL.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Kiwi Flyer:
Good stuff http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Trust your wine is in one piece with no wastage.

Sooo, its LAX (insert other airport here) ground crew's fault that priority sometimes doesnt work at AKL.</font>

All my wines made safe and sound. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Yes, it's LAX agents' fault. They are supposed to separate air containers for priority bags from regular bags, but it seems they are not. These folks at LAX are not even Air NZ employees - simply agents for NZ. NZ AKL staff send warning/complaints regarding baggage handling, but LAX folks don't pay attention or simply ignore messages. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Not to mention, when I traveled domestic NZ, my bag was always one of the first ones to come out.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ozflier:
Is there any truth to the suggestion that NZ will downgrade their F class service to the USA.
Ozflier</font>

Well within the next few years they are planning on redoing the 747-400ER cabins and there is alot of speculation that they will go down to a 2 class service. When you read the newspapers it says they are eventually going to redo the cabins with Lie-flat Sleeper Seats in Business and Entertainment Systems. No Mention about 1st.

Well, it does sound like NZ does have excellent service in F, but is it worth more points than J? If the service is the main draw, will it not be similar in J? I have heard that biz service is truly excellent and, if not for the seat, wonder why make the extra expense for J. The two seats do seem similar on the web site.

Fiance and I will be traveling to NZ and Fiji or Cook Islands for honeymoon in June and are trying to redeem a * Alliance award through ANA on NZ.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PinHoLe2003:
Well, it does sound like NZ does have excellent service in F, but is it worth more points than J? If the service is the main draw, will it not be similar in J? I have heard that biz service is truly excellent and, if not for the seat, wonder why make the extra expense for J. The two seats do seem similar on the web site.

Fiance and I will be traveling to NZ and Fiji or Cook Islands for honeymoon in June and are trying to redeem a * Alliance award through ANA on NZ.</font>

Well if your flying to

Fiji from LAX you can't travel 1st anyway, its only on the 747-400ER Route from AKL - LAX and LAX - LHR. But i think it is worth extra especially for the 13 hour journey

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ntddevsys:
Well if your flying to

Fiji from LAX you can't travel 1st anyway, its only on the 747-400ER Route from AKL - LAX and LAX - LHR. But i think it is worth extra especially for the 13 hour journey</font>

Thank you. Did not know that LAX-Nadi did not have F service. I think that at least one of the segments will be on the LAX/SFO-AKL non-stop, so I still wonder if the difference between F nad J is very striking.

Biz on NZ is great, but first is much better. The seats arent the same - although both are quite old.

See my trip report (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum81/HTML/004245.html) where I flew NZ first AKL-LAX and vv. There is a comparison between business and first towards the bottom.

Edited to add: since its your honeymoon (congratulations btw http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsup.gif) why not splash out on first?

[This message has been edited by Kiwi Flyer (edited Feb 27, 2004).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ntddevsys:
Well if your flying to

Fiji from LAX you can't travel 1st anyway, its only on the 747-400ER Route from AKL - LAX and LAX - LHR. But i think it is worth extra especially for the 13 hour journey</font>

Neither the Fiji or Cook Island routes have first.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Kiwi Flyer:
Neither the Fiji or Cook Island routes have first.</font>

I sort of said that in a round about way- only on AKL - LAX and LAX - LHR routes, but i've just remembered the new AKL - SFO routes.

Do you think they should keep the premium cabins the way they are or change them ?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PinHoLe2003:
Well, it does sound like NZ does have excellent service in F, but is it worth more points than J? If the service is the main draw, will it not be similar in J? I have heard that biz service is truly excellent and, if not for the seat, wonder why make the extra expense for J. The two seats do seem similar on the web site.

Fiance and I will be traveling to NZ and Fiji or Cook Islands for honeymoon in June and are trying to redeem a * Alliance award through ANA on NZ.</font>

Having flown NZ J many times and F a couple of times, I can tell you their is a huge difference in the seat and some difference in the service.
IMnotveryHO, F is well worth the extra points, congrats and enjoy the honeymoon.