Air New Zealand Air Points - Air New Zealand vs. Qantas

In October I have a choice between flying Air New Zealand and Qantas long haul across the Pacific in First. Are there those who can compare the seats, service, food and wine between the two?

Qantas does not offer First Class between the US and New Zealand so your best bet would be Air New Zealand.

Of course, you could always fly LAX SYD in F then J SYD AKL.

Brent

I've not flown either in First, but the consensus seems to be that the main differences are:

- Seat: QF has a suite with a fully flat bed, similar to BA's, while AirNZ has pairs of seats that do not go completely flat (except for on one plane). The NZ seats have loads of space (only 12 seats vs 14 suites on QF) and are old fashioned but apparently more comfortable than they look, but QF are definitely ahead for privacy and sleeping comfort.

- Entertainment: QF has a slightly more advanced in-seat entertainment system, while NZ hands out personal DVD players to augment the existing channels.

- Food / wine / service: by all accounts they are pretty evenly matched, though there have been grumblings recently on the QF board that the F wine selections have got much worse. Both have reputation for good food & wine; certainly my experiences on both in J have been better than on other airlines.

- Lounges: QF is better at LAX, NZ is better at AKL, and IMHO NZ is better at SYD (though I haven't been into the QF First lounge).

Overall QF is generally accepted to have the better product but NZ First also gets good reviews despite the old fashioned seats. It's also one of the last opportunities to fly F on NZ, as from about May next year it is disappearing to make way for a comined business / first product using the Virgin Atlantic 'Upper Class Suites'.

Each have their pros and cons. NZ fly direct to NZ from SFO 3x per week, which would allow you to avoid horrible LAX. You also might want to bear in mind that if you have trans-Tasman sectors (i.e. between Australia and New Zealand) they will only be in J, as neither QF or NZ offer F on trans-Tasman flights.

I envy you - that's a pretty nice decision to have to make, sfoeuroflyer!

I've flown VH-OJU from SYD to LAX and another 747 Longhaul from LAX to SYD (don't know tail number, it was dark). I was in 2A on both flights. I have flown first class on other airlines and without a doubt, the Quantas experience was my best experience flying in my life. (I am Gold P on US). The service was similar to the finest places to eat. The food and wine were outstanding. The seats were amazing. There is nothing like lying down to sleep with bedding, a pillow, blankets, airline pajamas and silence at 35,000 feet over the moonlit pacific. My only complaints were the crew did not make information available about the excellent movie library system or the all-night snack bar. I've never flown long haul first so I felt sort of like I didn't belong and didn't want to ask too many questions. I have First Class booked LAX to AKL on Air NZ in March so I am going to be more "aggressive" in exploiting all of the available services. But QF has an excellent movie library with tapes that you check off your requests at take off and the steward delievers one after another. I only learned this on our return SYD-LAX leg so I was disapointed I watched Antwone Fisher twice on the "stock" in flight system. Also, there isn't too much encouragement to use the always available soup and snack bar. If I knew how here, and could, I would try to post a photo I took of the cabin and my seats.

Last anecdote: the guy next to me shelled out full fare for the tix and he was telling the steward how me made this leg all the time and will routinely spend $4000 more to be in Quantas First over Air NZ or United because of the superior service. I would never do that (I use miles) but obviously somebody was willing to do so. Now I'm just wondering what Star Alliance/Air NZ is going to do with my paper booked tickets in March originating with USAirways.

Welcome to FT usairways lover :)

If Qantas LAX-SYD return was your first long haul F experience then yes it will be streets ahead of domestic F in north america. Same goes for many other airlines' intl F though.

On NZ in F you get a personal discman and can choose from the library (20 movies?) at any time.