Air New Zealand Air Points - Premier cabin award availability with new seating.

I have always championed NZ's premier (First and Business) class award availability. I read somewhere in another thread that someone had looked for seats in a fairly wide date range, and came up with nothing.

This is an excerpt from the Herald:
Air NZ is reconfiguring its 747-400s to have 36 Business Premier seats at the front of the main deck and a further 10 on the upper deck, 23 Pacific Premium Economy seats also on the upper deck and 324 Pacific Economy seats on the main deck. End of quote.

So, I looked at overall Premier cabin with the new seating arrangement vs the old. Currently a NZ 747 has 12 F seats and 56 J/C for a total of 68. This is changing to a total of 46 Premier seats, a 32% reduction. The number of economy seats increases, I consider the new Premium Economy to still be economy.
I fear this will not bode well for overall seat availability let alone award seat availability. I have been on many NZ flights when the Premier cabins have been full or almost full.

What do others think?

I'm inclined to agree. It seems that no awards for premium economy also (really hope they allow upgrades to premium economy though).

Maybe I am being too optimistic but I see the announced layout as being a trial, with hopefully larger business and premium economy later on (this could be part way through the revamp) when they see how successful the new product is.

I'm inclined to agree. It seems that no awards for premium economy also (really hope they allow upgrades to premium economy though).

Maybe I am being too optimistic but I see the announced layout as being a trial, with hopefully larger business and premium economy later on (this could be part way through the revamp) when they see how successful the new product is.

I can't believe that NZ would not allow discounted/partner awards in U. I'm certain they will offer Y --> U and U --> J upgrades.

If premium cabin sizes were to be increased it would be an all-U on the Upper Deck and J/Y on the lower as NZ would not want to biff out sets of 2 seats from U. This removes some of the advantage of having U as a buffer between Y and J.

You may find that NZ cannot put all U or C (and none on lower deck) due to equal access for people with disabilities. i.e. if wheelchair bound (or other disabilities) the cannot access upper deck (if that is the only place with a certain class of seating) and therefore NZ would run fowl of various NZ legislation allowing equal access to all facilities for all people (irrespective of disabilty).

Note: My aunt who is wheelchair bound and is pushed around the airport has no trouble getting up the stairs! :D

Mark

You may find that NZ cannot put all U or C (and none on lower deck) due to equal access for people with disabilities. i.e. if wheelchair bound (or other disabilities) the cannot access upper deck (if that is the only place with a certain class of seating) and therefore NZ would run fowl of various NZ legislation allowing equal access to all facilities for all people (irrespective of disabilty).

When booking U it says that Pax must be able to ascend steps unaided.

It does seem like it'll be harder to upgrade to business premier, but premium economy is certainly a welcome addition, particularly if they serve premium food/wine and you can sit on the upper deck away from the "noise" at the back of the plane.

I have always championed NZ's premier (First and Business) class award availability. I read somewhere in another thread that someone had looked for seats in a fairly wide date range, and came up with nothing.

This is an excerpt from the Herald:
Air NZ is reconfiguring its 747-400s to have 36 Business Premier seats at the front of the main deck and a further 10 on the upper deck, 23 Pacific Premium Economy seats also on the upper deck and 324 Pacific Economy seats on the main deck. End of quote.

So, I looked at overall Premier cabin with the new seating arrangement vs the old. Currently a NZ 747 has 12 F seats and 56 J/C for a total of 68. This is changing to a total of 46 Premier seats, a 32% reduction. The number of economy seats increases, I consider the new Premium Economy to still be economy.
I fear this will not bode well for overall seat availability let alone award seat availability. I have been on many NZ flights when the Premier cabins have been full or almost full.

What do others think?