Air New Zealand Air Points - USA to AKL; Where to sit?

I am booking a Y class seat from either LAX or SFO to AKL in the next few days and I understand Air NZ flies 2 versions of the 747 on these routes; can anyone recommend one over the other? I hear that Y class on Air NZ is a great product but where are the best seats? Or which seats should I avoid? What about the LAX-AKL routes through NAN or PPT that use a 767?

I am also a Premier Exec (Star Alliance Gold) member with United; is there any chance of me upgrading on an Air NZ trans-pacific flight? I understand I can’t use UA MP Miles to upgrade, but I hear that a complimentary upgrade could be a possibility, is this true? If so, are certain routes and/or aircraft more likely for one of these upgrades?

I’ve never flown Air NZ before and any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Clint

Hi Clift

Alas, complimentary upgrades on NZ are very rare indeed so you can forget that one.

I would suggest going via SFO to fly either the new 772 or the refitted 744.

I have no suggestion where to sit in Y but I gotta tell you, when I flew the refiitted 744 AKL SYD in J I had a meander down to Y and it was bloody impressive in comparison to the old product ^

You will really enjoy Air New Zealand after some of those sometimes murky US airlines.

Enjoy Air New Zealand and New Zealand

Cheers
Brent

Welcome milehighflyer,
For seating advice check out the Ultimate Seating Thread at the top of the forum.

Obviously as MrSydney said the new configuration is the one to go for - though if travelling later into next year the direct LAX-AKL services will have the new product as well. The 767 services are to avoid because 1) aircraft are worse, 2) there is a stop which increases the flight time.

The Y class of 777 aircraft has a slightly wider seat with 2" less pitch, while on the 747 is slightly narrower but has an extra 2" pitch. As a UA*G member you obviously get the usual *G privileges and you can pre allocate in the first few rows of Y however as MrSydney said NZ do not just give out upgrades willy nilly. Generally in the rare instances when op-ups are required they go for their own FFers.

Thank you both for your quick response.

I must be going blind as I completed missed the Ultimate Seating Thread and that was exactly what I need. Thanks pointing that out.

I figured that an upgrade would be tough (if not impossible) to come by but no harm in asking around. Everyone’s rave reviews of Air NZ Y makes me less apprehensive about the 12+ hour flight.

I’ll be heading to AKL sometime next month, before the 777 are brought in, so I will take your advice and go for the refitted 747. I’m a slimmer guy anyway so I would rather have the extra pitch than the extra width. It looks like NZ 1/2 and NZ 7/8 use the refitted 747, so I’ve got a choice between LAX and SFO.

Thanks again,
Clint

I’ll be heading to AKL sometime next month, before the 777 are brought in, so I will take your advice and go for the refitted 747. I’m a slimmer guy anyway so I would rather have the extra pitch than the extra width. It looks like NZ 1/2 and NZ 7/8 use the refitted 747, so I’ve got a choice between LAX and SFO.Keep in mind that there will then only be 3 refitted 747s and the SFO services are guaranteed with the new config. NZ1/2 requires 3 aircraft to operate all services so there will only be a chance of a refit on those services until the 777s are introduced.

Keep in mind that there will then only be 3 refitted 747s and the SFO services are guaranteed with the new config. NZ1/2 requires 3 aircraft to operate all services so there will only be a chance of a refit on those services until the 777s are introduced.

Am I reading the Air NZ schedule wrong then? When I check the LAX-AKL route on the web site I see that starting Nov 4/5th they appear to have the 747 refit on NZ 1/2. The Flight Schedule page on the web site seems to refer to the newly refitted 747 as '744' and the existing version as '74E' or Mixed-Configuration. This seems backwards to me although the seat maps shown when attempting to book these flights seems to confirm this. The refitted 747 economy starts at row 31 while the existing 747 configuration has economy starting at row 23.

I am considering the LAX-AKL service since it more frequent than SFO-AKL, so let me know if I am off on this as I would really like to fly on the refitted 747.

From memory, '74E' means '747-Equipment Varies'. 744 can be either old or new config 747.