Air New Zealand Air Points - Hong Kong-Auckland

Now, I'm about to purchase a ticket for HKG-AKL, I was wondering what Air NZ's Pacific Economy is like, such as the catering, the seat, entertainment and service?

How does it compare to Cathay Pacific's Economy in the same manner?

NZ is very good in economy. 34" pitch on 747 (32" on 777). AVOD IFE with PTV in every seat. Food & drink good. Service good.

Edit: How embarrassing. My apologies, I didn't read the post carefully enough. Removed my Premium Economy comments.....

So in AirNZ Economy, there's more legroom on the 747's, 34" and 17.8" width, compared to Cathay's 32" and 17.5 on the A340-300 2 class which seems to be the main A/C doing the direct flights to AKL.

Cheers
TiggerK

TiggerK is referring to PREMIUM economy not pacific (ie non-premium) economy. Apples and oranges. Of course premium economy on NZ will be better than economy on CX.

I give NZ Economy a ^

tht

TiggerK is referring to PREMIUM economy not pacific (ie non-premium) economy. Apples and oranges. Of course premium economy on NZ will be better than economy on CX.

I understand that, but I'm trying to get a good comparison between those two carriers' Standard Economy Class product and services.

-With NZ, I get AVOD (CX doesn't offer AVOD in Economy at the moment for this route).

Anybody have trip reports with regards to the CX's 2-Class A340s in Economy? and/or one of those TRs from NZ 744 in Pacific (Standard) Economy?

Sure I have plenty of trip reports on NZ economy. As I said above it is one of the best (regular) economy products anywhere.

We recently travelled YVR-AKL on NZ in Y.

Service was on the 777, 2" less legroom than the 747.

NZ's onboard service was excellent, this includes food, wine, timeliness of food and wine delivery as well as tray removal. FAs were all attentive and genuine.
AVOD worked perfectly.
Seats are as nice as a Y seat could be.

Would I do it again? Yes, in January 2009.

Does NZ have in-seat telephones (or on-board phones) in Standard Economy Class?

Yes, there are inseat telephones fitted to every seat on 772 and 744 aircraft.

Unfortunately, they don't function currently, mainly because there's no capable coverage over the Pacific and to activate them for solely LAX-LHR and HKG-LHR routes would be cost-prohibitive. But they are there for the future, when the coverage will surely be better.

Having travelled on CX on that route recently I would have to reccommend NZ. CX were absolutely appalling for seat comfort, meal quality and Crew friendliness. Big thumbs down! :td:

Interesting you should say that - my anecdotal, unofficial experiences are that feedback on CX was overwhelmingly positive until roughly 2 years ago, when it all started going downhill. Since then, the majority of feedback I've received, especially from Y class passengers, is that CX was quite bad.

I wonder what happened to cause this?

You are right. I used to swear by them. For a long time they had reasonable J/C fares and my partner and I enjoyed travelling PER -HKG regularly with them.

I found it begun to deteriorate after they won a few awards and upgraded their cabins.

When I was working LH for QF I would often hear or be confronted with constant comments from passengers (especially when we flew PER - SIN - HKG and not direct) comparing us negatively to CX. Those tables have turned, but the relationship between QF and CX is still not a great one.

Sorry to go a bit OT..

Yes, there are inseat telephones fitted to every seat on 772 and 744 aircraft.

Unfortunately, they don't function currently, mainly because there's no capable coverage over the Pacific and to activate them for solely LAX-LHR and HKG-LHR routes would be cost-prohibitive. But they are there for the future, when the coverage will surely be better.

Please keep them non-functioning forever, ever and ever.

Please keep them non-functioning forever, ever and ever.The phones charge USD 10 per minute so that should keep the usage down -- not many are willing to have a higher phone bill inflight than their airfare!

Sorry I know this is a bit OT but do Air NZ offer in-town-check-in at Kowloon Station in Hong Kong? I cant find the info on their website anywhere, I am assuming yes.

Am burning up my QF FF points with a J/P trip to LHR but cant get from HKG back to NZ at a decent time so was going to buy a cheap Y ticket HKG/AKL on NZ or CX. Sounds like NZ is the one to go with on this route.

Not 100% but most airlines do provided it is covered by their representing airline. Im not sure who handles NZ in HKG.