ft101

It wasn't the NZ service bit that was made up, it was that free market forces will make purchasers go for quality over price.

avcritic

Allegedly ME3 consistently did two things 1) Capacity Dumping 2) Price Lowering.

But gave different rational in different countries why local competition almost vanished.

1) South Africa - SAA - Bad management
2) India - AI - Poor service and bad management
3) Australia - QF - They wanted us
4) UK -BA - WW future job opportunities
5) USA - US3 - Bad product and bad service

None of these previously stated reasons are valid for NZ. So if NZ's load factors fall and yields get trashed, it would be just because of capacity dumping and price lowering.

DYKWIA

Or maybe people don't want to go through the pantomime at LAX?

eternaltransit

And the new one-stops to all of the destinations not served by *A in Europe from Asia/US hubs

kuroko

maybe it helps someone: they told me that I could rebook to the direct fly free of charge as long at is on the same day and same booking class available - quite generous!

Kamadan

Letsee...
A380 F suite Vs 77L F suite, I'd say you are ever so slightly better off on the direct 77L
http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...ich-is-better/

A380 J fully-flat/direct aisle access all seats Vs 777L J angled-flat 2-3-2 layout
Not to mention that on-board A380 bar at the back... I'd pick A380

A380 Y 18" 10-abreast Vs 777L Y "barely" 17" 10-abreast
Surely that's a no-brainer?

Seriously, unless you're booked into an F suite, you are better off with a short-hop Trans Tasman in Aussie, stretch your legs instead of a sub-par Y and J product for 17 hours non-stop... unless you REALLY value that extra 3 hours shaved by the direct service, which would connect you to almost the same onwards Europe flights anyway.

Of course they'd be generous in waiving any change fees for you to switch to the direct service, no doubt to help fill the plane up... like someone mentioned above, notice how Emirates nor the NZ media even makes mention of the utter sardine can that is Economy on their 777? Yeah... I wouldn't too if I work for EK PR...

eternaltransit

Agree about F and J products - although, I prefer the J service on the 777 fleet much more than the A380 seat and find 12hr flights in the J product adequate (YMMV), but there is one thing about the Y product on the 77L - assuming it's not going to be very busy because of everyone saying the seat width is awful compared with the 777 product, that means someone travelling on it is more likely to get a whole row, or seat next them free, which is much better than being on a full A380

Also, the 2-4-2 seats at the back of the 777 are better for aisle pax because the feeling of comfort in a seat is really about the shoulder width rather than seat pitch, imho.

kuroko

I have anyway stops in Asia in the routing so not an option however thought maybe someone (booked in Y) is willing to fly it direct - at least it is free of charge.

Totally agree would never fly direkt in the 777

eternaltransit

Except if I had a guaranteed row of 4 in Y!

F excepted of course!

kuroko

Of course but you wont have it guaranteed (officially at least )

Think it's a good way to move people from the always busy AU flights to the direct flight to NZ. A lot of people are saying here that they wont fly that long etc however people from AKL have now the possibility with a 1 stopp connection to nearly every destination (and vice versa) and some of them are going to take time over comfort (and to be honest 15h in a 777 in Y or 13.5h in a 380 - are both flights you'll need a wheelchair )

pomkiwi

Well I've decided to give it a try outbound in April as I will appreciate a few extra hours in AKL. It looks like a long stretch even up front - I will report back. Returning from CHC and will take the leisurely route - 777 to SYD and then connect to the 380 service to DXB

m3red

For me personally for that distance its A380 in F every time.

17 hours in J or even in Suites on a 777 is too much - I'd appreciate the shower and bar to stretch the legs.

pomkiwi

I think that I probably agree with you - hence the homeward routing. Going out however the 3 hours or so will make a difference - and it's only 15hrs 55mins

cavemanzk

Looks like AKL-DXB EK449 on 2/3/16 is now to be operated by an A388 rather than the 77L.

They haven't changed the rest of the week yet, wonder if its just high loads or they are having second thoughts about the 77L range on this route?

It will be tight with 4x EK A388 all in AKL at once

skywardhunter

77L has a minimally longer theoretical range. On 28 April I see a A388 direct but with a technical stop in MEL subtly mentioned, perhaps you missed this and that A388 is actually also stopping over in MEL on the way? Other days end of April are still 77L