Dickie Lee

Hello,

First time posting but I was recommended to ask your collective help.

My wife and I are trying to get from London to Wellington to visit relatives for xmas (or around that time). We prefer not to stop off anywhere as it is really is a flying visit. The plan was out on the 20th Dec and back on about the 7th Jan.

The problem is the prices seem crazy high. Cheapest is economy with AirNZ for £1600+ each. I'm 6'4" and the thought of 28 hrs in economy is almost too much to bear. Premium economy is probably going to be the way forward. Do these prices fluctuate? Is it worth holding out in the hope that they come down? I think the cheapest PE was about £2800. I think I could justify that if it was business but PE.....?

Any tips or advice to getting us there without spending that amount and not in economy would be hugely appreciated.....although I appreciate I may be living in dreamland.

Thanks in anticipation

Cholula

Hi Dickie Lee and welcome to FT!

We're going to move your thread to the Regional Travel forum which cover New Zealand. I'm sure the friendly experts there will have some suggestions for you.

Good luck.


______________________

Cholula
CommunityBuzz Co-Moderator

Mwenenzi

That is PEAK travel time for NZ Aust. 7 Jan being the first weekend after New Year will be super PEAK. That weekend flights will be full
Keep looking but fares unlikely to get lower. Look at fares to AKL by Air NZ, Qantas, Emirates, any one and with a seperately purchased domestic fare AKL-WLG on Air NZ

number_6

Prices are quite high from Dec 7 to Jan 7, as there is very high demand. You pay 50%+ more for those dates, and this has been the case for every year in the past few decades. Air NZ does have an interesting option on a few of their planes: Sky Couch (or something like that name). Only offered if 2 people are traveling, you pay for 3 Y seats and get a row of 3 seats that fold into a bed; fine for 2 people snuggling ... quite a clever idea, and better than PE, at least for sleeping. Food etc. is Y though, as is the normal non-couch legroom.

You really have no alternatives if locked in to those dates, except maybe flying via China or Malaysia with a stopover. Air Asia X does offer an LCC business class, which may be an alternative for you.

Leumas

I think you pay for 2 1/2 Y seats, but get 3.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/intern...le-me-sideways

Dickie Lee

Thnaks so much. Yes looked at Skycouch. It would mean an extra £1700 for us which means the price is similar to going PE - I think PE would be better?

Another question then, does anyone have any preference for PE. The new 777 looks very fancy, I have just read very mixed reports in terms of reclining of seats (not much as in a shell) and hardness of seats. Was wondering if the old 747 PE may be better. That would also mean we could go via HK and not have to do the LAX nightmare. When I looked at pacific PE the seat width was less than an inch wider than economy as opposed the the 777.

Any strong feelings?

Thanks again

trooper

IMO the 747 PE is definitely the best of the breed... (especially the main deck pairs... YMMV!)

Although with the apparent improvement to the new version (removal of a row) things might even out a bit!

I have used points to upgrade a friend to both the old and new PE.. and - as an "always economy" flyer - she thought BOTH were pretty decent.. then again she is about 5'4"!

number_6

Disclaimer: I've only flown F on NZ, so no experience with their PE product, and Skycouch is very new. From what I've read and pics, and talking to some pax on the shuttle bus at LAX who had just flown Skycouch, it seems that Skycouch is more comfortable for sleeping than PE and close enough as a seat. Obviously you don't get the PE food and service, but I'd pick Skycouch over PE. I'm not convinced that PE has that much extra leg room that it matters (but then I'm only 6' and not 6'4").

cavemanzk

LHR-HKG-AKL isn't a 744 its a 772 with a narrow PE seat in 3-3-3.

Pretty much all the 744s do now is SFO Daily & Vancouver at peak periods.
All 6 where parked up at Auckland the otherday.

joannemb

Hi, you have picked peak time as others have noted. You might look at extending the stay and see if after the 7th flight prices drop. We forgot to book a flight last year going back and forth between AKL and Sydney and the flight we normally pay no more than $180 NZ for was $799 minimum, no bag no meal!

Try looking at going via Sydney or Brisbane with China Airlines (flt 52 and 51 go AKL to SYD and there is one that does Brisbane as well then I believe they go onto Taipei). or China Southern have just started a new route to Sydney as well.

I don't know what they do out of Heathrow but they do some great flights out of Taipei a few days a week that go from Sydney or Brisbane into AKL and I have taken the planes and they are new and nice and full service. When we were having our troubles in January I could get their business class seat for the price of economy on Jetstar!!! (That was the $799). They don't always come up on flight searches on the internet though so check with a TA. Their own websiste for China Airline is a bit dire to try and use.

Sydney airport has a new hotel at the airport which is almost on the concourse so you could do a very easy sleepover. Rydges. . Husband stayed there a few motnsh ago and said basic but very comfortable beds. If you then had to do a 3.5 hour across the ditch flight to Wellington if might work out a lot cheaper than trying to get to NZ. Which doesn't have huge capacity and not a lot of sales around Xmas time. BTW, book whatever you need in advance for NZ as well as lots of people will be holidaying locally and you will get slim pickings if you wait.

Register with Air Newzealand for when they have sales. Also their Grabaseat.com advice. Maybe nothing will come up, but you never know.

Took the skycouch up from AKL to LAX last week. You will be better off in PE. The seats aren't exactly next to each other in PE and they don't recline, the seat slips forward and the foot rest is a dodgy looking bean bag, would have been too low for me. I have short legs and no support in the knees.

Skycouch was good for us as we took 9 seats for the 5 of us (3 kids) my husband had his own 3 seats which he made into a bed. He didn't want to be separated from the family. Aaaaah. Skycouch seats have a foot rest of sorts and the recline is good as well as the TV and the charging of items and the big pillows but there is no way at 6ft 4 you would be able to share with another adult so you would have to buy all 4 seats and even then I think it would add up to same price as business. I would go business in one sector and economy in the other (day flight) if I had to choose what to do. That way one was sit up and the other lay down. Probably would do the shortest sector sit up? You would enjoy the space in sky couch with your wife if only to have the extra seat between you and she could sleep with her legs up on you. But I don't think you would be really happy with it as a choice for yourself.

Anway try China Southern or China Airlines and see what they can offer in business class. Just check the type of plane and business class seat configuration.

joannemb

Sky couch works like this. There is a section on the plane that are 'skycouch configured'. They are a bank of 3 seats on either side of the plane in the first section of economy. If there are 3 of you in the seats you pay a nominal fee to be in that section and get a matress protector pad, and some big pillows and the ability to have a footrest and in seat charging that is not offered in all section of the plane. The arm rests also fully raise up which I am told they do not do in all of economy.
If there are two of you, you purchase 1 seat and then share the 3 seats. As I said previously at 5ft 1 inches long and 79 cm wide (and less if the person in front reclines) there is no way you could both lie down. The best you would do is just have more space. My husband at 5ft 11 was able to sleep very happily in the sky couch but we purchased the 2 extra seats for him. The two boys 12 and 14 (5ft) shared 3 seats and myself and my daughter (5ft and 5ft 4) shared one. We found it difficult to get comfy to sleep lying down and we aren't huge. It really isn't for two adults or even one and a kid over 4ft to enjoy sleeping lying down. But it does work for just giving you more space, a footrest, arm rests that go up and in seat universal power charging. I wouldn't worry about econmy food and tv as it is all good in econony and you can order drinks and snacks from the TV when the meal service is not happening so that is a bit of fun. Though on the 747 400 as the seats recline quite well it is a bit difficult watching TV when the person in front reclines, and the TV doesn't angle up that well. Might be a problem for you being so tall. The boy next to me was about your height and he just looked absurd sitting in the economy seat on that plane. The aisles are also super narrow as it is a 3, 4, 3 configuration so there is no sticking you feet into the aisle to get more comfy. There are some seats up the back of the plane that are a 2 seat config and that gets you off the aisle, I think you have to pay more to book them as preferred seating and not sure if you are guaranteed them.

bensyd

As this thread is nearly three years old I think the OP has probably been and gone.