avishwanath28

I'm planning to go to New Zealand in February, and for my return flight, I can fly United or Air New Zealand for approximately the same price (~$600 on Air New Zealand vs 40K miles on United), with both options connecting AKL-SFO-ORD. As I have Gold status on United, I can sit in Economy Plus (which looks to have 34 inches from SeatGuru), or I can sit in regular Economy on Air New Zealand (32 inches, I believe).

I've heard Air New Zealand is better, but for those who have flown the AKL-SFO route before, does the product outweigh United's enough to justify losing the two inches of legroom on a 12 hour flight?

PsiFighter37

Whether you fly UA or NZ back, it's going to be 3-4-3 in the back (unless you go for PE in NZ). I would personally just take the extra legroom on UA, since the hard product isn't going to be much different on either (at least based on my experience doing 3-4-3 on AKL-SYD).

hoobly

I've flown both (Air NZ many times, UA less often), and would usually choose NZ if everything else, like price and the possibility of upgrading, was equal.

For me, the economy seats on both are equally (un?)comfortable and I prefer the service on NZ. I think the Skycouch seats in the forward economy cabin (which are the three seats adjacent to the window) are 33".

GordonGordon

For NZ flight to SFO, few rows at the front of economy class have skycouch seats. If you have gold status you are allowed to choose the skycouch seats in advance, but the only problem is whether there will be a stranger sitting on the same row. If not, the skycouch is great for 12 hrs flight, even for couple.

Have a look the skycouch seats on NZ 777-300 and 777-200:

narvik

As the global race for lowest cost & highest profits makes all such long flights [almost] unbearable, there isn't much difference in seat comfort or service nowadays between airlines.
With how you presented this, I'd probably choose UA for comfort in E+, but I calculate your pricing slightly differently: NZ you say is ~$600 and UA is 40k miles? 40k miles to me is worth $800.
For this reason, I might choose NZ.
BUT also worth considering: booking with award miles on UA will likely give you better/cheaper change/refund options should your plans change.

avishwanath28

Thanks for the advice everyone. My plan is to fly solo... from what I've seen online, that would seem to mitigate the value of it, but I imagine it's still better than regular economy if it blocks off the middle seat.

Also, am I able to get SkyCouch if I book the ticket through United (in other words, if it's ticketed as a United flight) or do I have to book it through Air New Zealand?

GordonGordon

Definitely yes. I had many 016 award tickets by UA for NZ flights in the past and was able to get the better seats exclusively for frequent flyer and star gold member (yellow color on the seat map when you choose your seat online in advance and it's free of charge) and the skycouch seats are also in yellow and are usually on ABC and HJK sides. I don't remember seeing skycouch seats at the middle column DEFG. If you can't choose the yellow seats, it's either all seats are taken or your MP number is not entered in the system.



http://first2board.com/wanderlusty/2...ight-skycouch/

Kacee

I consistently redeem at 2 cpm or higher as well, but I think a more objective valuation of UA miles these days is 1.5 cpm. Especially for a Y redemption.

narvik

I found myself -over the last 18 months or so- buying more and more miles at 2 cpm and using them for business AND economy flights because of the benefit of the US$0.00 fee as a 1K for redeposit of miles when things change. I booked way too many one-way award tickets this year. So much so, that I am struggling to hit the US$12'000 PQD requirement this year.
Overall, I found it less expensive to book award tickets in certain cases with purchased miles at 2 cpm than buying refundable fares.
The benefit of the lenient change/cancel procedure has worked in my favor many times, and as such, I still value the miles at 2 cpm, even for Y redemption.

Your mileage may vary......and because UA's award system is such a great tool/implementation for me, my pessimistic guess is UA will devaluate it soon...

findark

I would fly more award tickets if they didn't earn 0 PQD and 0 PQM

At this point I save my miles for 3-cabin F (something I would pretty much never pay for, so it's a fun treat), and high-value last minute redemptions.

lhrsfo

I absolutely agree about real value lieing in the flexibility of award tickets. Normally I don't need it but when I do, I always buy an award ticket. If my plans firm up and cash tickets are still an acceptable price, I'll swap it for a cash ticket - otherwise I stick with the reward ticket.

PsuedoEuropeanGuy

Holy shamoly.

What happens if its a stranger next to you and they want to cuddle?