Originally Posted by
SgtRyan
Hi guys,
Looking at expeida and it seems next month flights from London to SAN are at a silly price of £300 - bargin for this time of year. I was thinking of making a trip again and flying with US Air because I would look to upgrade from LON-PHL or CLT. ( I would have flown UA and upgraded but the days of paying £350 to upgrade on UA seem to be gone and its more like £500)
However, while looking at the price to upgrade etc, I was thinking if I should maybe fly Air New Zealand's Premium coach class? Is that better then envoy? Ive flown envoy loads of times back in the day and that was really nice. However, for more or less the same price I can buy a stright Premuim coach class with Air New Zealand and get the 1.5 miles.
Your thoughts are welcomed.
Cheers ^
I've only flown NZ in biz, and I can say that it was a very comfortable flight with attentive service, great food, and an excellent wine list (all of which is served to premium economy, iirc). The seat on US in Envoy would be more comfortable (assuming that you're able to score the upgrade), whereas all other aspects of comfort weigh in favor of NZ. I'm not sure how long it has been since you've flown Envoy, but if it was more than 3-4 years ago, then forget everything you once knew about it. The product is "ok" these days, but it isn't going to win any awards. Also be advised that the Envoy cabin on the 333 has 12 fewer seats than it once did, thereby reducing the likelihood of last minute upgrades (though many people have success). Note also that US now serves LGW & LHR with a mix of 757/767/A333, which all have different seat counts up front (12/18/29).
One other item of note is that the domestic US fleet no longer has IFE or Powerports. Thus you might be better entertained if you skipped the CLT/PHL > SAN segment.
If you think you'll be comfortable in the seat, and the other comforts (and added miles) are important to you, then I'd go with the NZ flight. Just be sure to get a seat that can't see into the business cabin, you won't want to be staring at those flat beds.
Edited to add: NZ also has a "comfort seats" option on long hauls. I don't know how it works exactly, or whether it applies to E+, but the gist is that you can pay a fee at check-in to have the seat next to you blocked so that no one can select it.