It is my 4th long haul (New Zealand to Europe/Africa) in the past 2 years, all have been in Y with the exception of one leg in NZ's PE cabin. So by my conservative estimate that amounts to over 100,000 miles in economy class (and this does not include many Trans-Tasman and NZ domestic flights) I have yet to find the experience painful but that is probably because I have yet to taste the joys of first/business class travel.

Trip 1 (October 2009): AKL-BKK-FCO / LHR-BKK-AKL
The first trip to Europe was with Thai via Bangkok. I absolutely adored this trip - I was able to watch plenty of movies on the first leg to BKK. The 2nd leg to FCO took us right over India during the night and the mass of lights shining up from their mega-cities was amazing. I think that because it was my first journey to Europe my excitement took over.

Trip 2 (June 2010): AKL-SIN-JNB-KUL-AKL
I flew Singapore on the way to South Africa and Malaysia on the way back, but with decent stop overs. Again, all flights were comfortable and the excitement of heading over to the World Cup made the entire journey a breeze. Malaysia was insanely comfortable on the way home - their economy class product is the best I have experienced (and have flown economy in NZ, LH, SQ, MH, TG, EK, EY, BI, DJ and JQ. Of those, the Emirates 777 was the worst)

Trip 3 (October 2010): AKL-HKG-LHR-LAX-AKL
One week in London, flew there and back on Air NZ for the first time. Good service, comfortable seating and the transit through LAX was no worse then through HKG except for the lack of shower facilities in the holding pen at LAX for economy passengers.

Trip 4 (Dec/Jan 2011): AKL-NRT-FRA-NRT-AKL
Flew Air NZ to Tokyo on Christmas Day and got a NZ*S upgrade to PE. The extra leg room was superb, even had a spare seat next to me as well. This was a day time flight followed by a night in a hotel in Narita so when I arrived in Frankfurt on LH's A380 I was relaxed and full of energy. Coming home, my NZ upgrade to PE was confirmed and I had another enjoyable flight.

It really is a matter of attitude when flying economy. I cannot afford to fly Business/First and I guess that I do not know what I am missing out on. The idea of a lie-flat bed sounds wonderful, but until I have the money to buy it on a regular basis then I am going to enjoy each and every 26-40 hour journey to Europe in Y because it is the only way to reach new destinations.