Originally Posted by Zaco

First Class was a large step up in terms of food and wine - for example the wine list was printed ahead of each flight and so could be smaller runs from more boutique vinyards, the champers was often vintage Dom (e.g. 1996 in 2003). There was a soup/salad course, better meals (e.g. I remember a starter of seared scallopes out of London that was divine). Plates were full size and no trays. But as DCF mentioned the big difference was space. The forward cabin on the 744s is currently 14 seats in 7 rows, and in FC it was 12 in 3 rows. Seats were the older style, think big reclining armchair, but pitch was amazing - you couldn't touch the seat in front, even with legs - had to get up and walk to the seat pocket in front. The cabin fixtures that currently take up the centre space (and mean e.g. you now can't see 7A from 7K) weren't there, so the middle was just this vast open space. During the flight a wheeled trolly would be set up in the middle area with wines/snacks, but otherwise it was all open. It was obviously more exclusive, on disembarkation Business would be held back if exiting from 1L, first class lounges in Auckland, London (UA) etc. AirNZ used to offer FC on NAN-LAX and possibly other non core routes (though not Japan IIRC). It was a great product, but moving to the new J config was absolutely the right decision from a commercial perspective.

Cheers, Zac