UA does not ot have an option for a Skycouch. Even if additional cost, some Y pax may prefer to pay that and have some comfort AKL-SFO/LAX etc.
I saw quite a number of people on the A side of NZ 284 on their Skycouch. On UA 916, with that "200 empty seats" and thus completely open cabins, very few people actually took advantage of the free "Y lie-flats" as I call them. It was weird. For the better part of 12 hours, they could have slept sort-of-sideways.
(One one particular AC B789 YVR-TPE, the Y cabin was also almost empty and when I took a walk, almost everyone back there took a row of seats and made their own beds.)
And then there is that thing called service and food. NZ vs UA ?
It isn't always about inches.
