Flew AKL-SFO NZ8 on ZK-NZI yesterday. Got upgraded to Luxe front row window, which was nice (and my first "upgrade" without points or $$ for as long as I can remember). It's more than six years since I got test the three varieties of new seat in that Freemans Bay warehouse (and said "no, I wouldn't pay more for the front row" so that's nice!)
Overall, a fantastic improvement (more privacy, no seat-flip to sleep, bigger screen, revised IFE) but quite a number of teething problems (below). Crew were great - very helpful - even though for some of them it was their first real flight experience of the new cabin.
The challenges, which I am sure will get solved soon:
1. IFE restarted at least 5x (possibly just my seat in some cases but at least 3x for all cabins)
2. Manual safety demo, because of #1
3. My shoulder belt didn't retract / tighten - had to push it back in to get any tension it
4. Seat would not recline past half-way - screen said "remove obstruction - call crew" but no-one could figure it out so it was released manually to flat. Fortunately, it would still move upwards electronically, so i could sleep at my preferred 20 degrees angle
5. the mattress topper from the "old" cabin was a bit mixed. I'm not sure if fitted properly or perhaps was not laid out perfectly - as it created a kind of gutter effect with the sides curled up against the seat sides.
6. i got a few splashes of condensation on braking after landing from the ceiling panels - probably nothing to do with the cabin refit
7. the new big screen was impressive. it was too far away to easily reach so I used the detachable remote - but unfortunately that often froze as well.
8. the new ability to use your phone as a remote helped solve that problem (#7) - great new feature.
9. Wifi was more intermittent than normal - again not sure if that was an IFE refit issue or not
10. table seemed good to me - larger and pretty stable
11. cubby for water bottle and other things worked well
12. though the cupboard, charging ports and light button were quite hard to reach - right behind me - too the side would have been easier
13. privacy - seat across the aisle was clearly visible before take off and until I could close back half of divider. and shutting front half completely closed off to head height which felt much nicer. big improvement all round
14. overall extra space for Luxe was nice - room to put my jacket / blanket etc without impinging on sleeping space. I feel like the seat / ottoman alignment / level wasn't 100%. Didn't feel as natural as on United and other comparable seats. Maybe just my feet / legs!
Hope this is of interest to others.