I hear what you say about the allowance still being plenty. I just wondered if on the balance of things e.g. inconvenience of LAX transit and immigration stuff, service considerations (esp as they're still using the Clasic 747s), whether it would make a difference.

I will be getting *A Gold Status this year, so will be able to take 2 x 20Kgs via Asia, which will be plenty for me. I may have flown via Asia anyway because of this new status, but the downgrading of the baggage allowance has just made me look twice at my options I suppose, instead of it being a no-brainer Air NZ decision.