I didn't notice much difference in seat size, however the "inner" (B/J) 773 beds seem a bit shorter to me compared to the old 744 ones. However the window seats (A/K) seem to benefit from an extra few cm of length due to the curve of the cabin wall.

Also, the new ottoman is smaller than the old one and not really practical any more for "dining together". Tried it, but it was pretty uncomfortable for sitting.

But I agree that the new BP is, overall, a big improvement.

That's interesting - on the 773 I was in a window seat, whereas on the 772 we had the "inner" seats (I've always been able to avoid them before). Perhaps some of the size perception was due to that.

The larger ottoman on the old design may be part of the reason for the feeling of less space. Re the dining option, we did actually use for dining 'a deux' and it was OK (I was the one sitting on the ottoman, so I should know). I never tried it in the old one so I can't compare to that.

Interesting, I found the 773 seat longer than the old 744. I couldn't touch the end of the ottoman on 773. Both seats were on the 'A' side.

Loved the 773, hated the 744.

Service flows have been reverted more or less to what is used on the 744/772 so that is understandable.

To be honest, I find the red wine and champagne glasses to be a bit funky. Prefer the more traditional glasses on other aircraft.

Me too! They feel wrong for champagne; and I'm not sure about them for red wine: I tend to served get a massive pour which is not, in itself, a bad thing, but having the crew come back to check you're not p!ssed and say you've demolished three bottles of Syrah by yourself is disconcerting.

The glasses will also skate off the Premium Economy tray tables with ease - but then the table surfaces are like teflon.

The red wine glasses are designed to be self righting in the event they fall over, but if they fail to stay on the tray table, I guess that is of benefit to Business Premier only.Welcome to my world!

We're not checking to see if you're pissed... we're checking for signs of life (and to determine if some kind or support group counselling may be required).
:D

So what happened to them ?

From what I've been told, the induction ovens have been removed due to reliability problems.

A pity, as the concept was quite promising.

So, in the absence of the convection ovens, is there anything different about the way the food is prepared on the 773s compared to the 772/744 (besides the plates it's served on)? Our food on the 773 LAX-AKL was markedly superior to subsequent flights AKL-SYD (772) and AKL-SFO (744).

I agree with whoever posted that the older style seats do somehow feel smaller than the new 773 ones. I had a comfortable night's sleep on last night's NZ8 but it just felt less roomy and a bit less comfortable - as if there were a few more edges and obstructions or something. The mattress pads do help but for me the 773 BP product is now the clear favourite, and the much improved cabin ambience beats out the nostalgic charms and quietness/privacy of the nose of the 744 (though I'll be sad to see that go, too). I even thought the 773 Y+ product looked preferable to upper deck 744 Y+... though I say that as someone who only sat in the seat for a few minutes, and didn't try to sleep in it.

Just to clarify, they were induction ovens, not convection ovens.

Originally food would have been cooked from scratch, now it is reheated onboard and then plated.

The old product had meals reheated in casserole dishes, the new product has reheated food, however it is plated onboard for better presentation and quality (e.g. you don't have vegetables sitting in sauces for hours going soggy).

Lying down in PE?
 

Some of the posts in this forum mention the ability to lie down across the two middle seats if one of the seats is unoccupied. Does anyone have any experience trying to lie down across the seats when flying with a partner? The NZ YouTube video shows that this is possible, but one never knows if these are real sized people in these promos.

Also, is there any way that two people traveling in the left and right seat pairs can have more space by sleeping on/against one another?

Having flown in a left window PE seat there is no way you could make use of the other seat for sleepng.

It's possible on the inner seats, but don't expect it to be like a lie-flat bed. It's more a case of slouching over each other, rather than really lying down.

On the outer seats, no chance. The outer seats are angled in such a way as to keep each seat relatively private with a bit of a dividing wall, so there's really no option for making use of both.

Flew AKL-LAX last week in PE (26A, window seat) and have to say the privacy was fantastic, also I managed to get very comfortable and got a solid 7 hours sleep - all other aspects of the flight were also great (crew, food and wine)