serfty

That blog is by a moderator who lives in NZ.

For more on the poor fit of the PE seats for anyone of average size or more, see here:FWIW, the changes to the Business Premium, while relatively minor have enhanced the BP travel experience manyfold - mainly due to the improved bedding with it's thicker mattress/underlay.

birder

Because I can't view seat selection before purchasing a ticket with Air NZ, I am not going to fly on any 777-300 flights unless I am booked in premium economy or business. There are only a few decent economy seats, and every elite stuck in Y will be trying to get them. I thought flying on the 767 TT was like being a farm animal crammed in a pen - this looks far worse. If I could view seat selection first, then I could see if I could get one of the decent Y seats, and I would be willing to fly.

lindsaygardiner

Some of my pics from the open day. Nearly impossible to get out of a Y+ window seat; so much so that there is a seat guide showing you how to get out! Couldn't really get the recline/tilt on the seats working either.

You can definitely notice the narrow aisles, especially yesterday when people were watching demos of the skycouch and there was no room at all to pass them to get to the back of the plane.

skyglow1

Nice pics lindsaygardiner. Currently drooling over the BP pictures

irmster

Not sure why. Main change seems to be a change of colour.

Given me the front section on a 744 any day.

Reason077

I recently flew the 777-300 in Y (NZ6 AKL-LAX) and have to agree that the new economy product is a step backward, in both cabin comfort and service levels.

The Cabin:

Economy class is a numbers game these days, and we already knew that Air NZ are squeezing more seats into less space with the new product. As such, leg-room is tight and the aisles are very narrow. But, no surprises there.

What is surprising is that the new seat-back seems much (as in several inches!) thicker than the old design, which reduces the already limited personal space. There is a cut-out for your knees, so its not quite as bad as it sounds, but the size of the seat-backs really reduces the feeling of spaciousness in an already cramped cabin - especially when the seat in front of you reclines.

The folding tray table is awkward and the drinks holder, while an interesting design, is rather dinky and useless as it can't hold anything bigger than a small plastic cup. The water-bottle holder in the old Y seat was much more useful!

Why did they bother keeping the remote control, when everything in the new IFE can be controlled by the touch screen? Ditching the remote would have resulted in a simpler, more elegant, and probably thinner seat-back.

I did like the improved headrest and the fact that the arm-rests now go all the way up, but I think they would have been much better off refreshing the old seat design, simply updating it with the new IFE screen, headrest, upholstery, etc.

On the bright side, the IFE system is hugely improved. The new touch screen interface is easy to navigate, screen is larger and movies are proper widescreen (something not always found on airline widescreen displays!). The interactive airshow was a bit below par as it seems to refresh very slowly, but hopefully they'll fix that in a software update.

Service:

Cabin comfort aside, the biggest disappointment for me was the downgrade in the economy service levels.

Due to the narrow aisles, meals are now served in two courses from a single, small cart. Where previously there would be two large carts, one for drinks and one for meals, with each cart "operated" by two FAs, there is now a single cart with meals served by a single FA. This makes the service GLACIALLY slow, as the solitary FA has to take the cart back and forth to the galley multiple times to refill. Aside from warm, bad-tasting water in plastic cups, there was no pre-dinner drinks offered on our flight, despite this being listed in the (now electronic, IFE based) dinner menu. Near the back of the economy cabin, it was over 2 1/2 hours into the flight before we got any service at all, and then after the first course & (one) drink we had another long wait for desert & coffee. Very poor.

Quality of the meals was good, although portions are now somewhat smaller. The cheese plate for desert was a definite win, as was the breakfast bacon roll - both downsized versions of our business class favourites. Smaller but just as tasty!

The next day we continued to LHR on NZ2 and had an absolutely fantastic flight on the 747 - fast, efficient service, far more leg-room, multiple drink runs, and great meals - a real reminder of how fantastic NZ's economy product can be and a stark contrast to NZ6 the day before.

Obviously NZ are still fine-tuning the new product and hopefully they'll figure out how to make the service faster, at least - but for now its a disappointment and I'll be avoiding the 777-300 in Y, if possible.

skyglow1

Forgive me if I have not traveled in the nose of the 747 as regularly as you have :/

stupidhead

seems to be the trend on most airlines that have Y+ or are putting in Y+.

NZ*Trout

It's even simpler for me - I'll avoid the 773 until such time as I know it will be a comfortable flight. I've let AirNZ know that and had a substantial chat with the NZ's Head of Loyalty about why the 773 blows and all their other nonsense - rico, S2S, and the all around cheapness that they are engaging in. The only saving grace is that some people are listening, and NZ will generally make changes if things aren't working out

Freeth

Anyone know why the regular posters on FT from NZ have been silent since Jan? I'm sure there is still an NZ presence monitoring the forum, but have they been told not to post replies?

wayoutwest

Oh, the cheek
As if they would be just watching (don't people get locked up for watching).

But yes they have gone silent, even if you email them directly and raise issues they do not respond - maybe a new policy of being like the new engines, they look fine but don't make much noise, or maybe they did a trip in the new economy product and are stuck in the seats

nz_crew

As of tonight (the inaugural NZ2 773 service) a lot of service changes will go into effect. Yes, management listened, and I thank them for that.

Business Premier will be reverting to fullsize carts in the cabin, preset trays and desserts, and many behind the scenes changes to the meal assembly to assist with plating and heat control - this should allow the inflight 'chef' to have more of a presence in the cabin.

Economy will be reverting to a tray-based meal with dessert and cheese/crackers already set, avoiding the need for a separate collect-in and hot beverage/dessert cart. This should hugely speed up the service for economy crew.

Here's some sample menus from the NZ2 supper service:

Business Premier:

Fast Dine Supper
Enjoy our Fast Dine option of hot soup, chunky bread
and dessert as a quick bite to eat before going to sleep
-
Roast pumpkin, ginger and red capsicum soup
with pumpkin seed pesto – Dairy free Peter Gordon
-
Dessert trio of chocolate and kahlua truffle slice, lime and mango
lamington and vanilla bean panna cotta Geoff Scott

Full Service Supper
To begin
Prawn cocktail with avocado and cocktail sauce Rex Morgan

From the bakery
Turkish bread, Garlic bread, Dark rye with caraway seed bread

Mains
Seared beef eye fillet steak with bearnaise butter
and black olive Cabernet jus, golden kumara and thyme gratin
and green beans (Geoff Scott)
-
Roast free range chicken breast stuffed with porcini
mascarpone on spinach gnocchi, carrot, herbs and rocket
(Peter Gordon)
-
Light option of mushroom, spinach and feta strudel
with roasted tomatoes, beetroot and orange relish (Rex Morgan)
-
Salad of wood smoked salmon with cherry tomatoes
and mango tarragon and ginger dressing (Peter Gordon)
-
Angus Pure beef burger with salad greens, caramelised onions,
cheese and bacon served with beetroot and horopito chutney

To finish
Ice cream sundae of vanilla bean ice cream with brown sugar
and vanilla roasted pear sauce and caramel popcorn (Geoff Scott)
-
Dessert trio of chocolate and kahlua truffle slice, lime and mango
lamington and vanilla bean panna cotta (Geoff Scott)
-
Fresh fruit selection
-
Kapiti Kakariki brie, Kapiti Kahurangi blue and Kapiti aged cheddar
served with quince paste, fig relish and cracker selection

brenrox

I would doubt they have been silenced. This is a pretty good source of free market research for them. I'm sure they will be back when they need opinions on something.

Aerosett

Thanks for posting the update, we always appreciate your input here.

It sounds like the service has returned to a conventional style of service, with many of the unique features/innovations gone? Understand the service was very time consuming for crew though.

Just to check, will the food in BP still be cooked onboard, or will it be reheated as per today? The menu sounds fairly similar to the old style of BP meal service, so trying to understand what improvements there are with the new service compared to the old 744/772 service?

Given preset trays, does this mean that the "trait" (tray plate) concept is gone in BP?

On a final note, any chance you could post a BP menu for NZ1 LAX-AKL and a menu for Premium Economy/Economy? Am trying out the new service soon, so quite curious

nz_crew

Aerosett,

It was a lovely service in many ways, but the passenger feedback was that it took too long, and increasing crewing levels financially wasn't an option.

The BP meals are now a kind of hybrid - they aren't just a casserole that's reheated (ie, steaks can still be done medium rare, the meals are plated prior to serving etc) but a lot of it is now loaded preassembled. IMO it will still be a big improvement taste wise, but since it debuts tonight I'll leave it to the passengers to judge! I think the idea is once the new-technology induction ovens are back to a full complement onboard (after the initial problems they are proving to work well now) the food offering will be expanded again.

Yes, the 'trate' is gone in Economy, to be replaced with small trays like we used to have on the Tasman. The burgers are also gone. Crew will still be serving their own quarter-cabin solo, but with fullsize carts.

Here's the BP menu for NZ1 LAX-AKL as you requested:

Fast Dine Supper

Enjoy our Fast Dine option of hot soup, chunky bread
and dessert as a quick bite to eat before going to sleep
Potato, leek and watercress soup with red capsicum cream
Rex Morgan
-
Dessert trio of chocolate, cherry pecan brownie, raspberry almond
cake, meringue with lemon curd, blackberry and toasted rice
Peter Gordon


Supper
To begin
Cured and seared tuna with salad ratatouille
and lobster mayonnaise Geoff Scott
-
From the bakery
Wholegrain sourdough bread, garlic bread, black olive bread

Mains

Pan fried cod with scallop, wilted spinach, fried shallots
and cherry tomatoes Rex Morgan
-
Chefs Selection Plate - Enjoy a variety of flavours inspired by
Geoff Scott
Balik smoked salmon with karengo mayonnaise
Fennel and mushroom salad with coriander seeds and raisins
Honey soy glazed pork belly
Sumac chicken with minted yoghurt and lime
-
Seared New Zealand lamb loin with jicama slaw and yellow bell
pepper salsa, potatoes, onions and broccolini Peter Gordon
-
Vegetarian risotto with radicchio, asparagus, pea and basil, offered
with rocket and parmesan salad and lemon vinaigrette Geoff Scott
-
Salad of star anise duck, cucumber, soba noodles
and black bean dressing Rex Morgan

To finish
Ice cream sundae with soy coconut caramel sauce
and macadamia nut praline Peter Gordon
-
Dessert trio of chocolate, cherry pecan brownie, raspberry almond
cake, meringue with lemon curd, blackberry and toasted rice
Peter Gordon
-
Fresh fruit selection
-
Kapiti Kakariki brie, Kapiti Kahurangi blue and Kapiti aged cheddar served
with quince paste, fig relish and cracker selection


Premium Economy NZ1:

Seared New Zealand
lamb loin with Lyonnaise
potatoes, broccolini
with lemon and tomato
salsa
-
Salad of star anise duck,
cucumber, soba noodles,
black bean dressing
-
Pan seared cod with lemon
caper sauce, steamed
baby potatoes, spinach
and caramelised shallots
-
Tasting Plate Selection - Cold
smoked salmon with karengo
mayonnaise, glazed pork belly
confi t and sumac chicken with
minted yoghurt and lime