brenrox

+1

mad_atta

Yep, great photos indeed!

What I'm really impatient for is a report on the new PE seats. Did either of you try them, even momentarily? What's the verdict?

ANZ787900

Yes, I did. Sorry, too lazy to go through and upload more photos.. Maybe I'll write a trip report but by the time I do, it'll be severely obsolete

As you may be aware, it's basically the same Y+ seat as CX. The major advantage over the CX product is that NZ has put in sufficient legroom in order to install a proper footrest for every seat. CX's bulkhead seats have proper legrests but everyone else has a pathetic thing they call a 'footrest' that drops down from the seat in front. The footrest is very manoeuvrable and can be set up in many different positions, thanks to the height of the bar being adjustable (there's a little switch like lever on the legrest which you pull, enabling the adjustment of the footrest). So a child could make full use of the footrest as well as a decently tall adult. I'm 1.7m so I can't tell you what it'd be like for a 6ft tall person, though I imagine there could be some use out of the footrest. NZ has seemed to make improvements to the headrest for both Y+ and Y - they seem to click into place and hold the position better.

IFE is excellent. Touch screen, but also with a remote control for Y+. Check out the youtube clip I took on the awesome scrolling capability of the new Panasonic eXlite below. The screen was a bit too far away from me when I was reclined and the person in front wasn't so the remote might come in handy, even if scrolling using your finger is actually quicker. Then you have the usual accessories like a power point and USB port each. Interestingly, the way the IFE is designed, there's also a single headphone jack point underneath the monitors, as well as a double jack in the armrest. It meant I didn't need to get my adaptor out for my QC20s - I just used the jack under the screen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gsi...ature=youtu.be

The 2-3-2 configuration is comfortable - at no point did I feel cramped.

The seat itself is very comfortable. I would be very happy with that seat for a long haul flight. Then again, the bulkhead Y seat (the only Y twosome at 34JK) was also very comfortable and had plenty of legroom too.

A couple of decent guides here:

http://www.ausbt.com.au/air-new-zeal...ainment-system

http://www.ausbt.com.au/air-new-zeal...my-seat-review

mad_atta

Thanks for the great summary, ANZ787900. Sounds like a great upgrade on the 772-style seats.

Two other quick questions if you don't mind: have you tried the 773 PE spaceseats, and if so, how did you find they compared? Also, how was the recline on the new seats - good enough for some comfortable sleep?

ANZ787900

No worries. Yes, a big upgrade from the 772 seat.

Umm seeing that I haven't flown long haul in the spaceseat, it's hard to judge. But I can see how it could be limiting to quite a lot of people. As the new Y+ is more conventional, it seems to work much better than the spaceseat (for both passenger and Air NZ). The footrest is very practical (beanbags aren't offered on TT flights) and much better for positioning. I personally think if they gave an extra inch or two of recline, it would make that seat so much better. But I'm not taking anything away from from what's provided now - I'd be very comfortable sleeping in it. Of course, that depends on your ability to sleep in plane seats and I'm one of those who can sleep in them - got 12 hrs sleep on SYD-LAX in UA Y earlier this year.

VHOEJ

Anyone know if the 787-9 will continue to do SYD/AKL runs into September?

SeriouslyLost

...your plan was subtle until then, alien, but now you have revealed yourself through your mistake: no human could sleep in UA Y.

oranjemakker

Wow, reading about the new PE seats, seems like they are nearly as good as the 767 J seats (though "good" is not usually the term i would use to describe the 767 seats!) ... or is that pushing the comparison too far?

ANZ787900

I reckon it's not far off in terms of actual comfort. A lot less recline (9" vs 15") than the 763 J seat and less legroom too (41" vs 50"). But then you add in the IFE and power port..