Premium Economy?
 

I'm thinking of purchasing a premium economy fare to Auckland from Boston, connecting through SFO or LAX. What are the key differences from a regular economy ticket? Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

Key differences are a higher ticket price, more personal space, a better seat, slightly better food and drink and more personalised service. Lots of details on the airline's website.

Bear in mind the improved product is unlikely to apply for the SFO/LAX-BOS sector, which will be dependent on what booking class applies to the respective carrier (presumably United or Virgin America).

However for AKL-SFO/LAX it will be a substantially better product on the 777-300s.

Depending on when you are looking to fly, it is likely that the few 777-200 flights on these routes (NZ4/3 to LAX and one of the weekly SFO flights, plus any additional services that might be scheduled) will still have the much inferior premium economy product (the fleet is being upgraded, but at present the upgraded aircraft are not regularly rostered on the US routes) which is essentially a similar seat to economy with 10 inches more legroom, a bit more recline and catering/drinks service closer to business class than economy. However, NZ2/1, NZ6/5 and most NZ8/7 services are operated by 777-300s which have a vastly different seating product to economy.

I flew Auckland to Tokoyo and thought the economy premium was well worth it. The food and service is a vast improvement over standard economy.

I can get upgrades from E to EP cheaply so it comes down to the price difference but I think for the long haul flight go for it if you can.

Flew NZ1 AKL-LAX return on 773 in PE July last year. Worth every cent. Spent the extra to secure 23 A/B for wife and I. The amount of room at the bulk head is just massive. I genuinely felt like I had as much legroom as BP. Just wish there was a proper leg rest. The food is meh for me. The extra baggage allowance can save a small amount of cash if you are intending to take more than the traditional economy allowance. As mentioned earlier by liberty the 773 space seats are vastly different to the 772 seats. When doing any bookings make sure you get the NZ1/2 OR NZ5/6 flights if using LAX

Do not fly on the 772! My wife and I are returning to NZ in about 2 months and I've purposefully planned our trip to take flights on the 773. I wanted to originally return on a Saturday, but the 772 was the only flight that was a reasonable price. Alas, I'm returning on a Friday just to stay in the 773.

Agree,

The 772 old seats in PE are not worth it at all - better off just paying the extra for the exit row in Economy!

Thanks very much for these helpful comments and feedback. The extra leg room and better food and beverage seem enticing for the long flight. Dates I'm going would be NZ 4 and 5 via LAX. Are those the 777-300s?

The bulkhead seats are that much better? I recently flew on a AA 738 in the US, and sat a the bulk head in first class. I was rather disappointed because the legroom was not nearly as good as the other 3 1st class rows. My feet hit the wall and couldn't completely stretch out, whereas the other 3 rows allow your legs to go under the seat in front of you giving you more room.

777-300ER - Flights
NZ 1/2 AKL-LAX-LHR-LAX-AKL
NZ 5/6 AKL-LAX-AKL
NZ 7/8 AKL-SFO-AKL (expect one day an week, its an 772)

777-200ER - Flights
NZ 3/4 AKL-LAX-AKL
NZ 14/15 AKL-SFO-AKL

Interesting. Do they do this when the load is less than a 773 requires or is this because of an equipment issue? I ask because wouldn't a full 773 have to bump a bunch of people to fit in a 772?

A little bit of both. When Air NZ changed this route from the 744 they had to launch twice daily services on some days to have the same number of seats on the route.

Air NZ don't substitute or bump people, the schedules are fixed.

Oh...the "one day a week" is actually a fixed and known scheduled flight on a 772. Okay, that makes sense.

NZ7/8 runs as a 772 one day a week to create a window (Tuesday to Thursday New Zealand time) for scheduled 773 hangar visits.

Shorthaul substitutions do happen but are fairly infrequent. Longhaul are even rarer. Off hand I can think of one case in the past year (there could be more) where NZ2 ran as a 772 (delayed) to LAX then a 773 took over to LHR. It's an operational nightmare to do such a thing with vastly different seating capacities in the various classes across the two machines (especially J).

Although it should be clear from what others have said, the short answer is no for NZ4, yes for NZ5. Unless the fare difference or connections are prohibitive, I'd change NZ4 to NZ6 or NZ2 if you want the 777-300 product.