NZbutterfly

I receive wine in a plastic cup in economy (not just Air NZ), so it's not a foreign concept to me having it in PE either.
Less chance of it breaking if it falls on the floor as well. That's a bonus.

In terms of PE experience the seat comfort itself, the space, the crew weigh far more heavily into my 'entire' PE experience than a plastic cup does which is why I disagree with the word 'entire' being in there. I'm actually probably more bothered with what goes into the cup that what it's served in. Bad wine is always going to be bad wine no matter what glass it's served in.

My valuation of a plastic cup being used to serve a single drink on an aircraft is 0.00000000001c
Some others may place more value on it than that but surely it's not much more.

I'm aware people have different expectations and they're entitled to that.

kiwicyclo

kiwifrequentflyer

I've got to be honest. And I mean this in the nicest way - but having the WHOLE experience cheapened by one single drink in a plastic cup, would be viewed by most people as a bit pretentious but that could be a New Zealand thing. I have enough people think I'm pretentious for refusing to fly Economy. If I said this to them, they would lose their minds

mad_atta

I agree that Skytrax awards / methodology are pretty suspect (Singapore Airlines wins the best first class lounge in Asia and best business class lounge in Asia?! Seriously!?!?) but in this instance I think they got it right. I'm bitter about NZ's PE wines being downgraded, but overall I think it's a fantastic product and all in all the best I've tried. Qantas runs it close in terms of soft product but their seat and pitch is less; by all accounts Virgin Australia does too, with lots of pitch, but their seat design is basic; SQ and CI are a noticeable step down from NZ too. The one product which might give it a run for its money is JL, at least in terms of seat, but I think their soft product is more Y like (not that I've had a chance to try it).

While I love the comfort of business class and fly it when I can, I'd fairly cheerfully fly a couple of longhauls back to back in PE on NZ and arrive in pretty good shape and well rested - J is an indulgence but PE is enough to travel comfortably and well. With NZ's squeezy Y product and ageing J product, I reckon PE is the sweet spot in NZ's range (and much more impressive compared to peers than Y or J are).

Biz_Traveller

100% agree with mad_atta - I have always looked at Premium Economy as a much better Economy option rather than a lesser Business Premier one.

We would all happily travel Business Premier all the time, but the reality is that for most of us, this is not possible. My recent Premium Economy experiences (including NZ1 & NZ2) have been fantastic - also for me, this is indeed the Air New Zealand sweet spot.

Air New Zealand has nailed the balance between the right amount hard and soft of product that delivers; cost-effective travel, passenger comfort with an overall better (than economy) experience.

If this means the odd plastic wineglass - so be it!

sbiddle

I too think PE is a great offer - and especially for long day flights such as Honolulu and Japan I think it's actually a better offering than BP. Despite not liking the Zodiac seats for sleeping I actually think they're more comfortable for a 8 hours sitting upright than the BP seat.

$220 Elite APD upgrades to PE are an absolute no brainer when flying long haul.

poopbunny

It does not seem like that long ago,in TT economy we got glassware (if I remember correctly, with a short stem).
So plastic for PE = Sad

sbiddle

Glassware us used for all drinks apart from the first one.