Phantomchickenz81

Family of four from Auckland to Singapore next January. Premium Economy pricing near identical on NZ and SQ. 787-9 for NZ, and A350-900 on SQ. Which is the better product and why?

nzkarit

What is important for you in a PE seat?

raznz

personally i think the (physical) NZ PE seat is better, but you do get BTC on SQ

also if it matters to you, you get more Status points on the NZ flight

Phantomchickenz81

Primarily comfort and legroom (182cm). Secondary would be food and IFE.

kiwifrequentflyer

Air NZ is probably better but they are so similar that I would let other factors win out such as:

* Which do I want status points with
* Who has the better flight times that fits with my schedule better

Phantomchickenz81

Yep, looking at schedules too and they’re broadly equal. I’ll likely credit the miles to Virgin Atlantic either way, as I only make it to NZ every 4-5 years. I don’t think either would earn me tier points there.

akl_cat

Did AKL-SIN-AKL in PE just a few months ago, AKL-SIN with NZ on 789 and SIN-AKL with SQ on 359.

I have to say hands down NZ wins by a wide margin. NZ PE is 2-3-2 whereas SQ is 2-4-2 and that made a massive difference. Service-wise you get a differential offering from Y with NZ (premium dining, overnight pack, separate bathrooms), but with SQ it's virtually the same as Y (same food, no overnight pack, sharing bathrooms with Y which is a massive letdown).

Edit: Although I see you are flying as a fam of 4. Maybe the 2-4-2 layout on SQ is a better fit for your group, but I think you can spread the group across two rows of two on NZ

kiwifrequentflyer

All things equal I would choose Air NZ.

Rebound

Air NZ Seat for sure

Phantomchickenz81

Very helpful, thanks. Two rows of two will be perfectly fine.

progapanda

I've done this route recently on both SQ and NZ. The NZ seat does indeed have more pitch (as others have noted) but I find the SQ seat to have better padding. SQ has larger PTVs and champagne, but NZ has amenity kits, slightly better food and more choice in wines (I say that as a vegetarian). The point about shared lavatories with Y is in my view not a big deal because at least on the 789 V1, NZ only has one dedicated lavatory for PE (789 V2 may be better?) and it's not like they put in a lot of effort to discourage Y passengers from accessing it. While it may depend on the crews and how busy they are, I found the SQ crews did a better job of keeping the lavatories in better condition. NZ also allows PE passengers to use Premium Check-In at AKL but I actually found it to be busier than just the standard self-check in queues.

kiwifrequentflyer

My experience has been that Y passengers rarely use the PE bathroom

libertyuk

NZ without a doubt, in part because SQ's A350s are inferior to other SQ aircraft in PE.

One problem with the A350 is that although it has a wider fuselage than a 787, the class that doesn't benefit from this is PE. A350s are wider than 787s, but it means narrower seats in a 2-4-2 configuration in PE compared to 2-3-2 in PE on a 787. NZ has greater seat pitch and seat width than SQ.

NZJuniorDoc

having flown both in the last year, NZ Y+ is light years ahead of SQ Y+. if you're comparing NZ283/SQ285, the times are similar enough to choose based on seat
NZ Y+
- 41-42" pitch- business catering (packaged slightly differently)
- use business toilets and seen as a more premium cabin- small amenity pouch
- served by business/Y+ crew (less stretched)
SQ Y+
- 38" pitch- catering is economy. Basically the different between Y+/Y meal trays on SQ is that the Y+ has a small appetizer like a pasta salad or something- no amenity anything- served by Y crew

jawnbc

I too would vote NZ for the seat. SQ's PE is good, but NZ's is a wee bit better, in terms of the seat.