smanch

I rarely fly business but just needed to do a brief trip to Europe where I wouldn't have enough time to recuperate without it. I flew SQ J AKL-SIN-AMS / AMS-SIN and then NZ J SIN-AKL and boyyy was NZ not even close to as good (both soft and hard product). The 787 biz seats are just tiny relative to SQ's product and it's especially noticeable for someone tall like me. The total lack of privacy is wild...a bunch of feet in my face whenever I got up. And I don't know if they were understaffed or what but only two FAs for the entire cabin meant they were literally running back and forth to get the dinner service done in time for landing (at one point crashing into a passenger who'd gone to the loo). Next time I'll try to get SQ the whole way, which was really excellent. (Maybe next time the new BP seats will be installed .... I usually fly premium econ anyways.

edmm

Not only that, we always get really well treated by SQ. We have flown with them several times, always in J, NZ ticketed, and they treat us like we are valued customers. The food is good, particularly out of SIN.

smanch

My only complaint was there was too *much* food ... a good problem to have! Nice wine sélection on SQ too, far better than NZ, which feels like heresy haha

Xiaotung

I am not sure about Christopher Luxon, but the current CEO Greg Foran thinks it's a good idea to keep using a Business product of the early 2000's in 2023 and well into 2024.

CHCflyer

The 787 business stalls are too narrow, with an arm rest missing on one side. Makes for asymmetrical sitting. Really annoying when you are on the ORD flight.
They missed a trick under Luxon to redesign when they got the 787. Instead they shaved some cms off the width off the seats to squeeze those 777 seats onto the 787.

SqKiwi

The Pinot on SIN-AKL in July was No Body’s Hero (never heard of it) which at the time was $15 at
New World. The taste reflected the price
of course, no wifi either.

samjnz

correction: “well into 2028” (given the 777 fleet)

sbiddle

At the very minimum. I don't see the 77W fleet being gone by 2028.

As for the new seats and cabin reconfig on the current Dreamliner fleet we know this isn't going to start until after the 2x new 789s arrive in Sep & Oct 2024 and that it will be a multi year project to upgrade them all so you're probably looking at some point in 2026 before this is completed.

taupo

The OPs comments echo my sentiments.

NZ has rested on its laurels for too long.
It has relied on the New Zealand, All Blacks, LoTR brand along with being pretty much the only option.

We (international travellers) now have options.
For the past 20+ years, shortest, easiest route (YVR-AKL-YVR) has been important, that’s about to change.
For my four trips a year to NZ, I no longer stick to NZ for all the reasons previously stated.
Between terrible cabin layout, poor service onboard, very limited app and online capabilities, terrible call centre wait times, insistence on a $50 fee for a service I should be able to do online, time to use other options.

mosfet

I've been on a golden run of getting NZ J for 'free' / discounted. RU from a status match, one gifted from a mate, and then a couple of award seats on IAH - AKL return which I napped with VA points. No sour grapes from me but christ, it's a joke!

Four flights and have only had one special meal loaded and despite requesting well ahead of time, never a big deal to me but annoying. After asking if I could reserve a veggie option they had on the menu before take off I was told maybe if there is one left and quote 'Well it's not my fault so I don't know what you want me to do about it'. The lady next to me was as stunned as I was and took time to express to me she had 'no idea what her problem was'.

I can take the outdated seat, potato-quality screen, and Y-quality meal on a nice plate but the .... service from a senior citizen with a carrot up their ... is just perplexing to me. If your hard product is lacking at least make sure you have good service. My previous experiences are around 2014/15 where the crew was young, friendly, and made me feel welcome.

As a JFK-based flyer, I can't find a reason to book NZ. QF offers a much more compelling product and service.

Thai-Kiwi

Please email [email protected]. Pretty please….

mosfet

Only because the legend himself (hope that's the right one) Thai Kiwi asked me to! Always appreciate your posts on FT mate!

Back in 2016, I emailed Chris Luxton just to say how proud I was that my band was being used as the take-off and landing, and thanks. To his credit, he emailed me back and asked me my thoughts on NZ as a US-based flyer. I told him Airpoints was an average program and they needed a new seat as it was outdated.

SDB22

Nobody’s Hero is a second tier grocery brand of Framingham. I’d guess circa $12-13 + GST trade price to Air NZ.
Without doubt the wine selection in BP/PE has gone south since the covid restart.

Speargrass Flat

My thoughts too. I have been always very loyal to Airnz, but call center wait times are starting to do my head in. A lot of the calls would likely be avoided, thereby lowering the wait times, if you were simply allowed to do more things online.

What really gets me is that if you book a flight - in any class - on the Airnz Canada website with internal NZ segments (YVR thru AKL to ZQN etc) you can't select the domestic seats on the website. It started quite recently during the pandemic, was never an issue prior. This then forces a needless and asinine phonecall via the call center. I've complained about this many times to many different staff, who mostly admit there is an issue, but they are powerless to change it obviously.

taupo

I have wasted so many hours for that same reason.
To add insult to injury they add a $50 fee.
I’ve asked for reimbursement of my time, to no avail needless to say