SeaMeFly

AirNZboy,

One question, why do you guys do the pre-landing 2nd service 3 hours before landing into AKL (NZ3 LAX-AKL)? It would be nice to let pax to sleep a bit longer, don't you think?

It was strange because usually on other airlines, we know when the 2nd service is served, we only have 2 hours ahead of us and by the time the service is done, we have about 45 mins to landing, not 1.5 hours with nothing to do and no video is shown either.

Kiwi Flyer

It doesnt show up well on the seatmap, but for 737 dom config seats 1DEF have much more legroom than 1ABC

MRSTARALLIANCE

Thanks Airnzboy, thats fantastic

Dave

air_boi

On most daylight flights (which NZ3 Lax-Akl essentially is) where there are 2 main meal services, the inflight standard is for there to be 6 hours between the meal services. On these daylight flights, the passengers start to get irritable and begin asking for more food if not feed sooner. This differs to the longer night flights (NZ 1/5 Lax-Akl) where the passengers prefer to sleep and be woken for breakfast prior to arival.

Kiwi Flyer

Yes that is my experience - NZ3 meal is 3 hours before arriving at AKL whereas NZ1 1.5/2 hours.

I actually prefer this. On NZ3 the 11:30pm arrival time means a late dinner time, and on NZ1 the 5:30am means an early breakfast.

[This message has been edited by Kiwi Flyer (edited Dec 27, 2003).]

glg

I'm going to be in coach on a 763 in March and am *G (UA). What rows are held? Exit? Is 19 my best bet?

Kiwi Flyer

Glg, you can see this in the seatmap in NZ's booking engine. Not airnzboy's link above, but where you make a (dummy) booking and select seats. They are marked as premium (coloured green).

glg

Gee, I do the same thing on ua.com all the time (which has the same itn backend), you'd think I'd have figured that out myself

Okay, did that. I notice the greens at the front of the cabin (looks like 8-11), but exit row isn't available. Can that not be prebooked or would one need to prove status to see it at all? On ua.com, you can't see availability if you aren't at least Premier Exec (*G), wondering if that's the case here too.

Thanks!

mad_atta

Just thought I'd contribute some info on the puddlejumpers (i.e. Beech 1900Ds) that occurred to me on my recent flights in and out of Blenheim.

- Rows 1 and 2 have no windows, so avoid them if you are a view junkie. However they do have some good points: Seat 2A has the most legroom on the plane, as there is no seat 1A; and seat 1F has a pretty good view into the cockpit if you're interested in watching the pilots at work.
- Row 3 is my pick for most unobstructed view: any further back and your view becomes obstructed by wing and engines
- The exit rows have no additional room compared to the others
- It's worth knowing in advance that there are no overhead lockers, so all carry-on has to fit in the (small) space under the seat in front

Nice features of the 1900s are the tall cabin (even lanky ol' me can stand up straight) and the individual air vents, which are very effective.

Also, a couple of impressions of the A320: both times I've flown it (on different a/c each time) I've been in the second exit row at 12F. As far as I could see, the legroom / personal space in the exit rows is identical to the other rows. Row 11, the first exit row, is best avoided due to non-reclining seats. On the whole it's a great aircraft but I did notice that on descent, there was condensation between the two layers of the window which ruined the view - on the first a/c, this problem seemed to be confined just to my seat but on the second a/c it appeared that a number of the other windows were also fogged, so I'm not sure if this is just an exit-row problem. I did notice extra noise coming from the overwing exit itself (wind noise etc) so I'd advise trying to get one of the seats further forward, especially since service starts from the front and it seems slower than it used to be.

Still on the subject of seating, but off on a bit of a tangent: will AirNZ cheerfully block off middle seats for *G's? I've never asked, but since I'm a window seat boy and the other half loves aisles, it would be handy to have the middle seat blocked...

mad_atta

By the way, just noticed a slight mistake in airnzboy's otherwise excellent and comprehensive seating information above - the business class seat width is shown as being the same in 744/763/762. In fact the seats are wider in the 747 and 737 (international config) than the 763 and 762, due to AirNZ's decision to install 2+2+2 seating in the 763/2. I'm not sure whether the 19.5" width refers to the wider or the narrower seats...

Kiwi Flyer

The planes to Nelson etc (the Metroliner I think rather than the Saab??) also have no bins, carry on under the seat. There have been a few times mine didnt fit (despite having deliberately taken smaller carry on than usual on the main routes)

Digressing, but I love the baggage service at the smaller centres. In many cases the bags are ready outside before you even make it out of the terminal.

Slightly off topic, but on an SQ flight from SIN last year there was really bad condensation inside the plane before take-off. I and several others got quite wet as the plane was full and we couldnt move to get away from it. The FAs said dont worry its perfectly normal, happens all the time. However I've never experienced condensation to that extent inside before. Any thoughts?

Kiwi Flyer

Any word on when the new biz class seats are being installed?

hardydoug

airnzboy
Just wondering if you have any onfo on LHR to AKL route with the proposed larger economy seating layout.
I read somewhere that NZ may drop First class and do some sort of enhanced economy cabin, like Virgin do.
Any info?

mad_atta

All the Metroliners and Bandeirantes are gone from the domestic fleet (as of early to mid last year I think) and AFAIK the Saabs are the smallest aircraft operated to Nelson. The Saabs do have some overhead locker space but it is pretty limited, as the lockers only run down one side of the cabin and are pretty shallow to begin with:
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/151356/M/

Kiwi Flyer

If the flying pencils are gone then only a/c into NSN is Saab. Its a long time since Fokker Friendships flew there