MrSydney

Trooper

Yous should be fine for 2 Oct as that flight is showing as a 744. International timetables usually change aroung March and October though with the changes to daylight saving in both Australia and NZ this may change.

Cheers

trooper

Thanks Mate,

I haven't rung in seating requests yet (WHY can't we pick them online when booking!!! Waaaah!! ) so I'll try to absolutely/positively confirm that then...

And see about changing the flight home... fares for that flight are still the same - through the ANZ booking engine anyway- as I paid so it should just be the 150+50 each for the change... if it was just me I'd chalk it up to experience.. but with Mum along...if the 777 isn't as comfortable in PE.. and that seems to be the consensus... then I better change!

This website is a REAL resource.. particularly for us l;ess experienced travellers....

ELCRI

Trooper

As posted before, by all means if possible, go with the 747. Be mindful of the stairs to upper deck, they are somewhat steep and narrow. Also, when I made my reservations back in July for my recent trip, I made seat requests in PE, but these were changed 3 times before my flight. Probably not common, but it did happen. Air New Zealand only told me that they do not guarantee seat assignments . Good luck.

trooper

And with ANZ check in at Sydney now handled by Qantas (?) it seems harder than ever to ensure you get the seats you want out of AKL...

Ah well.. we'll see how we go....

I've been in PE both upstairs and down... and I really lean towards 27-30 A/C on the main deck.... personal preference I suppose!!!

The worst thing on this trip is that I can't even put in for upgrades.... I don't have the Airpoints "status" to "gift" and try for an upgrade for Mum.... so there is no way I'll be putting in for them myself... THAT would be a "nice" move wouldn't it??

So... more important still to get on the 744......

daveh03

Since no-one has done a complete mini-review for a while.... So you get an idea of my expectations, I fly Y+ on UA quite a bit, and have flown Y on NZ in the past.

Route / Plane: LHR-HKG 747
Day/Night flight: night
Seat No. (aisle / window / middle) 23C upper deck, aisle
Check in ok? yes - there was no queue at LHR for check-in at all (even for Y, it seemed)
Seat comfort (width ok?): i had no-one sitting next to me (the flight was not full, there were 3 empty PE seats upstairs), so the width wasn't a problem. The recline is excellent. I put the seat rest up; it might not be obvious, but you can pull out the lower section (metal bar) and kick it up higher; however, I'm 5'10 and that meant my calves were resting on a 2" wide bar, which was not comfortable. I tried putting the pillow under them, but it wasn't wide enough. In the end, I slept v. well with the footrest in the highest position, with my feet flat on the bottom of the rest (legs together and bent).

Legroom: it's fine. The earlier comments regarding the window seats: you can put your feet up on the storage boxes, which seemed v. comfortable.

Ease of getting in and out: if the row in front have their seats reclined, forget it. However, the seats seem quite sturdy, and leaning on the seats doesn't seem to have much of an effect (happened to me a few times, but barely noticed it).

Food: NZ food has always been very good (in comparison with other Y offerings). Starter of salad, main options were lamb shank (which I thought was very good), wok-seared cod, or a chicken dish. Dessert was cheesecake (good) + cheese and biscuits, plus what I thought was a large glass of port! (compared to a normal port / sherry glass). Breakfast was fruit plate + cereal + croissant/toast + hot dish (I had chicken noodles which were fine) + tea/coffee.



Drink: copious amounts of tea/coffee after dinner. pre-flight drinks (included something white, sparkling and alcoholic ). The menu card mentioned the 42 below cocktails, but I didn't try one


FA attentiveness: Two french LHR-based females. The dinner service seemed a bit of a shambles -- it took a long time to sort out the main course. However, personally, I quite liked it as I don't like being rushed through meals.

AVOD: Noise-cancelling headphones. Choice of movies was okay, but some things didn't seem available even though they appeared on the menus (NZ - Eng Rugby game from 2005). It isn't responsive, but they did make an announcement to do things slowly when they switched it on. The airshow is very pretty, but not very useful - the ETA isn't updated during the flight, and they don't show altitude, so you don't know how far through the descent you are. (And you can't listen to music at the same time). They switched the main entertainment system off (leaving only the pretty, but useless airshow) and stole the headphones at the top of the descent.

Would you do it again? Yes. I wasn't paying, though. I don't know what you get in Y, but the eyeshades were better than any other Y offering (if such a thing exists), and eyeshades + earplugs + n/c headphones = 6 hours v. solid sleep. The food was fine, and I think that the service is that much better than Y (you don't have to rush through your meal, because they can -- and often do -- walk through the cabin to remove used dishes/cups etc. when you're done with them). The cabin was also very quiet -- no kids, and the toilet/pax ratio is much better than Y.

Put it this way, I would happily take PE over BP, regardless of who was paying. The only thing (significant to me) that would make BP worthwhile is lounge access (I'm not *G), but not worth the difference in fare.

At the time of booking, it was £1200 r/t LHR-HKG, which was £800 cheaper than the BA offering (which is quite a similar product). There is a lot of competition for LHR-HKG (11 flights each way / day), so Y fares are cheap as chips; so , if I were doing on my own money, probably i would take Y.

But, overall, I think it is a good product, but it is quite pricey compared with Y (which is itself v. good by comparison, and certainly much better than Y+ on UA).

Dave

trooper

Just to confirm...

I rang NZ today to make seating requests... spoke to a GEM of an emplyee by the name of Emma... Kiwi accent and all.... VERY competent and helpful!

Was only on hold for a couple/three minutes as well....

NZ 2 and NZ 1 in October are BOTH 744...... ^ ^ ^

teamspeedy

Route/Plane: AKL-LAX -NZ5
Day//Night: Night
Seat:23C upper deck, aisle
Check in: Checked in Sydney not the best experience, first and only time my carry on has been weighted, check in person not friendly
Seat Comfort: Width wasn't a problem as i'm skinny, recline good, Foot Bar useless as everyone else has said, but i still had it out/up as it seemed to extend the seat cushion 1-2 cm. I also got a 5-6 hrs of sleep (a first in who knows how many flights)

Legroom: excellent i could extend my legs out with touching the seat in front (another first (i'm 6ft)
Ease of getting in and out: good i had the asile, not so good for the middle,window

Food: EXECELLENT,
STARTER
Manuka poached king prawns with fennel, baby curly endive, mango and dill dressing
MAIN: Roast fillet of New Zealand beef with a blue cheese and oxtail ravioli, steamed potatoes, green beans with hazelnuts and paprika tomato broth
Confit chicken thigh with currant and chicken mousse, herb butter, vine ripened tomato and mushroom rocket risotto
42 Below vodka marinated and caramelised salmon with asparagus, kaffir lime mash, citrus crème fraiche and watercress
- I Had the Steak which wasn't bad
DESERT:
Apple and black doris plus tart with titoki liqueur cream
Cheese
A selection of fine New Zealand cheese -tried but I'm not a fan of cheese


BREAKFAST
Beverages
Start your day with a fruit smoothie, your choice of juice, freshly brewed or decaffeinated coffee, tea, herbal tea or hot chocolate
Fruit and Cereal
Fruit selection with assorted cereals and yoghurts
Bakery
Croissants, muffins, wholemeal and fruit toast with fruit conserve
Hot Breakfast
Smoked chicken pesto and parmesan omelette with breakfast potatoes and chicken sausage
Didn't have the hot stuff but the rest was great

Drinks- pre-flight drinks (choice was sparkling white wine, orange juice or water) OJ was good, Dinner- i had chardonnay (ok a few glasses) Didn't try the 42 below cocktails

FA attentiveness- AWESOME- very quick, personable - just really great service

AVOD- Great movie & tv selection, Noise canceling headphones work as well as my Bose QC2s (yes i tested them back to back) Watched "the holiday" then fell a sleep and then watched "the purist of perfection" and a few tv shows. They switched the main entertainment system off (leaving only the air show, i liked the animation of the flight plan ) and took the headphones at the top of the descent.

Would you do it again?
Based on service,food,space,cabin being quiet -no kids,and the toilet/pax ratio is much better than Y and fact i slept for the 1st in time in dozens of flights in Y the answer would be YES, but NZ don't fly direct from syd to LAX and i'm not a fan of the 3hr lay over in AKL (the flight from syd-akl is not that good)

teamspeedy

ROUTE/PLANE: SFO-AKL 777 NZ7
Day/Night - Night into day
Seat no: 23c Asile,
Checkin: Empty due to the problem of the in bound flight having to turn around and head back to AKL so we were delalyed (scheduled departure was 9:15pm we left at 2:45am) i checked in at 9:15 and had to be re booked on a later flight from AKL to SYD due to the delay out of SFO , but it was a much better experience than in Sydney, i also received a food voucher to use at SFO,the problem was only 1 restaurant was open that accepted the voucher and it closed at 11pm (the airport bar was closed)

Seat Comfort: Ok not great, seats were noticeably narrower than the 747 and i'm not a fat person but the legroom was great (unlimited due to being in the door way)

Ease of getting in and out: easy aisle and the doorway seat

Food:

Dinner

STARTER
Cress and frisee salad with duck prosciutto, tangerine, toasted hazelnuts and whit truffle honey vinaigrette

MAIN COURSE

New Zealand lamb cutlet and lamb bolognese with green garlic risotto, garlic roasted tomato and artichoke

Seared cod with Dungeness crab chowder and parmesan, thyme and parsley croutons

Wood roasted chicken breast with olive oil whipped potatoes, baby broccoli and lemon cipollini onion confit

i had the chicken ,wasn't to bad but the Chardonnay wasn't as good as the bottle out of AKL (to LAX) , on a side note: not many people had dinner, an announcement was made at the start of the flight " if want to goto sleep but want dinner put your tray table down"


DESSERT
can't remember

CHEESE

A selection of fine New Zealand cheese

BEVERAGES

Freshly brewed or decaffeinated Gravity coffee, tea, herbal tea or hot chocolate

SNACKS

Help yourself from our wide range of snacks, available for you to enjoy during your flight



Breakfast


BEVERAGES

Start your day with a fruit smoothie, your choice of juice, freshly brewed or decaffeinated Gravity coffee, tea, herbal tea or hot chocolate

CONTINENTAL SELECTION

Fruit selection with assorted cereals and yoghurts

Croissants, friands, white and wholemeal toast with fruit conserve

HOT OPTIONS

Smoked chicken pesto and parmesan omelette with breakfast potatoes and chicken sausage

(again didn't have the hot stuff, but everything else was good)

Drink:
Tea Coffee was offered after dinner and breakfast, chardonnay wasn't that good, and the 42 below cocktails weren't offered

FA attentiveness
ok not great, no were near as good as what i had expected (especially compared to previous flights). The service manager came around a personally apologized for the delay and explained why there was a delay which i thought was nice touch

AVOD: Great as Usual, watched a few movies & tv shows in between a few hrs sleep

Would you do it again? on this experience alone no,the flight was delayed ( i know but it all contributed to a bad experience ) the service from the FAs was ok not great, there was screaming babies back in economy,the seat was narrower and had no power port, in short it felt like having an exit row seat back in economy and wasn't worth the extra money.

The 747 experience on the other hand is well worth the money if your on the upper deck as you're away from the masses the seat is wider (so it quieter) the service seemed better.

So would i do it again, but only on the upper deck of the 747 and if the layovers between the Sydney and Auckland flights are less (i had really bad layover experiences with this trip around America) then hell yes, otherwise it would be really hard to get me to say yes again

AndDee

Well now that Qantas has launched their premium economy and made all the details public, I am very interested to see what Air NZ do to combat this, if anything.

Qantas has stated
19.5 seat width - 1inch more than the 744 and nearly 2inches more than the 777
42 inch seat pitch, 2-4 more than Air NZ.

As stated in another thread in here, Air NZ are looking at the poorly designed footrest in prem economy and will hopefully fix this in the next few years.

Again do something about the 777

everywhere

It seems to be the week for announcing cabin enhancements.
United yesterday, Qantas today...

It is going to be interesting to see what NZ do to counter the QF A380 in general which will have Wi-Fi and powerpoints in every seat.

But the 747 Premium Economy (which is a direct competitor to NZ on the AKLLAX route) comes with The wide centre console looks like a winner to me. Plus 2-4-2 configuration.

Of course NZ have the advantage in that they already have the product, but it is interesting QF have opted for 32 seats on the 747, vis-a-vis NZ's 39 (after recent additions); and have opted for all the same services as NZ offers...

AndDee

All of the following are a winner for me, I would fly Qantas over Air NZ if the pricing was the same or even a few hundred $ more, for the following

Wider seats - At least 1 to 2 inches over Air NZ
More Recline - I think a bit more than Air NZ
Config - 2-4-2 - Better than the risk of being stuck in A on the upper deck on Air NZ
Wide Centre Arm Rest - This is the best feature, I really dislike the standard armrest on Air NZ Premium Economy.

Air NZ - You should be watching this closely, but will be interested to see what happens on Qantas's 787's and Air NZ 787's.

Also very interested in what Virgin Pacific come up with for their 777's

Blackcloud

I do wonder if QF will be putting it on the two class 747 that they send over here. Also with some services, temporary (?), on the A330-200, they wil not be getting any of the new hard product as QF have not announced their intention in installing them on it.

AndDee

Well they have said that all 747-400's are getting it

But not the A330's

Ann Tyrol

Without wanting to sound like the National Anthem should be playing in the background when reading this post, I'll stick with Air NZ regardless of the Qantas PE product.

Reasons?

- They came out with it nice an early, and after some so-so feedback in the first few months, they improved the product drastically
- The pricing (for me - based in HK) is excellent when compared to Y offerings on the same or similar routes)
- I have flown PE a few times and loved it every time.
- Aussie accents are annoying
- An inch here, a few inches there, a better footrest - perhaps; but I would much rather support my national carrier than John Howards!

Remember - the Qantas product is still at least a year away, so Air NZ could keep improving on PE in the next 12 months.

WellingtonFF

Whats wrong with an Aussie accent? And little Johnnie is OK

But I am still partial to NZ and *, and don't use QF :-)