+ unprecedented crew sickness...

Quick Update: my flight was rebooked yesterday DPS AKL in December and it�s now showing the Premier Luxe in the seat selection. Crazy. My hopes weren�t high.

Yes can find the 787-9 during Nov-Mar! Hopefully it will stick!

ZK-NZM is scheduled to depart Auckland to Alice Springs as NZ6015 this Thursday 10 July 2025.
It will head to Singapore once one of the others has returned from its own retrofit.
AKL departure: 0730; ASP arrival: 1030.
ZK-NZK is scheduled to return from maintenance & its refit as NZ6017 on 19 July 2025.
SIN departure: 0600; AKL arrival: 1935.
ZK-NZD is scheduled to depart Auckland to Alice Springs as NZ6017 on 8 August 2025.
AKL departure: 0730; ASP arrival: 1030.
It will head to Singapore for maintenance & its retrofit when one of the others returns from its own refit.
ZK-NZG is scheduled to return from maintenance & its refit as NZ6019 on 9 August 2025.
SIN departure: 0600; AKL arrival: 1935.

Thanks ZKNHB, just wondering the updated 787s coming back in the next couple of months have their schedules and seat maps been updated already where these planes will be flying or is this done when they are back and in service?
I have a flight in December to Shanghai and wondering if it�s possible to be updated

I think the forward schedule must be updated progressively, and I�d guess that there is an internal plan set earlier that then goes �firm� into the booking systems at which point the seat maps would be updated.

An Elite family member is nervous as they wait for a PE-J pending RU to clear YVR-AKL in Sep. Currently scheduled on an ex-CX 77W with old F, and heaps of biz seats available. If that changes to a regular 77W (unlikely), or 789v4v3 then this will reduce the chance of the RU clearing.

They are somewhat annoyed that the RU has not cleared despite the very light biz loading, but they have no flexibility in the travel date.

Are they holding back R class while they are playing musical chairs with the planes and have so many LOPA in play?

My guess is they're already on the schedule further out, but close in when it returns, things can change. The number of flights in December is basically double the number of flights in August and that was updated when they uploaded the Northern Winter schedule I think last month. NZK has been on the schedule for at least late August since that update.

What is your source for this? A doubling of (long-haul 787) flights seems highly unlikely�

NZH and NZI spent time on ground ~ a week prior to flying to Singapore for the refits. I'm guessing some sort of prep work was required prior to the plane going into "hibernation" during the refit. Seems like this work is now occurring in Alice instead. No room in the AKL hangar? Not enough staff to complete that work? Is it our winter weather?

NZJ on the other hand which flew to SIN for maintenance flew commercially then straight to SIN, then returned and straight back to commercial service. No prep time, no induction service required on return.

Taxiing past last night it was chocka....

Air NZ's schedule. August 29th there are 3 787-9s flying longhaul. PVG, YVR, SFO

I did say flights had doubled. There's a mix of longhaul and shorthaul flights. But either way there's a progressive increase in number of 787-9 flights on the schedule currently despite only having 2 aircraft back and it's been like that since the schedule update last month. Can only conclude the new refits are already on the schedule.

Edit: tired, didn't read properly but I've collated the schedule and there are definitely more aircraft and flights on the schedule. But you would expect those changes anyway as per the guideline for returned refits so it's not a surprise to see at least double the 787-9 flights in December when they're expecting 7 completed by the end of the year.

Looks like ZK-NZM's departure to ASP on 10 Jul was cancelled.

Too many 321s AOG.

Flew AKL-SFO NZ8 on ZK-NZI yesterday. Got upgraded to Luxe front row window, which was nice (and my first "upgrade" without points or $$ for as long as I can remember). It's more than six years since I got test the three varieties of new seat in that Freemans Bay warehouse (and said "no, I wouldn't pay more for the front row" so that's nice!)

Overall, a fantastic improvement (more privacy, no seat-flip to sleep, bigger screen, revised IFE) but quite a number of teething problems (below). Crew were great - very helpful - even though for some of them it was their first real flight experience of the new cabin.

The challenges, which I am sure will get solved soon:

1. IFE restarted at least 5x (possibly just my seat in some cases but at least 3x for all cabins)
2. Manual safety demo, because of #1
3. My shoulder belt didn't retract / tighten - had to push it back in to get any tension it
4. Seat would not recline past half-way - screen said "remove obstruction - call crew" but no-one could figure it out so it was released manually to flat. Fortunately, it would still move upwards electronically, so i could sleep at my preferred 20 degrees angle
5. the mattress topper from the "old" cabin was a bit mixed. I'm not sure if fitted properly or perhaps was not laid out perfectly - as it created a kind of gutter effect with the sides curled up against the seat sides.
6. i got a few splashes of condensation on braking after landing from the ceiling panels - probably nothing to do with the cabin refit
7. the new big screen was impressive. it was too far away to easily reach so I used the detachable remote - but unfortunately that often froze as well.
8. the new ability to use your phone as a remote helped solve that problem (#7) - great new feature.
9. Wifi was more intermittent than normal - again not sure if that was an IFE refit issue or not
10. table seemed good to me - larger and pretty stable
11. cubby for water bottle and other things worked well
12. though the cupboard, charging ports and light button were quite hard to reach - right behind me - too the side would have been easier
13. privacy - seat across the aisle was clearly visible before take off and until I could close back half of divider. and shutting front half completely closed off to head height which felt much nicer. big improvement all round
14. overall extra space for Luxe was nice - room to put my jacket / blanket etc without impinging on sleeping space. I feel like the seat / ottoman alignment / level wasn't 100%. Didn't feel as natural as on United and other comparable seats. Maybe just my feet / legs!

Hope this is of interest to others.