Sydfly

I managed to get two award seats in Business Premier AKL-LAX for next year... So, now comes the difficult part: finding the best seats in the house.

According to this seat map it looks like row 1 would be fairly close together for a couple (maybe even closer than BA First?). Actually, it looks as if the two people sitting there would touch feet while sleeping (something you might not want to do with a total stranger, I guess ...). Can anyone comment on this? How close together are those seats? Good for a couple?

When I called NZ this morning they said that they advise people travelling together to take 1A/2A, but I read on FT that we'd basically be completely separated due to the wall between the seats. I guess you would be somewhat closer to each other but does that really help if you can't even see eachother?

How do people feel about upstairs vs. downstairs cabin? I know there are fewer BP seats upstairs but then you've got the E+ section there, too. Someone mentioned that there is a snack and drink selection for E+ upstairs but nothing for Business passengers. Is there anything provided for Business downstairs as a snack during the flight? After reading a few reports it sounds like you might get hungry during the flight due to the small portions provided during meal service. So, any decent snacks provided on these flights downstairs?

Any help to make this a memorable 14h flight would be appreciated.

debh

Hi Sydfly! I travelled in 1A LAX/AKL a while back. The foot rests for 1A and 1K are very close together, as I recall almost touching, but not quite. I did a report on BP at the time and can recall noting that those two seats would well suit a couple travelling together. Personally, I can't imagine having much interaction with someone a row in front or behind as the suites really are quite private. I haven't tried the seats in the centre in the B cabin - perhaps someone who has can provide an opinion there.

Technically, two people can dine together on the flight as the tables are quite large and one person could sit in the foot rest area. In reality, I think you'd have to be on the small side for this to be workable. On the flight I took, the person in 1K was 6'5" and we agreed it would be a non-starter!

DCF

Row 1 is hopeless for hand-luggage: it has no overhead locker.

I would go row 3,4, or 5, opposite each other, or upstairs, again opposite each other.

Ignore any suggestion of taking seats in different rows: you would have no contact at all.

Colin

I liked the middle seats in rows 10-15 when traveling as a couple on Virgin (which has the same layout). On Virgin, the divider is easily removable. Even if NZ does not allow the divider to be removed, then the B section middle seats are still ideal because yoour heads are near each. In the A section, your heads are at least a full body-length away.

Sydfly

Thanks, guys. I think we'll go for row one as I don't really care much about overhead storage and think that the front should be more quiet than the middle B section (no bassinets located in area A). Let's hope that we really get a refitted 747 by July...at least at the moment it appears to be one but I'm not sure whether they do this with all flights scheduled 6 months ahead and later on adjust it to whatever configuration (refitted or not) they use. Fingers crossed...

I quite liked the face-to-face dining option on BA First and I know it's not really that comfortable especially for me being 6'7''. However, sometimes you'll just have to suffer to make the Mrs happy