Bogbrush

I wanted to get FTers views on NZ versus UA business class to Australia. I will be travelling 'C' class later this year. I'm most interested in the differences in the on board product as opposed to schedule or cost. If you had a choice which airline would you use?

Thanks for your help

valleyankee

I have flown on both United and Air New Zealand and I would vote ANZ. I just did the trip to Sydney in First Class and although the sleeper seats were great, the food was not so good and the service seemed cut down since the bankruptcy. On the otherhand last time I went ANZ, I was amazed but the service, food, wines and 747. Uniteds 747 seemed a bit worn.

Of course you have to consider connections. Its my impression if you go via ANZ you fly IAD - west coast - AUK - SYD. On United it's IAD - west coast - SYD

According to the Star Alliance websight the fastest route to SYD from IAD is thru LAX, United flights 177, connecting to 839. That takes 21h 24m. The next best is thru SFO and its flights 951 and 863 at 22h 55m.

On return flights thru LAX or SFO are 20h 05m and 21h 12m. Actually I am not even sure if ANZ is an option for you unless you want to spend all your tume in the sky.

One trick I did on my way to SYD last month was I flew to SFO and arrived early in the morning, rented a car and went to San Francisco for lunch and then got a cheap hotel on Priceline and used it to rest and freshen up before the evening flight. I bot the car and hotel for under $50 and it was well worth it. You can do this at either LAX or SFO.

nor4

I've done the UA trip in F and C. The advantage of F is that you can get horizontal, which is a great aid in actually sleeping. This matters for your question because NZ is putting in lie flat seats (the same as those used on Virgin Atlantic, the best in the sky according to some) on its C class for the US-NZ transpac portion. To my mind that seals the deal.

If you plan on using UA award miles for the trip it's impossible so far to get seats on NZ. If you're using $, I think its no contest.

Al B

Depends on how "late", in "later this year", is. NZ are about to start refurbing their fleet morphing into Business, Y+ and Y cabins, with true lie flat "units" in J cabin. If it's an earlier "later" this year, no guarantee on what you will get, except maybe via SFO as NZ are putting their 777's with the new configurations onto that run first.
If it's late late this year, then there is a good chance some/most of the 744 fleet will be refurbished as well, opening up LAX as a gateway.
The NZ website has good info on their new cabins and the NZ forum further up the forums here also has great info in a couple of threads.

Definitely worth a "go" if it's later this year and you can be virtually assured of getting a new config aircraft. The new product looks to be top notch and should be a winner for NZ combined with their usually above average service others talk about.
The current J cabin on NZ however, is showing it's age in my view. They still get great reviews for service, but the product itself is letting all that good work down. (Older style seats with only 50" pitch and the suchlike.)
If choosing the NZ option, pick your AKL-SYD flights with care - some of them are run with A320 equipment so it's not a true J cabin as such, although for the three hour flight it probably won't be much of an issue.

A very base chalk board summary for the three SouthPac-NthAm :-: carriers -

UA - Daily SFO-SYD daily LAX-SYD
- 744's - upper deck (6 rows 2x2, 1 row with just 2) & zones B (3 rows 2x3x2) and some of zone C (3 rows 2x2 with galley seperating each side then 2 rows of 2x3x2) on lower deck.
- 55" pitch, 20" width
- In seat video - set offerings per channel (ie - not AVOD).
- Meals served by tray with main course bought out seperately.
- Shortest travel time to SYD.

NZ (Current config) - multiple dailies SFO/LAX to AKL then 5 daily AKL-SYD.
- 744's nonstop & 763's doing an Island hop from LAX down the Sth Pac to AKL.
744's - upper deck (8 rows 2x2) and Zone B lower deck (4 rows 2x3x2)
763's - 4 rows 2x2x2. (Nasty on such long hauls - personal view).
- 50" pitch on all types.
- In seat video - set offerings per channel (ie not AVOD)
- Meals served by tray with main course done seperately
- Longer travel times to SYD.

AC - Daily YVR-SYD either via HNL or some times per year nonstop.
- A340 - 5 rows 2x2x2
763 (a) - 5 rows 1x2x2
763 (b) - 6 rows 2x2x1
- 65" pitch (some 763 configs in 1 or 2 rows have 60")
- In Seat Video on A340 and 763(b) with set channel scheduling. (Not AVOD)
- Personal DVDman on 763(a) - select your own viewing from the library on board
- Meals served course by course (no trays) as if in a restaurant. Massive service takes about 2 hours to get through. Order breakfasts a la hotel room service. Order what you want and when you want it served.
- Longer travel times to SYD.

Personally, it's such a long overnight trip I go for the "comfort" factor rather than service levels factor. (You can't see if the Flt Att is smiling under closed eyelids, can you?!?) The crews on all 3 tend to be senior so can be blase in their service. Each to each own though.
AC's new refit of it's 763's and new 777's coming on line next year should also create a top notch cabin, giving two very top of the line options for :-: on SthPac-NthAm routes by NZ/AC.

mad_atta

Al B is correct (as usual) that the AKL-SFO route is the first route to have 'guaranteed' new product on AirNZ - from sometime in August IIRC, first on the refitted 744s and then (from October) on the brand new 772s. However, there are only 3x weekly flights SFO-AKL vs 2x daily flights LAX-AKL so it may not work in with your schedule. On the other hand, if you get an old style 744 you may be able to snag one of the old F seats if you have status and ask nicely at check in - they might be outclassed as F seats but they are definitely better than the current J seats on UA and AC (which, in turn, are better than NZ's current J seats).

Kiwi Flyer

No F sold on NZ effective 10 June 2005, so if get non-refurbished 744 and have status a chance of F seat. No guarantees - sometimes there are a lot of *Gs on board. NZ 5/6 probably a slightly better chance (cf NZ1/2 with goes through to LHR).

DarrenT

Absolutely Air NZ, with or without the refit IMHO.

UA fail on every level, but especially service... I have never been made so very angry by so many people at the same airline on the same day. Personally, I would NEVER travel with them ever again.

This is not to say that Air NZ is first by default. Having just done an F RTW on NH/SQ/NZ/UA, Air NZ won hands down, even compared to SQ.