Air New Zealand - Any opinions?

[ariddell]

Guys,
Just wondering if anyone has flown long-haul with Air New Zealand recently and if so what they were like?

They are doing a really good deal for our flights out to Australia stopping off in Hong Kong and Auckland and then later in the year letting us travel back to the UK for a holiday via Tahiti and LA.

Never having flown with them before they are a bit of an unknown quantity for a whole load of long flights so any opinions welcome. Thought you guys might be more likely to have used them than the UK lot..

Thanks

Al

[Kenneth]

Guys,
Just wondering if anyone has flown long-haul with Air New Zealand recently and if so what they were like?

They are doing a really good deal for our flights out to Australia stopping off in Hong Kong and Auckland and then later in the year letting us travel back to the UK for a holiday via Tahiti and LA.

Never having flown with them before they are a bit of an unknown quantity for a whole load of long flights so any opinions welcome. Thought you guys might be more likely to have used them than the UK lot..

Thanks

Al

Havent flown internationally with Air New Zealand, but from what I have heard they arn't so great.

[mpau009]

I like airNZ, iv been LA to NZ a couple of times, and once to japan, and their planes and crew are pretty good (certainly much better than lufthansa/Grrr) But often they do a code sharing arrangement, so you might get stuck on an older plane.

Iv heard good things about emirates as well, but have never flown with them

[Joanne]

I haven't flown long haul with AirNZ for about 10 years now - they always seem to be the most expensive! But when I did fly with them, they were quite nice - the plane was just about empty between Hawaii and NZ :)

[d i c k i e s]

go quantas if you can bro! i hear theyre pretty good.

[GroundControl]

I'll tell you in a week or so - I'll be flying AirNZ to Vancouver via LA /yes

[bradc]

airnz is ok, but Emirates gets my vote, they constantly have the best and friendliest service, and the planes are quite nice too.

[Physician]

Emirates are brilliant .......

QANTAS male crew are all gay ...........

NZ used to be cr@p - but that was some 7 years ago .........

SIA are good but crew are all robots (if they haven't been taught something you won't get whatever you asked for).

[Si.]

I've heard Air New Zealand now have the largest amount of economy leg room around.

BA were horrid, Quantas was slightly better, but the last Australia trip Singapore Airline Were great!

Nothing like a SNES in your arm rest and some rather lovely looking crew....:afro:

[NevGroom]

ANZ are pretty decent (as mentioned earlier try to avoid code-share as the 747-200 is a knackered old heap to do long-haul). If you can go Emirates, they are probably the best airline in the world - Not sure they do NZ though, certainly do Oz (via Dubai & Singapore).

[andysh]

I am pretty sure Emirates flys into Auckland.

AirNZ have gotten a lot better over the year, as they have upgraded a lot of their long-hall aircraft (anyone remember the ads?)

I have also been on Luada Air, an Austrian Airline. They were pretty good, but I think you might have to go through Vienna and fly to Sydney or Melbourne

[ariddell]

Alas Emirates were ruled out due to the lack of flat-bed unless you pay stupid money for 1st class.

Qantas similarily so as the last time i got stuck on one of their Skybeds i came off feeling like an arthritic 80yo from the fact it is still at a noticeable angle when in the supposedly flat mode.

I've checked out the current reservations with have held and it will be on their newly fitted out 747-400s and 777-200s all the way except for the Auckland-Tahiti leg which is a 767 with Air NZ.

Will have another look and see what Singapore do as i don't think they really figured much, but at the moment i think Air NZ is prob worth a try.

[I-S]

QANTAS - Queers And Nymphomaniacs Train As Stewards (as told to me by my ex-boyfriend who was, in fact, a QANTAS steward).

For a round-the-world trip like that ANZ are the only people who you can do it on a single airline with. You will be able to do it on Oneworld (BA/QF to aus/nz, QF to LA, BA/AA back to the UK), and possibly Star Alliance (SQ/UA mainly).

As for emirates... They pack them in. They run their 777s 10-abreast in economy (everyone else puts 9) and their airbuses 9-abreast (everyone else uses 8).

[maori_by_nature]

Iv heard good things about emirates as well, but have never flown with them

my mate flew 2 tailand on them and reccons there the best he's flown on

[d i c k i e s]

it all depends who u get on the day.

[I-S]

Was talking to a guy at work today... he said that flights from the UK to Dubai on emirates are great, but then his flight from dubai to nepal and also to the phillipines were dreadful. He reckoned that it was because nepal is not a premium destination. You'd probably be ok going via dubai to australia, but if you go a bit off the beaten track apparently emirates falls apart. He's a very patient guy, but he's refused to fly middle eastern airlines any more after a similar experience on gulf air. He swears by SQ.

[bradc]

I've been happy with emirates on multiple NZ - AU flights, I wouldn't exactly call that a premium service.

[Joanne]

I flew Emirates to London a couple of years ago as they were the only ones who did a route from Auckland to Gatwick - and they were awesome... apart from fact that I flew Auckland -> Melbourne -> Singapore -> Dubai -> London!

I'm sure AirNZ will be just fine :) And if not, just let us all know about it!

[Lucas]

As mentioned earlier Emirates do come to NZ. We flew AK-Brisbane-Singapore-Dubai (and back again 2 weeks later) Excellent crew (not to mention a few hotties!) and they feed you HEAPS!!! If you manage to get hungry with those guys then you got a problem. Drinks keep flowing too :5shots:

[ariddell]

Kewl, thanks for the info guys.

Emirates ruled themselves out as everyone else offers a fully flat bed for the same price as they do an old style seat.

Have gone ahead and confirmed/paid for the Air NZ booking - gives us what looks like the best balance of price, onboard service and comfort, and a good routing with the stopovers in Hong Kong, Auckland, Tahiti and LA whenever we decide to use them.

Will let you know how they go.

Cheers

Al