About 90 minutes before my Air New Zealand departure to Los Angeles I made it to the Star Alliance lounge, where I was directed to the Air New Zealand representative. She took my passport and boarding pass and said she’d bring it to me in the lounge later, as she needed to reprint it on…
Continue reading: Four Continents and 37,000 Miles in Two Weeks: Star Alliance Lounge London, Air New Zealand Business Premier London to Los Angeles
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Coins, Since the window seat faces 'in', and since the middle seats faces 'out', which would you recommend booking? I like to look out the window?
I thought the safety video was great - far more fun than the boring and sanctimonious videos on most airlines
Hey Ben,
It's Richard Simmons, Gene Simmons was a member of the rock band KISS. I had the best laugh with the mix up.
Kia Ora! Great TR. Did you get a sense of how many passengers were continuing on to AKL or was most of the flight LAX O&D traffic. What a better option compared to UA or AA ...
Also, I've been to the LHR T1 *A lounge a ton of times, but never the BD lounge. I'm flying MAN-LHR-ORD next month and was wondering if the BD lounge is worth the visit or should I stick with the tried and true *A lounge?
@ Dan -- The biggest downside of the herringbone seats is the fact that it's near impossible to look out of the window no matter where you sit. If you sit in the center section you're facing towards the windows, though they're entirely blocked by the window seats. If you're seated in the window seat you have to turn your head a LOT in order to be able to look outside, to the point that your neck will hurt. If you want a seat with a good window view, I guess my best advice would be to fly coach. Shudder.
@ ordogg -- I was actually surprised by how many passengers were continuing onwards. I got the sense that maybe 25%-40% of the BusinessPremier passengers were connecting to Auckland. Long journey!
Unless you have an incredibly long layover at Heathrow, I would just stick to the sure thing (the Star Alliance lounge) given the location.
They should consider serving some mayonnaise.. didn't see any of it on the menu! You're a lucky guy to be complaining about the lounges the way you do... check out the US Airways Club near B5 at PHX... PATHETIC.
Thanks Ben
Another great report and pictures. And yet another airline offering better more luxurious product seats and food than our US airlines!
Air NZ mileage programme is terrible though. My folks live in Australia and asked me to look into booking Air NZ business class London-LA-London for them with air NZ miles (Air NZ calls them Airpoints dollars)
Basically they don't have a fixed mileage chart but flights are basically 100 Airpoints for every at the fare is.
Fare was about $4k so Air NZ wanted 400,000 airpoints per person!
Insane! Considering 100,000 united miles can book the same flight
Is the "Angus Pure beef burger" what many of us would call a hamburger? Compared to the other options it doesn't seem to fit in.
Great report! I've been very curious about the business class cabin that you flew. I'm equally curious about their premium economy! Did you get a chance to see those?
Also, was this an award ticket? I rarely ever see Air NZ LHR-LAX availability.
"While herringbone style seats are no longer cutting edge" - if you don't mind me asking then what is? I would guess suites in first, but what is cutting edge now in business?
Thank you.
@Lantean - See new US Airways Envoy, see new Cathay Business, see new Swiss Business, see new Asiana Business.
@ rich (arizona) -- It is indeed, and looked quite good. Like I said, Air New Zealand is unconventional at times!
@ Kevin -- I did see the Premium Economy seats, and they looked... strange. "Cool," but not especially comfortable. This was an award ticket. Air New Zealand seems to be great about releasing award seats on the route for some periods of time, and then there's nothing. Usually they open up space 60 days before departure, though.
@ Lantean -- Agree with @ sjs
@ Glenn -- Jokes aside, I think it's actually interesting to note the difference in towels between airlines. Might sound minor, but it's no different than the type of glassware they use, to me. Lufthansa, for example, has my favorite towels, with a truly amazing scent.
Lucky, the NZ Business Premier looks great. How common is the new Business class on NZ?
@ chitownflyer -- The new business class can be found on their 777-300ER routes, which are most common between London and Los Angeles and Los Angeles and Auckland. That being said, their "old" business class is basically the same product, and I'd fly it too in a heartbeat.
Awesome timing - in Auckland right now 4 hrs from taking the same plane to LAX. A month ago had it from MEL-AKL on the way to SFO and it was nice, but it wasn't the full international service so didn't notice a huge difference. Looking forward to seeing how the new ovens are with full-on food selection.
Btw - did you see how the burger looked? Something about having a burger at 35,000 feet just seems entertaining!
@ Col -- The burger actually looked really, really good. I agree, something fun about eating a burger on an airplane.
Good to know - will try it if it's on the menu tonight. Now have to try and restrain myself here in the lounge!
It would be nice if you compared the new product to the old product, particularily the bed and amenities.
Just got off the flight to the mess of LAX - what a contrast.
Anyways, back to my new joy: the Air NZ burger. After an odd 35 min delay after the appetizer (when the cabin was literally void of service), out came the mains. Holy crap the burger was amazing! It wasn't a traditional American burger in the sense that it was a garden (Aussies love adding veggies to burgers for some reason) and lacked ketchup, mustard (or a pickle), but you could tell they were trying (it had bacon and cheese on it - though the bacon wasn't crispy at all). The caramelised onions were great and so was the beet root chutney on the side. Bun was toasted and fresh, burger was moist and cooked well, and the taste was awesome. Would definitely order again! Especially funny were the looks I got for having champagne with it.
@Jack - not huge differences, but nice little ones. Seat is a bit nicer, bed is softer, AVOD is now touch (huge improvement) and features on-demand snack and drink orders. Bathrooms a bit brighter and there's now a snack bar area like all 77Ws (beats the carts they lay out on other ones). Overall I'd say the burger is the best addition!
You are just now getting global entry? 🙂
Last time I landed at HNL coming back from Asia, there was a huge line in a
oops ..
there was a huge line and I pretty much had to part the waters to get through to the kiosk. It was great.
-David
All male crew and under 35 in businesspremier ? I had that happened once on UA long time ago before the bankruptcy. Back then there was a redeye on LAX-ORD which was a 744, if I remember correct it was UA 120. I was seated in C, and both F and C were served by male crew including the purser, and all of them are really gay as well ! It is like they all know each other, and probably all switch with other FA in order to work for that flight. Not sure about yours though.
haha..this safety video reminds me Cebu pacific air stewardess giving safety guidance while dancing..Its always good to try our something new 🙂
Were you able to peek at the "Sky Couches" in Y? Has anyone out there flown on the Sky Couch to report? Fantastic idea, but is it really worth paying for the whole row? I'd love to hear from someone who's tried to sleep on the Sky Couch who is also an expert at blocking out an entire AA middle row (2+5+2 777) with one coach fare and sweet-talking the Admiral's Club clerk on an empty flight.
@ Rob -- Didn't really get to see them, unfortunately. My main issue is that it's 10 across so I really can't imagine the set of three seats are long enough to lay down comfortably.