Historically, Air New Zealand has been one of the stingiest airlines in the world when it comes to releasing business class award space. There were often times where there wasn’t a single business class award seat for the entire schedule across the Pacific. There’s a positive update regarding that, as flagged by Frequent Miler.
Continue reading: Redeem Miles For Air New Zealand Business Class
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Those look like the old VS seats, and I did not find those very comfortable. Especially getting up to make the seat flat. I prefer to sleep at an angle.
Could this possibly be because it is off season in New Zealand.??
Wonder if this will continue come December thru March??
It is hard to imagine how a 1-1-1 arrangement could be worse. Ugh. But still...
Absolutely terrible for privacy… yeah no… not for the price you are paying. You had to ask for assistance if you were wanting to sleep flat. Out with the old, in with the new.
Yeah I just flew them to Sydney in Business and you really just look at a lot of feet the whole time. Also, you have this feeling that the person behind you is looking directly over your shoulder... it's very odd. But the food and service were great.
Now, it’s possible that availability dries up over peak season (around December through March), since that’s by far the period of highest demand. Only time will tell.
-Ben Schlappig
This has been the case for many years. No idea why people think AirNZ space is never released, I've booked it for peak December dates every year for the last 4 around 4 weeks out. Booked with AC and VS miles every time.
Great use of points I guess for those who dont really care about the actual business class seat, whilst the crew, food and wines are all very nice the seat is a bomb
"Air New Zealand isn’t cornering the long haul market to New Zealand as in the past, as American, Delta, and United, now all at least offer seasonal service to the country."
There's one other significant development here. Qantas is now offering a direct service from Auckland to New York (on rather better J seats than AirNZ)
What masochist even dreamt up those awful seats? And which AirNZ exec (probably long departed) gave them the tick of approval?
For me it remains a big NO, no matter how available they are!
Come 2024 when AirNZ regains its sanity with new mainstream J seats it will be a different story.
I’ve seen this space quite a bit in the last month and booked one via akl to lax from syd in aug. More for novelty.
I never saw the akl to ord flight available. And if it is it’s not bookable with Virgin. It’s specifically excluded.
I have absolutely no interest in flying this excuse for Business Class. Should have been ripped out and re thought many years ago. In fact I have no desire to fly Air New Zealand at all.
Booked TPE-ICN-AKL in September on Asiana and Air New Zealand two days ago.
But there were only rarely dates for ICN-AKL available.
56k Miles and More Miles + 73€ in C. Actually they miscalculated the taxes and fees. I filed a claim. It should be 56€.
I've done it, and it's not the worst - I'd prefer this to the Emirates 777 with a middle seat.
Back in the day (about 15 years ago) it was all the rage - Virgin Atlantic Upper Class used to be something very similar.
Why would anyone choose to fly this 'dentist's waiting room' style of business class? Vile.
I’ve flown the air nz business class a few times. It’s not terrible. At least it’s lie flat.
I can't see the NZ J availability via the VS website even though they show on United and AC. Would I need to call in VS to book the NZ J seats?
Really? If someone paid you to fly to New Zealand and sit in these seats, you'd refuse to do it?
If you are an AirNZ Airpoints member then every J class seat is available for you. Redeem your airpoints dollars for a seat right up till the day before departure (if there are any left). When business class often full, why would airnz release redemption seats to people who support other airlines (or credit cards) rather than sell for $$ in the bank.
FYI Booking via ANA is 120K RT and $82
Finally might have use for my stranded ANA points since Covid