Air New Zealand Business Premier Luxe Pricing Revealed

We’ve seen a trend of airlines introducing “business class plus” products. The idea is that the first row of business class often has a bit of extra space due to how cabins are configured, so airlines are using the opportunity to create a product that they can sell at an upcharge, in order to generate more revenue.

The next airline to introduce such a product will be Air New Zealand, and we’ve now learned how much the airline will charge for it, as flagged by Executive Traveller.

Basics of Air New Zealand Business Premier Luxe

Air New Zealand will soon be introducing a new business class product, which is long overdue, given the carrier’s current herringbone business class (which I consider to be among the worst hard products out there). Air New Zealand plans to debut its new product as of February 2025, so we’re just months from it entering service.

Air New Zealand’s new business class (marketed as Business Premier) honestly looks fairly underwhelming, at least compared to what the competition offers. But still, it’s a big improvement over what the airline currently offers.

In the first row of the cabin, the airline plans to offer a Business Premier Luxe product, as it’s called, which takes advantage of the extra space in the bulkhead row. There will be either four or eight of these seats per plane, depending on the configuration (one 787 configuration will be more premium, with two cabins of business class, which explains the variance).

So, what makes Business Premiere Luxe special? Among other things, the seat features a door (unlike the other business class seats), there’s a lot of extra space which can even be used as a buddy seat, there’s a larger tray table, and there are special amenities, like an extra throw.

Air New Zealand Business Premier Luxe pricing

Up until recently, there were questions about how Air New Zealand would charge for its new Business Premier Luxe product. Would it be sold as a separate cabin, or would it simply come with a seat upgrade fee over the standard cost of a seat? As it turns out, the latter is the case, and we know what pricing will be like.

Air New Zealand plans to have consistent pricing to upgrade from a standard business class seat to the “business class plus” product:

• On a short haul flight, an upgrade will cost 250 NZD (147 USD)
• On a long haul flight, an upgrade will cost 820 NZD (481 USD)

I think that pricing more or less matches what one would reasonably expect. Somewhere around $500 (USD) for a long haul upgrade to “business class plus” seems to be the going rate nowadays, and Air New Zealand does operate some really long flights.

I do find it interesting that at least for now, there seems to only be one long haul pricing tier planned — Air New Zealand has some eight-hour long haul flights, and also some 16-hour long haul flights, so you’d think there would be some differentiation there.

Ultimately we’ll have to save judgement as to whether or not the upgrade is worth it for when the product is introduced, and we see the relative comfort of the two experiences.

Bottom line

Air New Zealand will be introducing its new business class product in the coming months, and this will include a new front row Business Premier Luxe product, featuring extra space and more comfort. The airline has now revealed the pricing for that, and it will be 250 NZD on a short haul flight, or 820 NZD on a long haul flight.

That pricing is roughly what I would’ve expected, and it’s at least nice to know that this will be available as an upgrade for any confirmed business class ticket (so you could presumably even upgrade when redeeming miles for an award ticket).

What do you make of Air New Zealand’s Business Premier Luxe pricing?