I flew from New Zealand to Los Angeles in Air New Zealand's business class. I had not flown Air New Zealand business class in a long time.
What a disappointing product, with uncompetitive seats, small entertainment screens, and no wi-fi. Business class is first and foremost about the seat, even though the soft product was alright. Air New Zealand's new business class isn't industry leading.
One of the stingiest airlines in the world is Air New Zealand. When I found availability on the route, I was excited.
Flying Club points on Air New Zealand are an amazing value. I paid 62,500 Flying Club points and $38.84 in taxes and fees for business class.
The flight from New Zealand to Los Angeles arrives at 4:20PM.
When there was a 30% transfer bonus, I transferred Virgin Atlantic points from Amex Membership rewards to this ticket, paying just 49,000 Amex Membership rewards points. That's a great deal!
I reviewed the Air New Zealand Lounge in the last part. I had to walk from the central part of the terminal to get to my flight.
One hour before the departure time, boarding was supposed to start. The crew and passenger boarding began at 10:45PM.
After boarding through the second set of doors, I entered the business class cabin. The seats in Air New Zealand's business class were at one point cutting edge. There are 27 seats in the cabin, spread across nine rows.
I think it would be better if you sat on the left side of the plane because you would be facing a wall instead of other people.
The seat in the last row was assigned to me. The whole back of the cabin was left to myself since both 7A and 8A were empty.
Back when I was a member, I thought this was a great seat. The seat is uncompetitive, it faces away from the window, you have to get up in order to turn your seat into a bed, and there is virtually no storage.
The ottoman can be used as a buddy seat so that two people can eat together. This would be very difficult.
The seat functions are to the left of the seat.
There is a reading light at the back of the seat. I think people knock their drinks off because the seat is tight.
The monitor in business class isn't very high definition and is only 11 inches. If you push the button, it will be in front of you. It makes it difficult to move the screen while there is something on the tray table.
Many airlines have an entertainment controller on a cord that is the same model. You don't have to use this if you don't like it.
The tray table is big and folds out from the left side of the seat. If this is extended, you won't be able to get up. If you have a monitor with you, the tray table gets a little tight.
Underneath the seat is a power outlet. There was no outlet for theusb.
There are two different types of seat controls. If you want to turn the seat into a bed, you can either put the seat in the upright position or use one of the pre-set sets. The bed is made by the seat so you need to get out.
The back right of the seat has limited functions, including being able to recline the seat and extend the tray table.
It just reclines slightly, and then the only other option is a fully flat bed.
There were no air nozzles in the overhead console.
You have to turn your head to look out the window in these seats.
The two seats in front of me were empty, so I was in a quiet part of the cabin.
The cabin saw better days. My ottoman came apart during the flight because it was scratched and worn.
This is not a good business class product to me. It's ironic that this product doesn't use space well. There were only 27 business class seats between the first and second set of doors, while other airlines have more. It shows how seat manufacturers are using space more efficiently.
Air New Zealand is going to introduce a new business class product by the year 2024. The product doesn't look great, and who knows how long it will be before those seats are available in the long haul fleet.
The headphones that were waiting at each seat didn't do much to cancel out noise and were flimsy.
The menu was put on the ottomans before the flight.
The pillows and blankets at each seat were very comfortable. The airline offers turndown service when it's time to sleep, which is necessary since most passengers don't know how to turn a seat into a bed.
Business class passengers were given a pre-departure drink with the choice of champagne, orange juice, or water. I liked the flute the champagne was served in.
Warm towels were given to passengers.
Business class passengers were offered a kit that included socks, eyeshades, earplugs, a pen, dental kit, hand cream, lip calm, and mouthwash.
Air New Zealand doesn't offer pajamas in business class, and doesn't offer slippers, which is odd.
21 of the 27 business class seats were occupied by the time boarding ended. The captain came on the PA around this time to inform us of our flight time and altitude. After the inflight service manager welcomed her, the safety video was shown.
Air New Zealand is known for its artistic safety videos.
We started our taxi at 11:20PM. Unlike other airlines, the crew took their jumpseats immediately. We were given the go-ahead to take off at 11:30PM.
I looked at the entertainment selection. The entertainment screen is small and not very high definition but it has a good selection of movies and TV shows. A total of 120 movies and TV shows were produced, though many of them had multiple episodes.
I started watching Mr. Mayor while I was on the plane. I appreciate that Air New Zealand doesn't have ads with its inflight entertainment, I'm not sure if that's always the case, or just reflects that the long haul network was largely suspended for so long
The entertainment system had a map feature that I liked to keep an eye on.
I didn't use the seat chat feature of Air New Zealand.
Air New Zealand didn't have wi-fi on the plane. The airline is installing wi-fi on some of its planes, but a lot of the rest don't. Air New Zealand is stuck in the past because they don't have wi-fi on their plane.
The crew quickly got to work after the seatbelt sign was turned off. The drinks list can be found below.
I got my first drink 25 minutes after takeoff. I ordered a glass of wine from New Zealand and was offered some cashews to go with it.
Around 45 minutes after takeoff, I was served my entree. The crew set the tray tables directly instead of serving the meal on trays. I chose the ahia smoked moki, fried capers, shaved fennel and orange salad, and black olive crisp as my starter.
Air New Zealand's bread is most definitely above average. I had a refill on my wine and a glass of water.
The cutlery caught my attention. It had Air New Zealand branding but also listed the month and year it was produced. I don't believe I've seen that before.
The main course was served around 75 minutes after takeoff. The baked Marlborough salmon with preserved lemon couscous, green beans, ras-el-hanout, tomato red pepper sauce was my choice. The dish was dry and bland, but it sounded appealing.
dessert was served 90 minutes after the plane took off. I chose the triple chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce. It was great.
I was asked if I would like a cheese plate. I said yes because I thought omaat readers would appreciate a picture. The cheese plate was business class.
The meal was enjoyable. Was it unforgettable? It is not possible to say yes. The meal was served directly on the tray and the quality was good.
The crew was happy to provide turndown service. The bedding at Air New Zealand is good. Since the surface is hard, the mattress pad is necessary.
There is no way to sleep at a slight incline with the beds in this configuration. It is not possible for me to put the seatback up when I sleep.
One benefit of the herringbone seat design is that you don't have to fit into a small footwell so you can get quite comfortable. If you stretch out too far, you will get hit by someone in the aisle.
Two hours after takeoff, I fell asleep.
I slept for five hours and woke up 4.5 hours before landing. That is a good thing for me because I am a very bad airplane passenger.
I often write about how I don't like the idea of the Boeing 787 having electric window dimmers. The cabin looked like it was in the dark.
The lavatories are one of the great aspects of Air New Zealand. There were two business class lavatories and one in front of business class on the plane. The lavatories have wallpaper and music when you lock the door. Each bathroom has a different wallpaper.
The bathroom was not kept clean. Air New Zealand doesn't ask their crews to clean lavatories, but the lavatories were a mess by the end of the flight
There was a snack basket and bottled water in the galley. Corn chips and cookies were in the snack basket.
I woke up and ordered a cup of coffee and was served a cookie and chocolate bar.
Before I knew it, the breakfast service began after I got some work done on my computer. The crew began to turn on some of the lighting around 2.5 hours before landing.
Five minutes after that breakfast orders were taken, warm towels were given out. The breakfast menu can be found here.
The choice of juice or smoothie was available two hours before my flight.
A cart was rolled down the aisle to begin the breakfast service. I was asked if I liked fruit, yogurt, and/or breakfast cereals. I asked for some fresh fruit with yogurt and it was ready for me right there.
I chose some toast from the bread basket.
The smoked ahia moki and leek omelette was the main course. They had ahia moki for both the dinner and breakfast service, but it was a bit different than what you would find on an airplane.
I'm not sure if I like the crew. They were kind of stand of fish. I came away from the flight with a strong opinion of the service, but I was not sure what to think. At times the flight attendants were nice, but at other times they were arrogant, which may be a difference in how some Americans and New Zealand communicate.
The crew was very attentive and friendly during the meal service.
A flight attendant commented on my picture taking. I don't know if she was trying to be funny or if she was annoyed, but the constant references to it made me feel uncomfortable.
The crew began to prepare the cabin for landing around an hour out, and handed out candy to the business class passengers.
The captain made a announcement at 3:35PM that we would be descending shortly and landing at 4:05PM. We flew over Catalina and Long Beach before landing at the airport.
There was a smooth landing on runway 25L.
We had a taxi that took us to the arrivals stand. We parked at gate 203.
I went through immigration and caught a redeye to Miami. Stay tune for more reviews soon, thanks for following along.
Air New Zealand's business class experience was not good. There was a small entertainment screen on the plane.
In terms of soft product, Air New Zealand is fairly good, with some high points and some low points.
One of my favorite countries in the world is New Zealand, and since Air New Zealand doesn't make business class award seats available, I'll be looking to fly another airline there. It is hoped that Air New Zealand's new business class will be a big upgrade.
What was your Air New Zealand experience like?
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