Colin in the middle

Like everything in life it depends on what you expect! If you want red carpet then dont flly economy class

If you want cheap and economical and Singapore is better priced than ANZ then fly ANZ. Depends what you flight crew is like on the two legs as well on the day.
Now all the luggage allowances have changed an ANZ also fly via Hong Kong I reckon choices are unlimited but still cheapest in my view is best.

Dont matter if it has a inflight entertainment system or not either way I end up asleep for most of the flight

danny.f

aGREE

Caraska

I'd go for Singapore every time. They can't do enough for you on the flight and are brilliant with kids. Have flown with them many times and would only use them.

P2L

AlexArchie

Another thing to bear in mind is that Air New Zealand & Singapore Airlines are part of the Star Alliance network. This means that even though you may choose to fly Air New Zealand, you may in fact find yourself on a Singapore Air flight. If they have very few seats sold, the airlines will consolidate all the passengers into one flight, to save on fuel

We flew out with Singapore and actually ended up with a code share with Virgin & Lufthansa

futurama

Wow I didnt know that!

AlexArchie

Me either!

karonious

We came over with Korean Air.
Our circumstances dictated that we get ourselves {ME} here as quickly as possible, not on the flight we had originally booked.
There has been no mention so far of this airline, generally seen as the poor man's choice:
The actual flights: well,I thought they were impeccable, never having flown with the others: great service, no reason to complain

Colin in the middle

Qantas aint bad neither is BA but then again you end up on a Qantas

AlexArchie

What do you mean? And......Is luthwasnsa (cant spell it) good? :tumpsup:

AlexArchie

?

Colin in the middle

Codeshare what was refered to earlier! Its where the principle carrier you think your booked on uses the plane of someone else. Two main Codeshare Alliances One World and Star Alliance.

Only certainty is if you do book Air New Zealand you will fly Air New Zealand from the UK because the planes the use have to come back the same day or incur disrupting the schedules because a plane is out of place.

United Airlines apparently flies to the NZ from the USA It only flies in Name Only via a Air NZ aircraft. Joke is that the Americans cant find the little Islands but can find the Big Island of Australia

Far as I was aware Lufthansa is one of those Codeshare partners and does not actually fly into NZ.

Only time you see British Airways in NZ is whne its a charter plane for the royal family

happynz

Yup. My wife and daughter flew home to Thailand on BA. Of course it ended up being a Qantas flight from Christchurch to Sydney and Sydney to Bangkok. However, it was a genuine BA aircraft on the return leg to Sydney, but back on a Qantas flight to Christchurch

futurama

we got a right good deal bit chilly tho

uk+kiwi

That's high. Never paid over £800 on the lowest economy priced tickets (there's several different price levels) BUT I heard from a friend yesterday trying to get her parents out to NZ anytime between Xmas & Easter that there are no cheap tickets left. Which supports your findings.

Same friend has also booked her trip down next March (Korean I think) for less than £600 adult return with taxes - fares gone now though sadly.

I'd want Premium Economy for that fare. It might not be too far off?

uk+kiwi

Did you know this at time of booking? It doesn't sound like you did, but most of the time you would as the airlines don't hide this info, as far as I know. Last trip we went down last with BA (Airmiles) but knowing that BA does not fly into Auckland. The BA staff told me I would be on Quantas from Aus, as their One World Partner. The flight number also indicated it was with a different carrier as it did not start with 'BA', funnily enough. In fact, it was booking this last leg that took ages.

And last think to bear in mind is that often you cannot book directly with the airline online (certainly if using miles) where partners are involved - ie BA website does not link directly with the Quantas one to make an online booking all the way through. Well, they weren't sync'd in 2005 anyhow.

It would be unusual and unfortunate not to know in advance.

And to whoever asked about Air NZ - yes, I personally think they are very good.