pom4gud

Just wondered if anyone has travelled premium economy with air NZ? If so, is it really worth paying the extra?

Having a think about coming over for a visit during the uk summer hols, as usual I'm tempted to put it on the credit card and spend the years in-between visits paying it off, and the husband thinks its far too much money.....

hazeandsteve

Oh hoh ho, most definitlely!
However make sure you book the route with a 747 so you get the top deck.'d like to know about the skycouch now though, wasn't available when i last flew.

MnB

Def agree with OP ...well worth it, we didn't get on top deck but even so was excellent....you are treated the same as BC just not in BC section, IMO though PE section was much nicer than BC anyway!

LukeandJo

Skycouch on Air NZ is only available via LA, no other routes at the mo.
We were abit annoyed as we had booked via HK!

AndyR

100% DO IT! We were on the lower deck when we flew from LA, but luckily we were the only ones in that part so they crew were ultra attentive.

Problem, is once you go PE, you'll forever be wanting to go PE and not go back to cattle class

simonmarkellis

PE Rocks!!! Go for it!!!

Margaret Parkinson

We flew with Qantas Premium Economy on the 21st Jan but could only do it Heathrow to Sydney which was 21 hours coming down in Bangkok where we had to get off for over an hour and then board again. Manchester to Heathrow & Sydney to Auckland was in economy.

The seats in PE were a lot better but still not sure if it was worth paying almost double. We are both in our seventies and my husband said he could not do the trip again unless we had better seats. Our daughter had been to visit us for our sons 50th birthday so she flew back with us but she was in economy all the way. I did pop down to see if she was OK and I have to say I do not think I could have sat in those seats. They did not look as thought they had as much room as Singapore Airlines who we have travelled with before. The menu for the meals where the same the only difference being ours were not served on plastic and we had proper cutlery. The funny part was on the flight from Heathrow to Bangkok we have proper knives but Bangkok to Auckland they were plastic. We were greated with champagne, juice or water which she was trying to serve whilst people were trying to board.

June

hazeandsteve

Which is a part of my choice of route.
The 747 PE seats are an obvious improvement on cattle class, while the older smaller planes PE seats I experienced were decidedly tired, and deffo a disappointment.
Another letdown was that the division in the back row from premium to economy was just a curtain. Not a big deal, apart from the fact that a nursing mother who'd been allocated a roomy seat kept bouncing on the back of my seat! Nothing against a mother, but having paid the money for seperation, I expect to be seperated.
Before I get jumped on, I was going for Mum's funeral, so didn't really appreciate being wound up by an innocent party behind me, but I was understandably a bit touchy on that flight.

SidNZ

The new premium economy seats on Air NZ's new Boeing 777's look the biz and we will be booking them when we go for a visit up top next year.

Jan n Neil

We have booked them for a trip in June, even though it means going through LAX

AndyRuth

Just wondering why a lot of people seem to have a downer on LAX , we have flown 3 times to NZ now and that is our preferred route for a transit stop , decent sized room free drinks and snacks etc , rather than being chucked out into the main concourse of a hot and sweaty Hong Kong terminal for example.

Just personal preference I guess.

pom4gud

Ah Ha!! I knew it was worth it! Will show hubby this tread.

Thank you for all your replies, will definitely have to brush up on my feminine charms.....

BEVS

Then you should have been given a seat by yourself, normally within the 2 seat areas and so you should've been able to move between those 2 seats. Mind you , I am talking of economy here.

I've done that trip . To be fair you can also move to the stewards area and find good privacy. I had to do that too when an Indian chap insisted on sitting next to me and tell me about his arranged forthcoming marriage. My Dad had just died !

Airlines are as helpful as they can be in my experience.

luvwelly

Agree - just routed FIL through there deliberately - even though insurance premium was more just for transiting USA - simply because he can't wander off and get lost in the terminal - he is elderly and an inexperienced traveller.

MnB

Agree...LAX as a PE passenger ( 2hrs touch down) much, much more bearable. As a PE passenger you get to transit lounge earlier than Economy, don't have to stand for ages in a queue and get back on the plane before Economy. Managed to fly PE on way out to NZ but coming back flew economy via Cook's...had 4 hrs between flights in LAX, queued for 2.5 of them, found navigating way around terminal a nightmare & airport staff scary! Not nice