London/Auckland routing

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Viewing 9 posts - 16 through 24 (of 24 total)

  • oldchinahand
    Participant

    JordanD is correct re the arm rest but almost all flights to Auckland are full…. in fact over booked…not a lot of chance od an empty seat. Air NZ has a new seat next year which for $100 the empty seat in front can be turned into a flat bed. As I understand it will be bookable by club members on line or by non members at check in. Sounds good…. anyone no more?


    cityprofessional
    Participant

    Some of the comments on the above posts

    The NZ new Y twinseat won’t be available till they get their 77Ws, so no good for next year, but the seat blocking payment is worthwhile (I think it’s like $50-100 per sector to guarantee an empty seat next to you? definitely available on US flights)

    The CX moving Y seat is not unique – SQ has it on its 380s/77Ws, which makes up for the smaller pitch vs the 777-200ERs

    Overall, SIN/HKG are better for fast connections and frequent flights – connections at KUL and BKK are longer and flights not daily, and LAX/SFO is a hassle because of immigration

    EK does indeed have some great J fares, but I can never find availability on the 380 flights, they always seem to push you to the LGW and the stopping flight to SYD on the old 777s. Y on EK 777s is also pretty awful with 10 seats across

    KE is a good option with very reasonable fares in both classes (Google for Emerald Travel as one good consolidator). 34″ in economy. Very fast flight outbound, nice connection airport at ICN, and a free overnight stopover hotel in Seoul on the way back (check the small print for “STPC” and call KE to reserve once you’ve booked)

    PVG and NRT have their drawbacks – firstly most of the fares involve VS, which is pretty painful in Y; secondly there’s a terminal change in NRT

    Finally, there’s always Royal Brunei. Lots of stops and no alcohol, but some very cheap fares in J


    samcheong
    Participant

    Fly with Malaysia Airlines, superb connection and on-board service!


    dutchyankee
    Participant

    As much as I hate to say, even as an American, if you can avoid US immigration and transfers in LA, the do. LA simply is not set up well for International transfers, especially if changing airlines. I have only ever flown to Auckland once and it was with Cathay. Superb, easy connection, flew directly out of AMS to HKG and then onward a few hours later, and got my One World mileage, so a great routing for me.


    continentalclub
    Participant

    The downside of flying a route too often is that, sometimes, you forget all the different permutations that you’ve tried….

    So, it’s just come to mind again that the last time I was in AKL, I flew NZ up to NRT and then LX from NRT to ZRH and on to the UK. That makes for 2 longhaul day flights, with a super-convenient stopover at the Crowne Plaza Narita and an easy transit in Zurich.

    There’s a very efficient shuttle coach between the airport and the hotel, and the rate was Y8800 from memory. The Holiday Inn is even closer to the terminal.

    If you like the idea of two day flights on the return, then this might be a good Star Alliance combination for you; I’d certainly do it again.


    Hess963
    Participant

    Definitely recommend SIN and HKG as stop over points-whether for a short stop or a layover. Whatever airline flying through this both gateways are recommendable. I would not recommend to fly over the US hubs. If you like the hassle and long stop over in LAX or getting used to the US way of controlling pax–please be my guest ! But no normal frequent flyer would do the route nowadays via LAX.


    DJ_London
    Participant

    In terms of comfort and assuming you will be flying economy, I would personally fly via LAX with Air New Zealand on the way out and HK on the way back. The time, in my view, goes quicker that way around because of the sleeping pattern.

    Some of us are not so lucky to fly business class all the time and so for that matter, the seat pitch is key to a comfortable flight. You will therefore want to choose wisely and I would suggest you check out seatplans.com on the Business Traveller website for details of airline pitch. Lastly, enjoy your flight…


    continentalclub
    Participant

    There’s some really very good advice above and I hope that Sunshine has managed to identify which of the options available might most closely suit his/her needs.

    As the last poster mentions, it’s sometimes a little too easy for some of us to slip into commenting on the premium classes alone, particularly on such long routings.

    Having flown Air New Zealand Economy from London to Auckland via Los Angeles in the past, I’d always caution about being too impressed by published seat pitch figures. Though it’s incontrovertibly the case that a 34″ pitch will be more comfortable than a 28″ pitch, I’d say that the difference between, say, 32″ and 34″ is more marginal.

    This has never been more relevant, especially with the introduction of fixed-shell economy seats by the likes of Cathay Pacific. The lack of any encroachment whatsoever by the seat in front on CX means that the actual, effective personal space afforded to passengers in such seats is significantly greater than would be the case in a cabin with traditional economy seats – even with a greater nominal pitch.

    The secondary benefit is that passengers exiting their seat row in-flight disturb fellow passengers much less when ‘grabbing’ a fixed shell than an actual seat back.

    The snag with being able to objectively compare Y-Class seats from online comments (on other sites, not BT), is that proportionally more leisure travellers (with less comparative experience) travel in economy and report on it. Perhaps a site like http://www.airlinequality.com/Product/Yseats-entry.htm might give Sunshine some further pointers – but try and look out for comparative reviews rather than from one-time flyers who are ‘impressed’ by the basic service offered by all scheduled carriers, having perhaps previously only experienced LCCs or European charters.


    Sunshine
    Participant

    Thanks for all the advice – it is much appreciated.

    If you’re interested, I am hoping to travel with BA (on air miles, so let see how easy it will be to redeem miles for a premium seat). I’ll go via Asia and had considered Singapore or Hong Kong… but as someone mentioned above, a stop over in Tokyo (one of my favourite cities in the world) is looking like a much more appealing offer – I just need to see if JAL flies to Auckland from Tokyo 🙂

    Thanks again for all your feedback

Viewing 9 posts - 16 through 24 (of 24 total)
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