Air New Zealand

We flew twice with Air NZ this month once from Vancouver to Auckland and once from Auckland to Hong Kong. On each occasion we were really impressed by the service. The food was great (more than I could eat on on occasion) the sensitivity to those wanting to sleep and those wanting to be provided food and or drink was terrific and the smiles seemed to be genuine (even at the end of a long haul flight - some achievement). We flew Economy Class Air NZ in 2008 and had the same superb service. It's not what you pay it's who you fly with and Air NZ is in the very top shelf.

Air New Zealand - NZ5 LAX to AKL. Poor customer service poor communications. Poor seating. What more can I say but poor. What is the point of preferred seating with airlines if they then change the aircraft type and do not move the allocated passenger seating around. I am well over 6 foot with a minor back injury and had booked an exit seat over 9 months in advance so that I could have a bit of comfort. It appears that the aircraft type was changed out of LAX but this was not passed on to the passengers so when we boarded I found my 'exit' seat was now stuck in the middle of the aircraft. Even with the seat in front of me fully raised I could not sit with my legs straight in front rather splayed either side. When the seat was reclined I had no space at all and the insides of my knees were constantly rubbing against the seat in front and it meant that my knees were encroaching on the passenger next to me. Also the media screen is then just inches from you and is pretty useless to view. Have never had this issue with Singapore or Emirates and as the national carrier and not a budget airline I would expect better from them.

Flew from Sydney to Auckland in Economy Class which was perfectly satisfactory. We then flew on from Auckland to San Francisco using Premium Economy Class which we thought was excellent. The new style seats were very spacious and well laid out (perhaps the seat could have slid forward a bit more?). Good service; good food and a superb range of movies and TV channels etc. made for a comfortable relaxing flight and other airlines could do worse than copy this benchmark. I would recommend this service.

NZ 7 San Francisco to Auckland 30th September 2014. Traveled on a leg of a round trip holiday to US from Australia. Pre-flight announcement advised potential problems with the entertainment system on the 777-200 and not fixed by the time we took off. After a number of attempts to reset at the start of the flight the crew gave up and I endured 13+ hours with nothing to distract while jammed in one of the worst economy class seats (47F). A very unpleasant flight. Even in the 70s you got an inflight movie! Food was much worse than other Air New Zealand legs flown. Staff were good and full of apologies but this does not excuse poor maintenance.

LHR-AKL via LAX and return; premium economy. It's obvious that a lot of thought has gone into the design of the premium economy seats. There is a lot to like particularly the legroom the extra bits of storage space and general layout of the seats. Where they fail is with the reclining system. It allows you to incline your lower body but what's needed to place people for sleep is a facility to lower your head. In that respect the traditional tilt-back seats were vastly better despite the problems they can cause for other passengers who don't want to sleep. By airline standards food and drink were excellent on all four legs. Service too was great but why can't drinks as well as small pieces of food be left out for pickup between meal services? The entertainment system was OK but lacking in recent blockbuster movies. I was glad I paid the extra for premium economy but found it very hard to sleep in these upright pod seats.

LHR-LAX and return in Sept. Excellent flight on fairly new B777-300 out leg very good in Premium Economy. Cabin crew outstanding both legs food excellent. Both flights ahead of schedule. Only small negative comment would be onboard entertainment particularly the movies none of which I would describe as mainstream. Nevertheless would not hesitate to recommend ANZ. Well done to them!

We flew Business Class from Auckland to Hong Kong and was a wonderful experience. I have recently flown long-haul Business on Cathay and Emirates and the Air NZ lie-flat bed is far better then anything else I have seen. Food was great.

HK to AKL Business Class 15 Sept 2014. New updated 777-200 for one of its first flights on the route. Generally a smooth ANZ service with the staff obviously enjoying the new updated plane. The seats etc were very much like the 777-300ER with updated touch screen movies much improved than the old toggle system. Great updated menu from Peter Gordon more interesting meals. Delay due to weather that held us on the tarmac before departure but they were flexible and let people up are around to the bathrooms despite having left the gate. Hard to fault a new internal refreshed interior and great staff.

Code share Virgin Australia. Flight number VA7405. AKL airport and several Air NZ staff were unable to tell me where to check in despite it being an Air NZ flight. Screen confirmed check in at Gate A where I had been asking. Told to check in at kiosk but would only accept Air NZ flight number and my e-ticket only had VA flight number. Told by successive staff I must have been given Air NZ flight number unwilling to help. Shoved e-ticket under the nose of the staff member who insisted I should know and said showed me where it states Air NZ flight number. He said it was NZ105. He could have said that 10 mins earlier. By the time I checked in the flight was boarding and I still had to get to the departure gate through customs and to the boarding gate. Just made the plane and was told by Air NZ staff I should have checked in and moved to gate earlier. 1 hr 15 min to check in. Unacceptable. Onboard having travelled 5 hours to the airport and the check in debacle I looked forward to a meal and movie. Told no meal no movie. Uncomfortable seat that barely reclined. I fly Emirates and am used to a meal tea coffee wine and the ICE entertainment system. One FA gave me movie access out of pity and I had to pay $10 for a sandwich. Emirates please fly to Denpasar Bali so I never have to go through this again. Our national carrier is a disorganised disgrace.

Got upgraded to business class on the Auckland-Apia (Samoa) flight. Although these seats are the old style recliner type they were comfortable enough for the 4 hour flight. Cabin staff were excellent. Had the bacon roll for breakfast great taste. Flew back a week later in economy on an Airbus. As always flying Air NZ is a great experience.