Air New Zealand

Our plane from Sydney was diverted due to fog from landing at Christchurch to land in Auckland where we landed approx 1.30am. All good re flight but Air NZ customer service certainly slipped once they had this unexpected event on their hands. We were placed in an excellent hotel but the information we were given by staff when we landed and by staff at the airport the next day was all different and mostly incorrect. My comment to those reading this if something goes wrong with your flight with Air NZ don't ring (you wont be answered for a long time) go straight to the person in charge at the information desk as soon as possible get the information and don't listen to any other staff!

AKL-SYD-AKL twice in the same month. 3/4 flights were A320s - commuter workhorse flights that for a 3.5 hour trans-Tasman flight are fine. Seats are a bit narrow and the pitch is too. IFE continues to lag behind global standards--unresponsive/slow system. Meals were good (I was on Works which includes meal seat bag) when I went for the full meal deal. Cabin crew are a different story. These are disproportionately young (based on the equipment they're recent hires) with good intentions but not quite there. On one flight a passenger dumped his entire scotch and coke on me and the FA was too "chilled" in getting something to clean it up. Reeking of booze was not how I intended to arrive at my destination. Only an hour later I was offered a complimentary drink for my troubles. On another journey my seat light didn't work; the row in front had no IFE. We were all moved to new seats and required to move back for landing. I understand the thinking behind this protocol but really: 1 row won't make a difference for load and it wouldn't be to hard to ascertain who had moved when it's because the airline's equipment has failed.

My family and I flew Air New Zealand from Los Angeles CA to and from Rarotonga Cook Islands. The plane was a spacious B767 and the flight was overall "lovely". The 9 plus hours were made bearable by the service friendly staff and great airplane. Everything worked well (screens etc) and the attendants even came by in the middle of the night offering water to awake passengers. Definitely a "do again" airline for us!

Flew from Auckland to Shanghai (and a connection from Wellington to Auckland). I had originally booked a return flight from London Heathrow to Auckland via Hong Kong but Air NZ axed their LHR-HKG route before I returned. They were not able to book me onto a flight to Hong Kong and so booked me to Shanghai instead and then onwards from Shanghai to London with Virgin Atlantic - meaning I had to scrap my planned holiday trip to Hong Kong and fly straight home - for which I also had to pay extra for even though they caused the route change. Having found previous long haul and Trans Tasman flights with Air New Zealand to be great I was extremely disappointed by this flight. The plane itself seemed very old and was not to clean boarding was very rushed felt like cattle being herded on board (the same leaving the plane too.) The flight was delayed on the tarmac for an hour and this was poorly dealt with by staff. Seating was extremely uncomfortable and I was not able to sleep at all for the 13hr duration and in flight entertainment was mediocre. Food was quite good however there was a complete lack of customer service from the crew except 1 or 2 members. They did not seemed bothered at all with passengers and were not too friendly. Very poor service and will not be travelling with Air New Zealand again on long haul from Europe to NZ.

Los Angeles to Auckland. Our return flight was from Auckland to San Francisco. We have always liked ANZ! On our flight to Auckland we were on the 777-300ER in seats 23A/B. This was our first experience with the newer premium economy service. By all counts it was excellent and would definitely use this class of service again! The seats were comfortable the service and meals were excellent too! On our return flight we flew on the 747 in premium economy - older style - seats 22 H/K. We enjoy the fact that these seats are on the upper level of the 747. These seats are more like standard seats and not as comfortable as the 777 seats. We had room to spread out with no seats directly in front of us. Unfortunately the service was poor during this flight. The FA mentioned that they were missing a staff member for this flight. No matter we still favor ANZ and we would select and recommend the premium economy seats of 777 over the 747 if at all possible.

MEL-AKL-LAX return. Had been looking forward to trying ANZ PY and I was somewhat disappointed. The good things: Superb food better than C on QF oodles of room in the seats great cabin crew on all sectors priority boarding. However seats are uncomfortable. I appreciate the unique design but you just can't get into a good position. They are leather but in my opinion the padding is far too thin and the only way to sleep is to put the seat at full tilt pile up the bean bag with a cushion and lay out straight. Seeing the space the seats take up I'm not surprised ANZ are not going to continue them into new aircraft - they must lose money on them even at a premium fare. The design is also clunky in that nothing works smoothly - you need to force up the armrests and the seat belt is a pain. It has an airbag but it rests uncomfortably on your side. A great idea in theory - but not so good in practice.

NZ176 PER-AKL. Wasn't planning on flying into NZ with ANZ but missed connections meant we were put on this flight. Staff very friendly and helpful. Food very nice especially dessert. Didn't put seat into bed mode when offered (stewards help change it from seat to bed) but just reclined it as far as it would go. Liked how table didn't come out of seat (for a change!) and was a fairly decent size too.

Flew LAX to Auckland. Koru staff in LAX were excellent during a long layover they went out of there way to make sure our family of 4 (2 adults 20 month old and 4 yr old were) were ok and when it came to board allowed us to carry sleeping children onto the plane while one of their front line staff followed with cabin luggage. Koru Club is great value for $. The flight itself was good with excellent service and meals. Only criticisms are leg room in economy gets less with every new model of plane (where will it end) and the cabin temperature (as per previous long haul flights) was freezing (lot of passengers commenting on it).

LAX to LHR on 27 July back 1 August. Would be a fine airline but with one profound exception. There is no air- flow in the cabin. Flight attendant she said they had no control over the air circulation only over the temperature. On some 777's one does have access to an air nozzle to supply flow to oneself on most however it is indeed controlled by the airline. Flat bed in business is comic but entertaining in its own way. No instruction manual comes with the seat so it is sort of 'figure it out for yourself'. To get the dining table to emerge (it is at foot level to the right) you have to reach over your left shoulder to a button which you push which then releases the table. You then have to tug at knee level the large table up and out and okay all is fine. By the way they are not seats but more like a bed that can be shot up into some sort of seating position. Not comfortable to sit in. However once you get this seat to go flat and once you have put the several inch thick mattress pads on the seat you have a fantastic bed. I am one of those 4 million mile flyers and not given to complaint. I have never flown ANZ before and will not again until they sort out the basics. That said the enthusiasm of the Kiwis on board the joy of families going for the 'long haul' and the no fuss upbeat nature of the crew is wonderful.

Auckland to Los Angeles on NZ 6 777 (300) in premium economy. Heard lots of different feedback from these new seats and I can honestly say they are heaps better than anything else out there loads of leg room (I am over 6 ft) plenty of space around you and cubby holes to put your bits and pieces away. Food is up to business class standard and staff are very attentive. Inflight snack service (via your entertainment screen) is pretty awful not much choice I think a chocolate bar packet of chips or a cookie was available. All in all a very good product.