Testing Air New Zealand's People-Watching Business Class Part 1
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- Опубліковано 25 чер 2024
- Airlines generally value privacy and personal space above all in business class. Not so Air New Zealand! Here you are there to see and be seen!
This video is all about testing Air New Zealand's People-Watching Business Class. This is Part 1 of a two video series covering my journey from Australia to the United States. Part 1 - this Air NZ flight review - covers my first leg from Melbourne to Auckland flying business class on the Air New Zealand 777. Coming soon will be Part 2 which covers my long-haul leg from Auckland to San Francisco.
This video covers the Air New Zealand business class lounge in Melbourne and the entire onboard service of their people watching business class cabin.
Enjoy and happy travels.
Dennis
#airNZ #AirNewZealand #AirNZbusinessclass
00:00 Introduction
00:47 MEL Business Class Lounge
02:04 Boarding
03:00 Taxi & Take Off
03:18 Business Class Cabin
04:26 The Seat
05:56 Inflight Dining
07:16 Entertainment System
07:55 Bathroom Tour
09:04 Landing
As someone who loves looking out the window I won’t be in a hurry to fly to NZ in Business. So appreciate your open review, Dennis. ✈️
Lucky for you they're completely redesigning their interiors. Guess they got enough complaints about that weird herringbone layout.
What were they thinking
@@janetkerry the new ones ALSO don't look directly out the window.
Stupid airline....fly Qatar.
Thank goodness Air New Zealand are in the process of upgrading the seats and the configurations. Cabin crew and food are always very good-top class in fact.
Hearing your intro music brightens my day. I missed it during the pandemic lockdowns so I'm glad you're back making videos again.
Shush
I loved the fruits of your pain, and your sense of humour.
Hi Dennis, hope you had a great day. Another great flight review like always. A lot of times I will skip past the taxi and takeoffs when watching but I watched this one so as not let your effort to capture it not go without being seen. Thanks for another great flight! Cheers!
Oh, I like to watch out of the window...
Thank you very much, Dennis, for sharing your wonderful Air New Zealand documentary with us.
We love this seat arrangement, especially my disabled daughter who finds the seat easy to get in and out of. She has no problem with sitting down or swinging her legs and standing.
I love this format. So much easier to sleep with head near the window rather than people constantly walking past your head. Who cares about seeing feet when you get a great sleep on a long haul. Shame it’s been phased out on most airlines
Thanks for sharing this part Dennis am looking forward to your longhaul video. It's great to see you back in the air again - keep it up please. Hello from this London based NZer who loves flying : - )
Fantastic trip report Dennis!😸😸
Great business class! thanks for the share!
I’ve done so many transpacific flights in those seats. 10 minutes after departure you can’t see anything on most Air NZ routes. The big advantage of those seats is that your head is away from the aisle with a big flat bed. Going from AKL to YVR with a meeting next day you need a good sleep - and you get that on those seats.
That's our next longhaul and booked Air NZ specifically for the comfort of its beds.
Being able to fully recline the seat during take off and landing is a big bonus as well. The sleep quality is excellent for sure as well.
Have to have the good choice of socks before fly Air NZ hahaha, great vlog again Dennis, loved it
omg, this is perfect for me, I love watching people
Thank you for sharing your trip.
Great video Dennis. I think I saw u on TV a few years ago. Your business won some award I think.
Looking forward to Part 2.
But another great review, cheers Dennis
Loved it mate.. We'll done.. Kia ora.. New subscriber👍
i for one am appreciative of your efforts to capture taxiing footage
You know it is a classy business class when it has Schooner glasses as champagne flutes.
Loved the video Dennis, and great to see you back travelling regularly again. Looked like a great flight with a great crew, but the seat is very much showing its age at this point. The new seat looks pretty decent (and better for windows views than the current), but what are your thoughts on them introducing the new "Premier Luxe" seats in addition to the "regular" business class seats? They look great with a lot of additional space, but seems like an odd decision to split the products in the cabin like that.
Great Tips. 👍
You're hilarious, and very informative. Thanks for this review
Accurate comments on the seat, I've found the only advantage is having your head away from the aisle when trying to sleep. The 777 has only just been returned to service a couple of weeks ago, I saw a video on the weeks of preparation required to get all the mechanicals properly certified and crew retrained. It's cost a lot of money to keep AirNZ afloat (aloft?) during Covid and all staff, passengers and taxpayers are happy to be getting back to normal. Most trans-Tasman flights are fully booked, as was my flight from Christchurch to Melbourne a couple of weeks ago on an A320.
I agree. Although these seats could be accused of being dated they remain the best seats for sleeping on proper long haul. They offer good length for stretching out and remain the best sleep I’ve had on a plane!!
@@jeremybaker8173 - They have been around in use since 2004.
Do you have a link to that video Bob? Sounds interesting.
@@VisualApproach Hi VA, I think the video I saw was on NZTV1 but I can't access it from Australia where I am at present and blocked from accessing any NZ content. Pity, it was a really interesting video that I seem to recall was some 10 minutes in length. There is a short PR version of the first 'return to service' in February this year and I believe this aircraft has now been returned to full passenger service as well. ua-cam.com/video/73zyv2pmw5o/v-deo.html
I suspect that there may be similar return to service videos from other airlines that might be on UA-cam.
Being able to have the seat fully reclined during take off and landing is a massive benefit that no other airline has. I hope that doesn’t change with the new seat layout. I really like the existing business class seats, especially for night flights.
All thumbs up!!!
I did LA to AKL in their 787 recently and was very sceptical beforehand due to the weird layout. As this was a night flight, the window issue did not bother me much and I could actually see the stars through the window when lying down. On the 787 it is best to sit in one of the A seats, as you then don't get the foot show. The crew was excellent, one flight attendant noted that I changed into PJs, so he asked whether I wanted my seat converted to the bed and another gave me another pillow without me even asking when she saw that I was going to watch a movie after the seat had been converted. I bed mode you also get a very thick mattress, so the bed was really comfortable.
The good thing about this config might actually be that the middle rows ARE facing away from each other. Those are the ones closest to the next seat and they are in fact looking as far away from each other as possible, which I think is a good thing.
Big fan of your reviews, no exception here! And your collaborations , when is a next?
Wonderful to see Dennis back in the air, always a fair and humorous review, for 20 years customers have been complained about the aisle pointing seat, and now after more than 80,000 design and engineering hours, that have gone into the new Business Class seat along with 18 months customer research and testing, they come up with a Business Class seat pointing towards the aisle, brilliant, they sure cannot have many Asian customer,
because in that culture it is very rude to point your feet at other people, and with their high fares and almost impossible to communicate with,, I think I will find another carrier, but I guess that is what you get when you have a CEO from Walmart
I've been keen to try out Air NZ business for a while. While the seats are definitely weird, it's good to hear the crew are excellent.
Seats are very easy to get used to. Especially on long flights when you need to get a good sleep. Also can fully recline the seat during takeoff and landing which is a good thing and offers a lot of privacy. No other airlines offer recline during take off and landing.
Same seats as the older Virgin Atlantic Upper Class - comfy but not very private!
Air NZ got them under licence from VA in the 2000s when they had to restructure the airline and made the decision to scrap first class. It was all done at a rush so they had to take something off the shelf as so to speak. But they are now on the way out. The new ones look amazing.
Hi Dennis...I couldn't stop laughing at your wicked sense of humour with this video 🤣
I loved the look of the lounge in Melbourne,...those pink chairs remind me of the ones in Virgin Australia's lounge. Very comfy, but hard to get out of if one has imbibed one too many ! ( Yes... me!).
The food looks good to , I thought the cupcakes with the logo on top was a lovely idea.
I am sure quite a few chiropractors may has put a deposit on a new BMW, considering the links in people's backs trying to look out the windows.
Maybe those seats are that way to fit the NZ All Blacks Rugby team ?🤔
I think if I travelled with my other half, I would love those middle seats...it might guarantee a few hours of peace and quiet !
Looking forward to the next leg !
Marc Newson’s face looking at the cabin design: 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Big difference when flying on the 787, if you can get a seat on the left side of the business class cabin. Only 3 rows instead of 4, so you only look at the back of the seats in the middle. Much nicer!
The best aviator. I love you more than any other content creator on social media. You have down to earth personality and I adore your Aussie vibe, I miss living in Australia when I was young *😞
What I enjoyed is Dennis face mask!
The layout remind's me of Cathay's old (thankfully long gone) long haul Business Class offering......though you could lower those seats without the cabin crew's assistance
Always found Air New Zealands Cabin crew excellent & the food
That was a really nice review Dennis! You pointed out all the bad stuff, but still you find all the positives and focus on them. Its what i call a feelgood review. Sometimes people are biased and see only one side of the experience.
Well done!
Reminds me of Virgin Upper class. Why face seats away from the window. That's like going to an art gallery and putting the sofas facing away from the paintings.
Better for sleeping and allows fully recline during take off and landing.
Anyone that has flown Virgin Atlantic would be totally familiar with these seats. I flew them back in the mid 2000’s. It’s not the end of the world. Better than flying economy.
On my last visit to MEL I got to use the Air NZ lounge. It is a pretty good lounge, it odd though as you're situated so your view of the planes is mostly undercarriage.
As for the business class seats they're not the greatest. In lay flat they are comfortable but facing the aisle is not ideal.
Visiting NZ next year and looking at flights Air NZ is way, way more expensive than other airlines flying there from Canada.
Going Qantas now thanks
Oef. That’s an odd layout for business class. Facing the windows would have been better as I do like to watch outside when flying. Kudos to air New Zealand for the toilet. That’s bloody awesome haha
Very interesting business class layout, does not look to practical. Great review
It’s best used for long night flights as the sleep is excellent and the seats can be fully reclined during take off and landing. This aspect is one that most reviewers miss but is great for privacy and appreciated by people who fly with this product often.
Been there, did that.... Nov 2019...
Give it a like Dennis is the Dutch king =)
Dennis as always a great vlog
The lounge is better than I remembered 🤔
I had hopped Air New Zealand would have changed that seat configuration
It makes no sense and I do not want the other people seeing me nor do I want to supervise them
I do not pay insane business class fares to to be stared at
I doubt I will fly them until I see a change for the 787
I think,I would do this route with quantas on the 737-800
Noel Philips would that loo 😂😂😂
Nice video. That is one weird business class configuration.
Great video Dennis!
Love seeing an Air New Zealand 🇳🇿 video and on the 777-300ER! It’s said to think that ANZ had now retired all their 777-200s during the pandemic 😷😢
Anyways excellent video except for the terrible seating arrangement it looks like a herring bone arrangement even though now a days reverse-herring bone is the way to go!
Cheers 🥂
Caleb’s Aviation
Dennis was on a 777-300, which are all being gradually returned to service. You are right about the 777-200, they have all been permanently retired and will presumably be sold.
@@bobsellars2395 Good to know… thanks I thought it was a 777-200
@@bobsellars2395 However it was a 777-300ER (Extended Range model) not a standard less popular 777-300 model…
@@Calebs_Aviation ✔
The seat arrangement works great on night flights and can recline during take off and landing. I hope that is still the case with the next generation seat layout.
Does that mean you're flashing other aircraft when you're taking your position in the loo?
Weird layout for a "window" seat when you can't see out the window. I'm always looking out on take off and landing - it's great to see.
Unusual design
Trying to think of why? Perhaps with the intention of easy interaction with staff etc
That business lounge at Melbourne looks pretty nice Dennis! Certainly beats the dungeon that is the Qantas business class lounge! As for the seating, yes I will agree that it's not the best in terms of privacy, but once you get it set up for sleeping, I would challenge you to find a single aircraft that has a better bed in business class than NZ! I don't know if it's the seat or if it's the topper they put but some of the best sleep I've had over the Pacific was on Air New Zealand!
mostly because the seat is folded forwards so you are sleeping on a different surface. It does not need to compromise as both seat and bed.
Seems like the old Virgin Upper Class type seats. I really thought they had upgraded their seats!!
Thanks for another great post Dennis. I have to say what a weird seat. Makes you wonder. Just a update for Qantas BC. After watching on the news about delays/cancellations etc I was nervous for our BC flight on Qantas. Would we make our Emirates connection in Singapore? Would our bags arrive. Qantas were brilliant. Left on time. Bags arrived in Singers. Cabin crew and food were awesome. To be honest I was shocked after all the bad PR. What was a shock was how bad Emirates BC to Athens via Dubai was. A380 to Dubai. Food was atrocious. I think someone forgot to turn the oven on lol Everything was luke warm at best. Just the way they do things, possibly due to the size of the cabin, no warmth. Just felt meh here your food. Next. 777 service onto Athens service was much better. But once again the food was luke warm. I hate cold food so this is a biggie for me. Maybe someone has got burnt and sued them..Cold food in any class is not acceptable. Have to say I'm really disappointed in Emirates and I'm shocked to say that. We have been lead to believe they are awesome. Would I fly them again. Probably not. They don't live up to their reputation. Let's see how Turkish and Singapore Air BC go over the next 2 months.
I’ve had the luke warm food on Emirates in BC once, but all other times it’s been fine. Not sure why it happened. I agree it’s unacceptable and I did make the cabin crew aware. Surprised on a Singapore to Dubai flight it would be like that however. My experience was Melbourne to Auckland on the A380. All my other hundreds of Emirates flights have been fine and as per expectations. Especially the ones when I’ve been in first class suites. I wouldn’t discount it from a single bad experience. But if it ever happened again I would think twice about using a carrier again. I had a string of issues on Qantas over the years, even as a gold member and frequent BC flier, and will never take them willingly again.
mate you squeezed the honey out wrong, those packs have a knack of squeezing, you squeeze the two little sachets together lol
ROFTL!! A devastating critique of the business class hard product, delivered with class and irony. Reminds me of your review of British Airways’ legacy product several years ago … at one point I thought you were going to say « The best seats for premium travelers wanting to look out the window are on another airline! »
Please do an Auckland - Adelaide or Adelaide - Auckland flight. The Air NZ offering is nothing better than Jetstar due to thier aircraft type.
Looking nice on service, not sure on seat arrangements either
Totally jealous of those angry, rain laden clouds that were in Melbourne prior to take off.
Love Air New Zealand. Service is great in Pacific class (economy) also. I have not been with them since 2003. Business class on 767 no winglets 737-400 and Akl to Raro on 747-400 very rare. Would fly them anytime. 777 seats are not good. Like BA sitting backwards. Yuk. Cheers Dennis.
That seat was licenced from Virgin Atlantic with a few modifications.
This is a truely weird seat choice, I just can’t understand how someone looked at that and thought “yeah, that’s what we want”.
When you use it a lot you understand why. Especially for night flights, which is very common for that long routes Air NZ flies. Reclining during take off and landing is a great bonus as well and the seats are very private in the reclined mode.
Do they limit the amount of time you can spend in the lavatory? Best view in the house!!
hahaha - no but you may get a few strange looks when you do eventually emerge from the cubicle!
Yeah but like why even have windows at that point? Also the feet pics here were incredible. These designs are really something
On the 787 there is only 3 rows - so the left hand side of the plane faces the back/wall of the middle row . So that's reasonably private compared to the face to face rows as your effectively facing a wall. Definitely recommend snagging one of them. The crew is usually nice, the bed when setup for you is actually really comfortable and the food pretty nice most of the time. But overall it doesnt stack up to some other carriers in my view in terms of quality and lounges and especially given the price is usually cripplingly expensive so your paying top dollar for something that is just not top.
It’s definitely top dollar. Often cheaper to fly first class on Emirates or Singapore airlines in the suites than Air NZ Business Class if going to Europe. Being able to recline during take off and landing with Air NZ is a big bonus. But not enough to justify the additional cost on really long haul vs first class in others, which is really top notch.
I felt like I was sitting IN the aisle rather ON the aisle in one of these seats.
Crumpets yummy. I have always avoided Air NZ business class, because of their seats, it's so bizarre.
That's a shame that you can't look out the window from your seat. I love looking at the scenery as you take-off and land.
How did you have a Qantas boarding pass (I think)? 2:19
I guess there's something to the idea that most of their widebody/long-haul flights are overnight and there's not much to see out the window. But man, looking at feet the entire time? Kinda rough for business class prices.
Granted it was in 2018 and I was in Premium Economy but I found the IFE to be real good. Wide selection and a very responsive system. Loved the Maori music playlists they had.
Is a real misconception that you are looking at feet all the time. Most of the time is looking at a screen or sleeping. When reclined in the seat, even during take off and landing that’s is possible, you don’t see much of anyone else around you at all.
Foot fetish! Lol lol you are funny! Actually it’s very awkward to looking at feet. Also this is a very outdated configuration!
Great clip! Thanks for sharing!
That business class seat configuration is _most_ bizarre!!! When you said: " _For dessert_ ...." I misheard it as " *Foot* _dessert_...".
not surprising really, with _that_ seat configuration.
🤪😖🙀🤔👉🦶👈
Ah I love whistling alone to your intro!
Air NZ has confirmed the herringbone is going. It was great for sleep, but average for working.
Do i need to spam F5 for the part 2? Or is it next week?
Looking out the window is overrated when you travel a lot. I’d much rather just start doing some work or watching a movie etc and recline my seat for take off and landing, which is possible on Air Nz and nobody else, when in business class. It’s not that hard to look out the second window anyway. With the seat reclined there is more privacy than on the middle row seats on Singapore, Emirates and most other business class products. The sleeping configuration is also more comfortable than most other business class products. If you want real privacy then Emirates First Class Suites or Singapore Airlines First Class Suites is the way to go. Air NZ Biz seats are great for overnight flights.
I absolutely hate this layout, I’m glad when I travelled I selected a seat on the other side which didn’t have people facing you. In saying that the crew, service and food were great
Please let me know when you will visit Poland ;))
I think Air NZ missed an opportunity to upgrade its cabins, during the covid lockdowns, to improve its business class offering.
It was already a dated product pre-covid.
Not sure if they are bringing the retro fit forward with urgency, as they are launching their new route to New York next month.
Very lucky for Air NZ that Qantas isn’t starting competition on the route till June 2023.
Competition for Qantas to NYC won’t matter. The plans can’t take many passengers or luggage anyway and are fully at capacity all the time. They aren’t bringing forward the upgrades. Just using existing planes. The new planes will get the new features. I hope they keep the ability to recline the seat fully during take off and landing like you can now in Air NZ biz class. Nobody else allows that.
The cabin of nightmares!
In my opinion this cabin matches the BA business class layout you've reviewed before, who thinks up these designs!?
Virgin Atlantic.
@@emercycrite true
@@emercycrite They bought rights to use it from VA
@@natzzzy9119 Well aware of that. Hence my answer to the question posed.
"Even better if you've got a foot fetish" 🤣 Oh dear, I definitely wouldn't be in a hurry to fly in those seats. I think Virgin Atlantic have the same bizarre layout, or they used to at one point.
Hi Dennis when were you in NZ and are you here till the 26th. Scotty Canberra
So “people watching” or is this a way to prepare us for Dennis’s arrest for peeping? Even so a good review. Those seats look like the old Virgin Atlantic upper class seats.
All the foot comments made me laugh!
Whoever designed this business class must designed old British airways business class seats too.
Pfft business class. I remember when the 747 was 3-5-3.
Twelve hours to LA 🌴 stuck in the middle seat of five in the smoking 🚬 section. Now that's living!
you said the new product is a great improvement on the current business class, i completely agree...but I want to know what wouldn't be an improvement over this atrocity. Jet Airways from India had the same on medium-long haul flights and I used to hate them. IMO, I'd fly economy over this, considering Air NZ was amongst the first to allow you to retain the entire row of seats and convert into beds I believe. I'd rather stand and fly the few hours than this, atleast that way I can look at people's faces instead of their feet
Economy Sky Couch is no comparison to the comfort of Business Premier. Not even close. Yes you get a row of 3 seats to yourself and it converts to a bed in economy, but it’s way too short and uncomfortable compared to the long, flat and comfortable beds in Biz. Being able to fully recline during take off and landing is a big bonus in Biz. When you fly in business class a lot it’s easy to get used to the Air Nz seat layout and comfort while sleeping and during take off and landing being fully reclined. That’s why their seats in Biz are usually always fully booked with paying customers and it can be hard to get an upgrade.
As a foot fetishist; THANK YOU. I will never fly any other airline.
I wish other flight reviewers looked after their foot enthusiasts like you do.
BYEEE ☠️☠️
😭
I recently flew AirNZ Business from Auckland to Singapore (10hrs). Hated the seat layout. I felt claustrophobic. International AirNZ lounge in Auckland is ok, but the food is the same everytime you travel. No variety.
Virgin Atlantic 2015 Cabin
This cabin layout is simply horrendous! Glad to see it being kicked out by most airlines. Makes the cabin look cramped and congested. And don't get me started on the 1 window which you're not able to look out of unless you did some proper stretching for 10 minutes.
Please travel in Sri lanakan airline 😇
One thing to remember is these seats were introduced when most airline did not offer completely lie flat seats in business class, only angled lie flat. Not sure why it's taken them so long to upgrade these?
Probably because these seats work so well and a few other airlines used them as well. I prefer these over Emirates or Singapore Air business class. Still can’t beat a real first class suite though.
The seat looks very similar to Virgin Atlantics A330 Upper Class seat, not one I like for sure.
Their soft product - food and service - rebounded well, so passengers my choose to fly Air New Zealand despite the weird and tired seating. But I wouldn't shell out the extra money for business class to get no window view and no privacy.
There is plenty of privacy in business class with the seats reclined or in bed mode. It’s well worth the money on the long overnight flights as the sleep is awesome. It’s harder to understand if one is not a frequent business class traveller.
Tongue in cheek, the best seats for long haul business travelers are on another airline?
When’s part deux coming?
Just released now.