A look at Air New Zealand Premium Economy – how PE should be done

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• Alex says:

  15 Sep15 September 05:05

  The concept may seem funky but the seat in reality has not turned out the game changer that NZ hoped it would. They were forced to take out a row of seats when the product launched on the 77W (as the legroom was so abysmal that everyone was complaining) and they have never recovered from an economics/cost perspective of the 15% reduction in seats. Thus why NZ has switched back to a more traditional PEY layout on their 777-200 refit and 787 new deliveries (which otherwise have the same JCL and YCL cabins as the 777-300ER). Even with the extra row of Spaceseats taken out on the 777-300ER the seat is very much a Marmite one – you either love it or hate it; just take a look at the thread on Flyertalk.

• James67 says:

  15 Sep15 September 06:32

  If airlines on my routes were offering a comparable product to ANZ and the price was right then I would definitely fly PE on daytime flights. On such flights I rarely recline my J seats much more than 30-45 degrees anyway and, let’s face it, this NZ PE seat looks nicer and more comfortable as a recliner than BAs CW seat being used for the same purpose.any years ago I flew the EVA PE offerimg when I believe it was only one on the market. It was something of a revelation with good recline, good pitchand a footrest which made all the difference from economy on a longhaul to BKK. The price also worked, only about £300 return more expensive than Y. However, after that the competitive pricing on EVA, particularly one way, disappeared and I don’t think it has ever returned so I bever flew it again. I feel the pricing on vast majority of PE products is much to hight but anybody who can get a return to LAX on NZ in this for £870 is on a winner, especially if you book at peak days as a solo traveller when chances of an op up will be boosted substantially. Makes WTP and tge fares, and similar products on other carriers, look like a joke.

  • YL says:

    15 Sep15 September 15:30

    I used to be a royal BA Y long haul customer back in the day…until I discovered EVA PE.

    The very old EVA PE was really a revolution it only cost a bit extra more (In fact, at the beginning the price on long haul was less than £200 more than Y) and you get to fly at the nose of the 747. It was also very easy to upgrade yourself from Y using EVA voucher at the time. Needless to say I got spoiled and really could not face to fly long haul Y ever since…(In fact, when I first saw the old BA WTP on BA open day, I thought they were Y seat)

    However, those was the good old days, after they changed to 777-300ER, their 2nd generation PE seats became popular on the LHR-BKK route and the price gradually increased.

    I also found the pricing on majority of PE products on the route that I need is much higher than I am willing to pay for a PE seat these days, having saying that this AZ PE seat do look nice and the price does look competitive.

    • James67 says:

      15 Sep15 September 16:07

      At least 10 years since I flew them, was old style seat on 744. £200 more than Y actually sounds about right, didn’t really think it got as high as £300. I have no idea what the seat on 77W looks like ut the aircraft itself is a bit of a turnoff. Fares for WTP to BKK are totally over the top but was lucky to get a ow UUA to CW for £600+ , and KUL rtn to GLA UUA to CW for £904 both prior to devaluation.

• Will says:

  15 Sep15 September 06:34

  That seat hasn’t gone down that well hence why it’s not in the newer 789s. To be honest I think the VS PE offering is very good in terms of hard product. Much much better than WTP.

  • Rob says:

    15 Sep15 September 09:03

    I agree the economics of it are probably tricky, because the seat takes up more space than usual. Assuming you don’t want to mess about with ex EU, though, I think £870 return to LA in the current sale is very competitive and certainly worth the premium over Economy – more so for solo travellers who want privacy.

• Erico1875 says:

  15 Sep15 September 07:40

  The middle seats look handy if you dont want to talk to the missus 🙂

  • Rob says:

    15 Sep15 September 09:04

    Indeed. Normally you have to pay for business class to be able to avoid talking to your partner, whilst ANZ lets you do it for a PE price! Well worth extra money for 24 hours peace and quiet on an LA return 🙂

• Clive says:

  15 Sep15 September 08:15

  James,

  EVA PE has returned to a competitive level ex EU. I recently booked ex AMS on the 777W for £650 for Aug 2016.

  • James67 says:

    15 Sep15 September 09:30

    Thanks Clive, I will keep that in mind because my stash of miles is dwindling and from middle of next year I will likely have to mix and match with revenue fares.

• altm says:

  15 Sep15 September 08:42

  From the video it looks stunning. Shame from the previous comments on this thread it is not doing so well. I have done BA’s WTP once (albeit a couple of years ago) and actually found the seat with its rigid sides less comfortable and less easy to sleep in than a standard economy seat – which is saying something.

• Breeze says:

  16 Sep16 September 15:28

  I am very surprised that this seating has not been well received TBH, from the images and videos I have watched, it seems a far superior product than BA WTP.

  • Rob says:

    16 Sep16 September 17:37

    I would certainly be happy to fly this solo, given the privacy, which is more than I can say for the BA or Virgin PE products.

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