Air New Zealand B747-400 Business Premier
Originally published on businesstraveller.com 01/02/2010 RSS
BACKGROUND Air New Zealand uses B747-400s on its Auckland-London via Los Angeles route. The LAX-AKL leg runs twice daily, except on Wednesdays (once) and Sundays (three times). Five years ago ANZ scrapped First class in favour of an enhanced business class seat called Business Premier, on licence from Virgin Atlantic. There are three Business Premier cabins onboard the B747-400.
CHECK-IN The second leg of my journey from London to Auckland on flight NZ001 began in a business class transit lounge at Los Angeles airport, where I’d already spent the best part of two joyous hours working on my laptop, taking advantage of the free wifi. As such there was no checking in to be done. (To read the LHR-LAX review, click here.)
BOARDING The call to board came at 2030 local time, about 20 minutes early. The gate was right by the transit lounge, and with priority boarding for business class I was quickly onboard and seated. The flight attendant that met me offered me water, orange juice or champagne, and also took my coat. I was already familiar with the workings of my seat, it being the very same one I’d just spent 12 hours in flying from London to LAX.
THE SEAT The second Business Premier cabin on the lower deck is configured 1-2-1 (A-EF-K), with the middle two seats in each row facing away from one another and slightly staggered. (Click here to see the seatplan.)
My seat, 13A, is a window seat which faces inwards. I found this seat to be very comfortable thanks to the adjustable recline and lumbar support. The seat converts into a full lie-flat bed easily long enough for me to stretch out on, and I’m fairly tall at just over six foot. You do have to stand up to put in to bed mode, unless you want end up folded in two. There is a small foot stool which doubles as an extra seat, and a pop-out table can be pulled towards the main seat so that two can sit at it. I did see a number of couples dine in this way.
WHICH SEAT TO CHOOSE? This was the same aircraft that I had flown on from LHR-LAX, and as such my recommendation would be much the same. If you want to be among the first to get your food, I would go for F or K in row ten but bear in mind that this is next to a curtain, on the side of which is a toilet. A seat in Row 11 would be better and if like me you prefer a window seat, 11F's the one for you. Behind Row 15, the last row in this cabin, there is a toilet that is shared with the Premium Economy cabin. As such it can get quite busy, so I would avoid row 15.
THE FLIGHT We pushed off at 2110, five minutes before the scheduled departure time of 2115. Less than an hour into the flight the “fast dine” service began. To start there was vodka and honey cured salmon. The choice of mains was slow cooked short rib of beef, stuffed chicken thigh or a three cheese tart. I went for the beef, which came with white sweet potato puree and a warm salad of roast mushrooms, garlic, red onion and red chard. For dessert I had macadamia and choc chip ice cream, followed by New Zealand cheese and fruit.
Wines: White – Spy Valley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008, Wither Hills Marlborough Chardonnay 2007, Escarpment Vineyard The Edge Voignier 2008; Reds – Mondillo Central Otago Pinot Noir 2007, Villa Maria Cellar Selection Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon 2007. As I was having beef with quite strong flavours, and cheese for dessert, I went for the Villa Maria.
I was already tired from my earlier flight. With all the rich food and wine I slept easily and for about six hours. I then decided to get my laptop out and finish off some work, for which I needed a special adaptor for the in-seat power socket. This was supplied to me by the cabin crew.
After a couple of hours came another fast dine meal, this time breakfast, which I started off by having a refreshing banana smoothie. Cereals and croissants were offered but I went straight for the full hot breakfast of bubble and squeak rissole with fried chorizo, roasted tomato and scrambled egg. The vegetarian option was cinnamon apple and papaya crepes.
ARRIVAL We started our descent at 0620 New Zealand time, touching down about ten minutes later. Business Premier and premium economy were let off the plane by the same airbridge, which meant I was at passport control reasonably quickly. There were quite a few security lanes open, and I was soon at the luggage carousel waiting for my suitcase. My suitcase, marked priority, was with me within 20 minutes of landing. However a travelling partner of mine, whose luggage was also marked priority, was not so fortunate which meant I had to hang around too.
VERDICT At just shy of 13 hours this is a long sector to fly, but the flat bed was comfortable enough for me to sleep through most of it. I couldn’t find a lot wrong with this flight, great value for money.
PRICE London Heathrow to Auckland via Los Angeles, mid-week return in February, starts at £4,735 online.
CONTACT airnewzealand.co.uk
Andrew Gough
