After flying my first-ever trans-Tasman flight from Sydney to Auckland, it was time to fly Air New Zealand premium economy from Auckland to Hong Kong. I went out of my way to fly Air New Zealand’s premium economy for a couple of reasons: firstly, they were doing a fare sale to various routes in Asia, and their Hong Kong timing worked best for me. However, I’m also trying to find the world’s best premium economy class, and Air New Zealand has repeatedly won awards for this category.
Well, I had a very good 11h 10m flight on Air New Zealand. I particularly enjoyed the tasty catering with highlight on local produce and wine, the free WiFi, as well as the great service. However, I struggled to find any ways that the product stood out amongst competitors – the best premium economy flights I’ve had so far are on Qantas and Japan Airlines, and I don’t think Air New Zealand will be joining that league. In particular, I found the older seat on my flight to be below average in design, and the amenities also weren’t as good as I was hoping.
Here are my first impressions from the flight, and I’ll share a full review in the coming weeks.
Air New Zealand’s 787 Premium Economy Seat: Dated without Storage, Despite Good Legroom
Let me say that Air New Zealand is currently in the process of retrofitting their 787s with brand new seats, and they actually even operate the Auckland to Hong Kong route – I just struck unlucky with one of their older planes. However, this seat is what you can still expect on a vast majority of Air New Zealand’s longhaul routes (including all of their 777s), and I don’t actually think the new seat is a massive improvement over this one.
This particular Air New Zealand 787 featured 33 seats in a 2-3-2 configuration. The cabin itself looks quite handsome, with black leather seats – some may remember the failed Skycouch arrangement that the airline used to operate years back, and these seats do look more practical and comfortable.
Air New Zealand 787 Premium Economy Cabin
On the plus side, there’s an industry-leading 41″ pitch at these seats. I did notice this – it was very easy to get past my seatmate and head to the bathroom, which isn’t true for most premium economy products. I also thought the seat was decently padded and could get comfortable in it.
However, I was otherwise underwhelmed by this seat. I did like how far up the fold-up legrest went, though recline really wasn’t the best. (Some sites report that they found the last row to have particularly limited recline, though I just found a similar lack of recline at all seats.) I also found the fold-down footrest to be hard to take advantage of, unless you’re very short.
Crucially, however, there was zero inflight storage apart from the seat pocket – I would’ve appreciated nooks and crannies where I could’ve stored a phone, passport, etc..
Air New Zealand 787 Premium Economy Seat
Air New Zealand’s newer 787 premium economy seat seems to have a bit more storage, though it doesn’t seem to be a huge improvement. I’d be keen to try that seat out sometime.
Air New Zealand’s 787 Premium Economy Amenities: Mixed Feelings
Let’s start with the positives. The pillow was fantastic – huge and marshmallow-y, easily the best pillow I’ve ever received in premium economy. In fact, it was almost too big, as I couldn’t really prop it between my head and the wall when trying to sleep.
On the other hand, the blanket was a bit of a letdown, and wasn’t much different from what you’d find in economy.
Air New Zealand 787 Premium Economy Pillow and Blanket
I found the headphones on offer to be comfortable and good-quality.
Air New Zealand 787 Premium Economy Headphones
However, the amenity kit was a little disappointing. I wouldn’t have expected a product rated the world’s best premium economy to serve up an amenity kit in a cardboard pouch (even Finnair has a hybrid stitched pouch made of washable cardboard). The amenities were on the bare-bones side, featuring earplugs, a pen, a dental kit, some moisturiser, and socks.
Air New Zealand 787 Premium Economy Amenity Kit
Additionally, you won’t find other amenities such as slippers on offer here.
I found the selection of amenities to be middling at best, save for the large pillow. I’ll go as far as to say I was expecting more from Air New Zealand’s premium economy class product.
Air New Zealand’s Delicious, But Not Outstanding Premium Economy Catering
I was keen to see what Air New Zealand’s soft product had to offer, and as with most premium economy products, I wanted to see how much of a focus they had on their catering.
Air New Zealand’s premium economy catering is delicious – among the most well-executed in its class. I had a burrata ravioli for lunch and a roasted gurnard (fish) for dinner – both were very tasty, although the gurnard was served lukewarm. In both cases there was an interesting side salad, and we were offered bread “from the bakery” (as opposed to the breadbasket), with a choice between seeded sourdough, sourdough, and garlic bread. Air New Zealand also stocks fantastic olive oil from The Village Press.
I also liked that the airline had a huge focus on local wines, and indulged during both meals.
Air New Zealand’s Premium Economy Meals
Around halfway into the flight, the crew came round (under dimmed cabin lights – *ahem* Japan Airlines) with an afternoon tea selection. This included profiteroles, lamington, orange and pistachio cake, and a selection of sandwiches. I only had a (delicious) profiterole, though I enjoyed having this selection – I kind of wish that it was available on-demand throughout the flight, though.
Air New Zealand’s Premium Economy Afternoon Tea
Outside of the meals and afternoon tea, you’re limited to galley snacks. On the plus side, premium economy has dedicated galley snacks – I learned this when the crew ran out, and replaced them with economy class snacks halfway. On the minus side, I would’ve wished for more of an on-demand element, and think it’s a missed opportunity not to offer a subset of the afternoon tea selection as an on-demand item.
Air New Zealand’s Premium Economy Galley Snacks
In terms of beverages, of course there are great wines, reflecting the region the airline comes from. There’s a fair selection outside of this – there’s a non-alcoholic New Zealand IPA, and a non-alcoholic coconut sparkling margarita. While not on the paper menu, the crew also proactively offered bloody mary (you can order this on the entertainment system between meal services) – this was even served with a celery stick, which I found to be a nice presentation.
I’d say that this is among the best drinks options I’ve seen in premium economy, though a few other airlines also offer cocktails and other premium drinks.
Air New Zealand’s Premium Economy Bloody Mary
While I’ll talk more about service during the full review, it was very good onboard this flight – the crew were in high spirits and very eager to please. Once the crew caught on that I was taking photos, they were keen to make sure that things were well-presented and laid out for the photos – for example, they proactively refilled their afternoon tea spread just so I could photograph it. On another example, if there was a wine that wasn’t featured on the cart (my seatmate was particularly knowledgeable!), the crew would go and fetch it, even if it meant taking something from the business class selection.
However, the service flow didn’t feel particularly premium – meal orders weren’t taken before the meal service except for elite members, and the overall feeling did feel as assembly line-like as you’d expect in economy.
Air New Zealand’s Free Onboard WiFi and Entertainment
Air New Zealand’s 787s feature free onboard WiFi for all passengers, which was easy to connect to as well. This cut out for a couple of hours from when we were in north Australia up until we reached northern Indonesia. However, when it was working speeds were good, and I could even connect to multiple devices.
Do note that Air New Zealand is in the process of getting Starlink WiFi, where it’ll have some of the fastest WiFi speeds in the air. This wasn’t the case yet on my flight, though it’ll be a valuable addition in the future.
Otherwise, I’d say that the entertainment system was easy to use, and the touchscreen on these seats was easy to navigate. The newer 787s feature Bluetooth audio, but this wasn’t the case on my flight.
Air New Zealand’s 787 Entertainment System
Air New Zealand’s Premium Economy Ground Experience: Noticeably Set Apart, But Not A Huge Difference
So if the experience in the air is pretty good but not spectacular, how is Air New Zealand’s premium economy service like on the ground? On one hand, Air New Zealand definitely leans more “premium” than “economy” when it comes to the ground service – premium economy passengers receive a dedicated check-in desk, as well as a separate priority boarding lane along with Star Alliance Gold members.
However, there’s not too much else to this. The airline doesn’t provide lounge access (unlike Japan Airlines and ANA), and you can’t even pay a discounted rate for it. In addition, the boarding process still begins with business class passengers and Star Gold members as per industry standard, despite sharing a lane with premium economy passengers. I was caught out by this during the boarding process, and had to do the walk of shame back to where I was standing until premium economy boarding started (as you guys know, I like trying to be the first onboard so I can get “clean” unobstructed cabin pictures).
Air New Zealand’s 787 Boarding
Conclusion: Air New Zealand’s 787 Premium Economy
Air New Zealand has a very good premium economy product. I found the catering and service to be very good, and there were some other elements that stood out, such as free WiFi and a large and squashy pillow. However, the seat was a bit underwhelming for me and some amenities were surprisingly lacklustre, so I don’t think I’d rank it quite in the top league of premium economy products.
The reality is that you probably won’t have many options when booking Air New Zealand, as you’ll likely be flying the airline to New Zealand itself. While there’s fierce competition from Qantas on routes to Australia, I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way and connect via Australia on Qantas, even though I consider their premium economy product to be marginally better. You’ll likely be choosing between Air New Zealand and the hub carrier of wherever you’re flying to New Zealand from, and based on my flight there’s a high chance Air New Zealand will be the better choice. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend giving the airline a try.
Have you flown Air New Zealand’s premium economy before? How was your experience?
