IT'S NOT A CHEAP TICKET, BUT IT'S STILL A GOOD DEAL
“Premium Economy Class” is often an oxymoron, if not an outright lie. However, Air New Zealand's PE section in the big B777-300ER aircraft appears to be more premium than economy, so I was glad to try it out on an LAX-Auckland roundtrip.
The Premium Economy “space seats” in ANZ's B777s are big easy chairs that wrap around you so you're not thrown into an impromptu domestic arrangement with some stranger. Instead of reclining in the conventional way, the seats slide forward so you're not leaning into the space of the person behind you. The part of the seat that's under your butt also tilts up a little so you aren't slouching and sliding off the seat. Why the woman in this photo isn't using this comfortable feature baffles me.
In-flight Movies, Music, TV...
There's a beanbag hassock for your feet, a serious pillow, and a little satchel with eyeshades, cream, and earplugs. A handset on one side of the seat controls your volume, TV channels, games, music, and games on a large touch-screen monitor that swings out to you. (Again, I'm puzzled by the cluelessness of the woman in this publicity shot, who seems to be watching the monitor from three feet away. That's simply not necessary.)
There are scores of movies, too, and in all genres, from classic to new, arty to fluff. Think Netflix, but without the plummeting stock shares.
In-flight Swingers
The sturdy tray, another normally oxymoronic phrase, swings out as well. Things have to swing out, because you're a long way from the seat in front of you.
Mind you, these space seats are hardly perfect. For starters, they don't recline (or slide out) as much as you might wish. Moreover, the part of the seat against which your head rests doesn't bend forward on either side to keep your head in place. Somebody should fix that. Meanwhile, there is that large, fat pillow. And the middle seats? In Premium Economy there are none.
Food Service
The menu is different in each direction. For dinner on the flight out of LAX the attendants served five-spice chicken with cucumber spaghetti, daikon, papaya salsa, and sesame ginger dressing. Understand, that was just the appetizer. We could pick among three entrees and a half dozen complimentary wines; I chose a dry Riesling to go with with a pan-seared cod on quinoa tabouleh. I was too full for dessert.
At breakfast we were served fruit, yogurt, smoothies, croissants, and a choice of breakfast entrees: Cheddar-and-chive scrambled eggs with a sun-dried tomato sausage and herbed potato; or Belgian waffles, strawberries in raspberry sauce, and freshly whipped banana cream. A pretty grand start to the day.
Prices and the Mile-High Club
What does all this cost? If you were to book a March 13th departure and March 20th return, you'd pay $1,180 for Economy or $3,945 for Premium Economy. However, that's assuming you were paying retail. Air New Zealand is part of the Star Alliance, which includes Continental, United, US Airways, Air Canada, and a couple of dozen other airlines, so you may have enough points for an upgrade. If so, this is the time to use them, because the LAX-Auckland route takes more than 13 hours. It's also instructive to compare that $3,945 ticket to the price of Business Class seats on those dates: $7,100.
Comments
Here's a report on the premium economy seats on Delta: http://www.tripatini.com/profiles/blogs/trip-report-delta-jfk-lax-e...
This sounds better than most premium economy classes. It's almost business class. I would buy or upgrade to a premium economy seat on the trip to New Zealand because there's nothing worse than starting a vacation or a business trip without sleep. Then I'd save money by flying in steerage on the return flight.