As posted on Flyer Talk, there is a large devaluation of Miles & More premium awards from 1 January 2011, with many going up by over 20%.  Other changes include one-way awards will become 50% of the return award cost (currently 75%) and tweaks to some award rules.  Upgrade costs remain unchanged.

Time for me to cash in my stash, and re-evaluate my frequent flyer mileage-accrual plans for 2011.

Starting 15 December, Air NZ charges $2 per person per one-way journey for domestic flights paid for by credit card, $5 for short haul and $10 for longhaul.  Round the world and circle fares are treated as return journeys (i.e. charged $20).

No, I’m not referring to the Westray to Papa Westray flight which at 1 mile or 2 is the shortest commercial flight in the world.

It was an odd flying day. 2 short flights. 2 unusual landing approaches.

For the first flight we were well ahead of schedule but flew past the airport and did some figure eights over an estuary before landing late.  I think the flight arriving before us was rather late and also slow to taxi off the runway.

For the second flight we were warned at top of descent that poor conditions (namely very low cloud) at our destination may require more than one attempt to land.  So, for the second time in less than a month I had a go around.  We made it down on the second shot, although I was mentally preparing myself for a diversion back to origin where I would have had to spend the night.  Other than me being on the aircraft, there was nothing in common with the previous go-around – different aircraft type, airline, airport (and continent), cause.  It is just one of those things that happens from time to time – I get go-arounds, while lucky does not (yet).

The other day I flew the newly reconfigured Air NZ A320 across the Tasman.  Business class has been removed and so has space+, the much prized section at the front of economy with extra legroom.

On the new configuration, seat pitch is 30″ which is the same as low cost airlines.  As someone who is fairly tall this means my knees graze the seat in front when it is upright and I’m in pain when the person in front decides to recline – which they did the moment we were airborne.  There is a design flaw in that the tray table cannot unfold (or be folded back up) when the seat in front is reclined.

Further, if you are tall and the seat in front is reclined there is no chance of being able to view the in-flight entertainment as the seatback personal screen is just in front of your chin.  The design also rules out being able to do any work on a laptop or reading papers.

I can’t remember a flight as uncomfortable as this one was – even Jetstar domestic flights are better because they are shorter and no-one reclines on domestic, thus there is a feeling of more room.  I didn’t expect to ever say that Jetstar is more comfortable than Air NZ. Oh dear.

In the last few months there have been several changes in routes flown by A380 aircraft.  The all A380 routes post has been updated.