A few weeks ago I finally got to fly in the new 77W on Air New Zealand.  Over the past year Air NZ has well publicised the various improvements they introduced (space seat, skycouch), while downplaying the negatives (10 across in economy, less legroom in economy and premium economy).

They’ve already decided to make some adjustments.  Premium economy is having a row removed since the existing configuration gives passengers sore knees if they are tall (even slightly).

I was flying in business class which had relatively few changes.  One improvement was supposed to be the induction ovens which opens up much more dining options as more food can be cooked instead of reheated.  Unfortunately there are still some bugs to iron out.

My beef was the incredibly slow meal service.  More than 3.5 hours for a dinner on a late night departure is inexcusable.  It took 90 minutes after take off to be offered any drink or nibbles, compared to the usual 30 minutes or less.  The starter followed shortly after the drink.  Once the starter tray was cleared it took an hour to receive a mains course.

I gave Air NZ feedback to highlight that the meal had badly let down what would otherwise be a great flight (as usual).  On late night flights passengers expect to sleep most of it.  The response I got back was ridiculous.

“Passengers have loved the new food and beverage offering but it has sometimes taken longer to serve than we would like.”

There was more, but like the above sentence it appeared to be a copy and paste response.

I’m in the process of writing up a trip report on Flyer Talk which includes a flight where I was the only passenger in first class.  It is an odd experience flying solo in first which I’ve written about before.  Thinking about it, I’ve had rather a lot of longhaul and mediumhaul flights as solo first class passenger over the years.

Emirates – Seychelles

Singapore – Auckland, Bangkok, Melbourne, Tokyo

Thai – Auckland, Sydney

Turkish - Bangkok 

On some of the above routes I was the only passenger in first class more than once.  There are plenty of other flights where I’ve been one of two first class passengers.  I suspect the type of fares and awards I book mean I have a greater than average chance of being solo first class passenger.  At least I hope so, otherwise first class is at risk of being dropped by more airlines in future.

What have been your great flights?

I’ve had some flights were I’ve been the only person in a (premium) cabin, including some memorable ones with Singapore Airlines.  But I can’t recall a flight on a widebody aircraft in the past few years where the total number of passengers was less than 40 (on an aircraft that seats about 250).  When a flight is this empty service can be fantastic, or crew can take the opportunity for an easy flight (with mediocre service).  I’m glad this most recent “empty” flight had fantastic service.

I’ve visited hundreds of airline lounges around the world, and the standard of cleanliness varies considerably.  Nonetheless, for most you’d expect a reasonably clean lounge.  Today, thanks to lack of award availability I had an 8 hour transit in Sydney, and so I spent several hours in the very nice Qantas first class lounge.  Remarkably, some dirty dishes that were around when I arrived were still not cleaned away several hours later when it was time for me to leave, despite requesting staff clean up.  Even worse, a toilet I’d noticed was blocked when I arrived was still blocked when I went to use it before leaving to board my flight.

This lounge is large and has about a dozen staff.  What have the ones responsible for cleaning been doing all day?

Since I don’t credit to United Mileage Plus and try to avoid flying United as much as possible, I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to the elite upgrade changes this year on United. These are now processed automatically in advance for top elite status, subject to availability.

Last week I had a need to make a last minute change of flights due to a horrid schedule change (forcing an illegal connection). Since I would only know if I could make the earlier flight an hour or less from departure (dependent on my previous flight on a separate ticket arriving on time, and not being held up at immigration and customs), and I was flying on a busy route, I half expected to not be able to switch flights and be forced to cancel.

As this was a QUP fare (discounted economy fare that books into first class at time of purchase subject to availability) for a little mileage run, I wasn’t too fussed if I had to cancel.

Nonetheless when I reached check in, at 50 minutes to departure of the earlier flight, it was no problem switching flights. The reason – since the flight is a prime business route (Los Angeles to San Francisco), United had stopped the elite automatic upgrade process in the hopes of selling last minute first class fares. Fat chance – at the gate I saw the available first class seats at 8 until about 5 minutes before boarding when it rapidly dropped to zero.

If United had processed the upgrades at the 72 hour window as advertised, there would have been no seats available for me (and economy was oversold so I couldn’t have downgraded either).  United stinginess meant I could complete the little mileage run.

My report on the royal treatment flying alone in Thai first class is now up on Flyer Talk.  The report on flying alone in Turkish first class a day prior is in the same report.

I’ve been fortunate enough to fly in business class on A380 on all the airlines which operate it excluding Air France. I think it may be useful having a comparison between the three products.

In each case, the A380 business class is the best business class offering of the relevant airline. Singapore Airlines even has restricted bookings in this class to require a surcharge on paid fares on many routes, double mileage cost in their Kris Flyer program and no awards for other Star Alliance frequent flyer programs (other than Lufthansa Miles and More).

Emirates between Auckland and Sydney

source: Emirates

Qantas between Sydney and Singapore

source: Qantas

Singapore Airlines between Singapore and Tokyo Narita for example.

source: Singapore Airlines

On the ground

On the ground treatment of A380 business class passengers is standard fare (for business class).  The only stand-out is Emirates which offers airport limo transfers at both ends for business class (and first class) passengers on most routes (including trans-Tasman).

Qantas in Sydney and Melbourne, and Emirates in Sydney, also have a priority security queue for first class, business class and frequent flyer elite passengers. At Singapore security is processed at the gate, and the gates used by A380 do not have a priority lane.

In air amenities

The treatment in the air is also standard for each airline’s business class. So pre-depature bubbles or water, nice food & drink, hot towels. Qantas offers pajamas on some longhaul flights. Qantas and Emirates have a full amenity kit while Singapore Airlines has socks and eyeshades (with other amenities in the bathroom). Note due to the short flight duration, my Emirates flights did not offer pajamas or the normal amenity kit.

On all three airlines noise cancelling headphones are used. Qantas hands out the headphones after take-off and also doesn’t switch on the IFE (except for the tail camera) until well after take-off, Emirates hands out the headphones before departure so you can start watching movies straight away, whilst Singapore Airlines doesn’t hand out headphones until after departure but the IFE is available to watch once the safety video has finished.

The seats

Emirates business class A380 seats are partially enclosed and in staggered layout. I found them claustrophobic (despite not having problems with the fully enclosed first class suites on a number of airlines) and also there is a tight squeeze for the table since it is not very adjustable.  The side table provides plenty of space. The seats are fully flat. Emirates has a business class bar where you can meet fellow passengers in some comfort while drinking or nibbling.

Qantas business class A380 seats are a slightly modified version of their skybed seats found on their other longhaul aircraft. The main difference is this version is fully lie flat whereas the other version (which will be phased out during 2011) is not. This means the seat in front is also further away.  As an added extra, Qantas has a small business class lounge (which doubles as an emergency bed) with large screen, some magazines and a comfy couch.

Singapore Airlines business class A380 seats are very similar to the “new” business class seats found on their 77W and A345 aircraft. The differences are trivial width and length differences. For those unfamiliar, the seat is rather wide for business class but with short pitch. The fully flat bed operates by bringing up a flat surface to the seat in front, with a cubby hole to put your feet in – the length of the bed is thus diagonal along the seat. There are cubby holes to put things and the tray table has generous dimensions.  The monitor is very large for business class, but some people find it too close (due to the shorter pitch).

How can you experience A380 business class for low cost?

Emirates flies A380 between Auckland and Sydney with business class fares under US$500 return when on sale. iscounted fare and award availability for business class is good on Emirates A380.

Qantas longhaul business class fares are rarely cheap. Look for British Airways Club World sales on the kangaroo route – thanks to the joint services agreement these fares are also valid on Qantas flights (on the BA codeshare).  Mileage redemptions generally require booking well in advance 330-360 days ahead of travel, or close to departure.

Singapore Airlines heavily restricts A380 business class from awards. Best option is to book the A380 flights between Singapore and Hong Kong on a paid fare.

Summary

I was very disappointed with the Emirates A380 business class (see also my trip report), but both Qantas and Singapore Airlines have great products.

I mentioned a couple of days ago I’ve just had 2 longhaul flights in first class where I was the only passenger.  The report of the royal and not so royal treatment I received on the first of these flights, with Turkish Airlines, is now posted in my Flyer Talk trip report.

I’ve long used Great Circle Mapper is useful for measuring distances between airports, which is handy for optimising mileage-restricted tickets like Star Alliance Around the World fares or awards on some programs.

There are more ways to vary map settings than I had realised. For example the map below shows my flights in 2009 with thicknesses varying according to how many times I’ve flown each route. I’ll play with some more settings for maps in upcoming trip reports on Flyer Talk.

The featured maps page shows by example how you can customise maps more than the obvious ways through the pull-down options.

A few times I’ve been the only first class passenger on a longhaul flight.  It is fairly rare, at least on airlines with great first class longhaul products.   It is like being in your own private jet with extremely attentive service, embarassingly so. Each time it happens I feel surreal and disconnected, as if it cannot be real.

The last few days I’ve had 2 more longhaul flights on 2 different airlines where I’ve been the only first class passenger (and a third first class longhaul flight with few passengers). I’m still travelling but I will write up about the fantastic experiences soon.  For those interested, I’ve started a trip report on Flyer Talk.