Premium Economy on Virgin Australia or Air New Zealand from LAX?

Been researching all day and trying to decide which airline would be best in Premium Economy. I realize that ANZ will be making a change and eliminating the Space Seats altogether by November. :( They are what made DH and I interested in ANZ in the first place. After doing more research, we discovered that they will not be available for a flight in February 2018.

So I found the following subject on FlyerTalk, but the discussion has not been updated recently. I was wondering if anyone else had an opinion for these two airlines? We have narrowed them down from many others that we have researched.

And is it too early to book flights for February of this year? There are not too many PE seats on Virgin.

And a biggy that is bothersome is that we cannot see what seats are available on ANZ without completing personal information. :(

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/information-desk/1792030-premium-economy-us-syd-virgin-australia-air-new-zealand.html

Nevermind. After reading several more reviews tonight, I am afraid that we might get a flight with the Space seats after all and they sound dreadful.

Also, the flight from LAX to SYD has a layover in Auckland. I've been reading that the connecting flight to SYD would be on smaller equipment. So for the remaining 3.5 hours of flight time, we could be in a small seat. :(

Nevermind. After reading several more reviews tonight, I am afraid that we might get a flight with the Space seats after all and they sound dreadful.

Are you sure that you are talking about the spaceseats or the skycouch? This is the spaceseat: ARTICLE HERE It also has photos of the newer PE seats which are more traditional. The skycouch is a row of regular economy seats with a "convertible" function. Not the same as PE. So be sure you are considering the correct product.

Also, the flight from LAX to SYD has a layover in Auckland. I've been reading that the connecting flight to SYD would be on smaller equipment. So for the remaining 3.5 hours of flight time, we could be in a small seat. :(

Yes, I am sure. That's one of the exact articles that I read. ;) I searched airlines for most of yesterday.

If we knew for certain that the spaceseats would be non-existent when we fly next February (when doing a mock booking, those seats show up, and ANZ still has them listed on their website :rolleyes:) we would still consider the airline and new, older type seats. Although, the price of their PE is $1000 more per person than VA. Is ANZ worth the extra? We were willing to pay it when we first read about the spaceseats and saw a video describing how they were #1 in PE seats. But now not so sure, as the seats are similar to the PE on VA.

We have flown Sydney to LAX in the premium economy"space seats" on ANZ. We found them to be very comfortable and the service in the cabin was excellent. Their economy seats on the flight from LAX to Auckland were very narrow and uncomfortable.

That's what I've read about the Economy seats, but we never fly Economy when going overseas.

I have read both positive and horrible reviews of the spaceseats. Most recently, they are simply failing. Mechanisms on seats breaking down (resulting in not being able to recline or not being able to become upright), bean bag footstools flattened, TV screens broken/dirty and seat cushions flattened. Also, they were too small for those with long legs (which I have.) Anyway, it doesn't matter as they are suppose to be taken out and replaced by November. We fly the following February.

So still looking for opinions on if we should continue with the PE on ANZ for about $1000 per seat more costly than if we took Virgin Australia?

So still looking for opinions on if we should continue with the PE on ANZ for about $1000 per seat more costly than if we took Virgin Australia?

A lot of us would be pleased to help, but some more information is needed. If you don't mind, a couple of questions:

What is your overall route, home to home, not just the LAX-SYD part, and what are your dates? You said "February" but how long will you be traveling? Is it a one-way or open-jaw cruise?

What kind of airfares are you looking at? Asking if $1000 more is "worth it" depends on "$1000 more" than what? You might even be in the range where a business class itinerary could work, depending on your "positioning" costs to the west coast, flights within the Australia/New Zealand region once you're there, etc.

Thank you!

I really didn't think any of that relevant. We just really want to know which airline, of the two below, is the best in a Premium Economy seat.

Virgin Australia's PE seat is running around $2700 pp multi-city round trip from LAX to SYD/AKL to LAX.

Air New Zealand's PE seat is around $3700 pp.

We are using our VISA points to fly out to LAX and spend the night, so no need to list home/home airport. We did price the whole trip from our home airport and we will save much more by using points for the shorter leg. ;)

The exact dates are up in the air, but we are looking at flying out of LAX on January 29th or 30th - 2018. Cruise leaves from Sydney on Feb. 3. It disembarks in Auckland on Feb. 17th. We are spending 2 nights post cruise - Feb. 19th back to LAX for another night.

I used Q PE for that trip a couple years back. Very nice PE service on the long hauls on Airbus 380s. It did entail the 3.5 hour trip in economy between Auckland and Sidney coming home. My wife and I got aisle seats across from one another making that hop mostly painless and we both are tall. Q was less than ANZ, not sure how it compares to VA.

https://thepointsguy.com/2016/03/best-premium-options-to-australia-and-new-zealand/

Personally I would consider other choices.

I used Q PE for that trip a couple years back. Very nice PE service on the long hauls on Airbus 380s. It did entail the 3.5 hour trip in economy between Auckland and Sidney coming home. My wife and I got aisle seats across from one another making that hop mostly painless and we both are tall. Q was less than ANZ, not sure how it compares to VA.

https://thepointsguy.com/2016/03/best-premium-options-to-australia-and-new-zealand/

Personally I would consider other choices.

If I am not mistaken, the article you linked to discusses only First/Business class. We are only looking at the Premium Economy seats. Plus the article is a year old. While we initially went into thinking Qantas because we HAD heard good things, the reviews of late have not been good. We have done a lot of research and narrowed it down to the two airlines in question.

One thing that I did not mention. If we take the VA flight, it will be booked through Delta, so we get credit. And we would be flying Delta out to LAX.

What we didn't realize was that the leg from home to LAX in Economy or PE has the 3 seats configuration. So we are thinking of booking the middle seat, as well, for those legs. Still uncertain on how we do that when we already would have seats in our name. :confused:

Booking seats across from each other is a good idea, but I still don't like touching elbows and thighs with strangers on the other side. And it never fails that I get that one person that wants to be in my personal space. :( Usually it's the cowboy with long legs and thick thighs. And he thinks that my leg space is his. :mad:

Sorry --thought it included premium economy.

Sounds like your domestic flights are just extended space PE.

So much of flying today is a crapshoot -- type of plane, and times, can be changed and all your planning is for nought.

I'd also look at Cathay Pacific from LAX, SFO, ORD or YVR; ITA shows their prices at ~$700 - $800 less than VA or NZ for a 3-week itinerary. If memory serves you could stop over in Hong Kong for little if anything extra. CX's premium economy product is supposedly excellent.

We did price the whole trip from our home airport and we will save much more by using points for the shorter leg. ;)

I'd really love to know what your home airport is. Seeing that your profile indicates you live in Tennessee, I ran a search from the 3 main airports in that state, and I'm getting prices on Delta/Virgin Australia of $2360 from MEM, $2363 from TYS, and $2816 from BNA. All bookable on the Delta website right now. Of course, whether the connections involved are acceptable to you is another matter, but I certainly would play around with the Delta website before I would commit to using my points.

We are TRI. TYS is the closest and 1.45 hours away. We would really not wish to travel/pay to leave car, etc. if the difference is not that much. But I will give it a look. We actually live closer to AVL in NC. We do not want to have more than 1 layover and prefer CLT or ATL.

Sorry --thought it included premium economy.

Sounds like your domestic flights are just extended space PE.

So much of flying today is a crapshoot -- type of plane, and times, can be changed and all your planning is for nought.

Tell me about it!

I'd also look at Cathay Pacific from LAX, SFO, ORD or YVR; ITA shows their prices at ~$700 - $800 less than VA or NZ for a 3-week itinerary. If memory serves you could stop over in Hong Kong for little if anything extra. CX's premium economy product is supposedly excellent.

I will take a look at this. I remember reading about it, but forgot to look. Had never heard of the airline before. ;)

Oops -- awful idea

If you could get to Charlotte there is a direct flight to LAX.

When we flew to Auckland we stayed the night near LAX and the next morning took a shuttle to Manhattan Beach. At the hotel we extended our check-out time to 5 pm so had an afternoon snooze before the long trans-pacific flight.

There are direct flights from CLT and ATL. As you say, we have to get there first by flying. ;) Driving, Charlotte is 3.5 hours away and Atlanta 5 hours. Usually, driving to one of those hubs only saves us $100 per ticket. So easier to fly out of our home airport.

Is Qantas premium economy product acceptable to you?

Celebrity Choice Air has TYS-DFW-SYD (American/Qantas) departing 1/29/18 for $1123.

For the return from AKL it displayed ANZ premium economy, but if you buy a separate ticket AKL-SYD, the reverse SYD-DFW-TYS Qantas/American combo departing SYD on February 20 is $1177.28 (not available departing SYD on Feb 19).

If Qantas premium economy would work for you, then I suggest you also price them out booking directly through American. I only price-checked Choice Air.

Being able to fly from your home airport (TYS) to SYD with only one connection is pretty darned good if you ask me!

Continued good luck in your searches.

I did the Qantus PE out of DFW to Sidney and back. Excellent service, just a long flight. My recommendation is to book early and get one of the 2 seats on the sides instead of the center seat.

As I stated before the return from Auckland to Sidney is in economy, but not a bad flight. Your PE ticket will get you into the Q lounge in Sidney.

Is Qantas premium economy product acceptable to you?

 

Celebrity Choice Air has TYS-DFW-SYD (American/Qantas) departing 1/29/18 for $1123.

 

For the return from AKL it displayed ANZ premium economy, but if you buy a separate ticket AKL-SYD, the reverse SYD-DFW-TYS Qantas/American combo departing SYD on February 20 is $1177.28 (not available departing SYD on Feb 19).

 

If Qantas premium economy would work for you, then I suggest you also price them out booking directly through American. I only price-checked Choice Air.

 

Being able to fly from your home airport (TYS) to SYD with only one connection is pretty darned good if you ask me!

 

Continued good luck in your searches.

I'll take a look, again, but as mentioned in post #11, the reviews of late are not good. Talk of service going down, food terrible, dirty plane, etc. BTW - I assume those prices are not RT? It's $1123 one way, plus the ALK to SYD segments and then $1177.28 back home? Oh, and home is not TYS. It's TRI ;)

Thank you for doing the search. I had not priced through Choice Air, but had looked at American. We also have points with them. But again the seats are showing the 3-3 configurations.

I did the Qantus PE out of DFW to Sidney and back. Excellent service, just a long flight. My recommendation is to book early and get one of the 2 seats on the sides instead of the center seat.

 

As I stated before the return from Auckland to Sidney is in economy, but not a bad flight. Your PE ticket will get you into the Q lounge in Sidney.

When did you fly?

Would you please share the source of the negative reviews you are using? I'm not seeing them.....

I'll try to find it. It was a website where passengers rate their flight experiences. I remember Googling for some information and stumbled on it. Anyway, it will have to wait until tomorrow. I have been babysitting my sick grandchildren today and am bushed! ;)

 

Thank you for doing the search. I had not priced through Choice Air, but had looked at American. We also have points with them. But again the seats are showing the 3-3 configurations.

Seating configuration in Premium Economy on Qantas A380 DFW-SYD is 2-3-2 (row 24-28)

https://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Qantas_Airways/Qantas_Airways_Airbus_A380_B.php

Sorry! I was talking about the configuration of the seats on whatever flight we take from home to LAX on American. ;)

I found one of the websites that I picked through to get various reviews of Qantas. airlinequality.com

Another reason we did not like Qantas is that the movie screen comes out of your armrest and limits the room in front and to the side. We prefer the screen in the seat in front. This review didn't look all that great. https://www.businessinsider.com.au/review-why-qantas-premium-economy-is-worth-twice-the-price-of-seats-behind-you-2016-4

I will start researching again today and check the suggestions y'all have given to me. Thank you, again!