- Introduction
- Guam Review and Guam Marriott Resort vs Guam Hilton Resort
- Saipan and the Hyatt Regency Saipan
- Asiana Airlines Business Class and Lounge
- Singapore Airlines Business Class and Lounge
- Queenstown Crowne Plaza, Kawarua Queenstown and the Auckland Crowne Plaza
- New Zealand Review
- Air New Zealand Business Premier
- Rarotonga Review
- Thai Airways Business Class and Lounge
- Conclusion
After all this flying, it’s tempting to label Air New Zealand as my favorite business class. They have almost everything better than other airlines. Although compared to the Asian airlines, it’s a bit “apples to oranges”. They don’t seem to focus on hiring young good looking flight attendants (like Asiana and Singpore) to wait on you hand and food and be overly flattering. It’s a more western style of high class – they wear designer suits and it feels much like the service of a fine restaurant. They are less congenial and more professional. They tell jokes without a smile and greet you as though you’re an important business partner. On the third flight, one of the flight attendants (who I didn’t see much) walked around to all six of us and shook our hands and thanked us for flying Air New Zealand.
It’s clear whoever is in charge of Air NZ’s PR is under specific orders to market this as a fine dining experience. They talk a lot about the three chefs that created the dishes and take pride in New Zealand food and wine. It was by far my favorite food. I looked forward to flying with them for this reason, I guess the PR hype worked. In short, the food was great.
My favorite part of Air New Zealand is the seat (on the 777s). Seriously. I think the herringbone design has some incredible perks for space and for single travelers – therefore, as a couple this was the only downside. However, I slept like a baby every time the seat was turned to a bed. The beds are perfectly flat, perfectly parallel, the seats are very padded and comfy, you have an ottoman to put your feet on (even during take off) and the tray table for the meal is at least twice as big as the other airlines’. These are really first class seats except for how much personal space you get (and width).
Stylish, comfy, tasty. This is near perfect. Perfect except for the lounge experience. The lounge in Melbourne, Auckland, Rarotonga and Sydney were all okay. Decent food with a small selection and everything else was average. Truth be told, I don’t pick my airlines based on lounges. All-in-all, I had 3 awesome flights.
