Flying Business Class should definitely be one of the best experiences while traveling. However, it doesn't simply end there. Every airline has a unique product to offer premium passengers, and selecting them is a privilege for passengers traveling on a premium product. Usually, Asian carriers such as Korean Air, Thai Airways, and Japan Airlines are considered one of the best airlines to fly business, while American carriers are not much desired when it comes to the overall experience. However, there is one other airline that you might like to avoid, and that airline is Air New Zealand based in New Zealand in Oceania. Today we will be looking at why this business class is left much to be desired.
An Aging Hard Product
First impressions are very important, and for a business-class experience, the hard product (mostly the seats) makes up over 90% of that. Unfortunately for Air New Zealand, this is where they will lose the most points, right from the start. What is important is that this is the flagship product that they have to offer.
Air New Zealand uses herringbone seats for its business-class products. These kinds of seats were first introduced by Virgin Atlantic back in 2003, and it was at the time a significant breakthrough from all the angled lie-flat seats and recliners. Soon a lot of airlines such as Air Canada started introducing similar products.
Just by looking at the photos, these seats might make it seem like a decent business-class cabin. However, with close observation, it becomes pretty obvious that the seats are very narrow for a modern business-class seat. This is not surprising as the seats were designed more than two decades ago in 2003.
By comparison, a modern business class seat offers much more room, as seen here in Korean Air's new business class product that debuted a month ago.
While the seats may be old, the screens seem to have had a nice update as these screens were updated in 2016 or after. However, they are not very high definition, due to the Air New Zealand software itself being old and not updated.
What makes it worse is the fact that most of these seats were never updated after being introduced, meaning that old planes would probably have severe wear & tear. Still, there are good sides to this seat design too, as everyone gets aisle access and doesn't have to jump over other passengers to go to the lavatory.
The seat design has a striking resemblance to Virgin Atlantic's old Upper-Class product, obviously due to being designed by Virgin Atlantic. However, Virgin Atlantic does offer a consistent and competent soft product, as opposed to Air New Zealand which we will cover right now.
The Service is Inconsistent, though Regarded as 'Good'
To start off, Air New Zealand does not offer wi-fi on board its flights, which is an issue for those who like working on the move. Then comes the food, where it is best described as 'above average' by reviewers. It does not offer consistently amazing food like Virgin Atlantic does.
However, other aspects such as amenities offered or the crew's general friendliness are regarded as good, so there still are upsides to Air New Zealand business class.
Why the Title Includes 'Awkward'
So the reader might be thinking, 'If this is all its wrong, with Virgin Atlantic also currently offering the same seat, what is so bad about it?'. The issue is that this seat is Air New Zealand's flagship product, as opposed to Virgin Atlantic, which offers other better seats. For example, this is Virgin Atlantic's latest Upper-Class product.
What makes it more awkward is that Air New Zealand is actually known for its creative ideas for long-haul travel. For example, Air New Zealand was the first airline to offer 'bed seats' in economy class, which gives economy passengers an affordable way to travel lie-flat.