Last week I flew down to Australia on Air New Zealand and back on United. I’d fly Air New Zealand over United any day for two reasons: seat comfort and entertainment.
- Seat Comfort. After four hours in the United seat, my bottom was sore – that seat was hard! In contrast, I had no issues with the Air New Zealand seat. (I flew in economy on both flights.)
- Entertainment. Air New Zealand has screens on the back of every seat. Not only I was able to pick from 20+ movies and lots of games, but I could start, pause and change them at will. I felt in control of my life! As much as you can feel in control while strapped to seat at 15,000 feet. The United flight not only didn’t have personal tv screens, but the three tv’s I could see were all out of focus and had poor color. Not to mention that the magazine that listed movies was from the previous month and so the only way to find out what movie was coming on next was to wait and see.
So even though I fly over 50,000 miles on United every year and they are pretty good to me, I’d fly Air New Zealand over United any day for long flights.
Two big thumbs up! Although it’s been quite a few years, ANZ still ranks at the top of my list. Having an aisle seat made it easy to trade an empty Steinlager bottle for a full one, which the crew was more than happy to do. More than once.