We got to experience Premium Economy from Sydney to Auckland and it was a great experience wiht Air New Zealand. The crew was friendly and helpful.
Great airline service by the staff. I highly recommend it
My experience with Underpricer was not great. The representative assigned to me did not tell me beforehand that selecting seats, which i could not do through ANZ, WOULD ADD SIGNIFICANT cost to my ticket (all flight segments were reg economy seats. The seat selections for the ticket, MCI-AKL, AKL-PER, PER-MCI, cost $284 USD. I WAS NOT TOLD AHEAD OF SELECTING SEATS chosen by the rep OF THE COSTS and never received an itemized invoice of the seat selections.). The costs of seat selection, an option solicited as a service, with no mention of costs, should have been disclosed to me prior to seat selection and certaily should have been itemized. For all I know, the $284 was not referred from the airline but made up and taken directly by Underpricer. Next, when i checked in, united couldnt find my ticket. This is probably why i didnt get a seat selection on that flight and couldnt check in online, despite Underpricer prompts to do so a week before departure, or at the kiosk at the airport. I had to wait for special help at the counter, then was told that because the flight segment, MCI-IAH, operated by United Airlines via the ANZ. ticket, had changed schedule slightly since I BOOKED MY FLIGHT, the MCI-IAH segment had been decoupled from the rest of the ticket because the IAH layover was now 12.5 hrs AND DID NOT QUALIFY AS A THROUGH FLIGHT TO AKL.. This meant my checked bag could not be checked through to AKL and id have to pick it up at IAH, THEN WAIT MOST OF the long layover WITH the large checked bag until ANZ counter in IAH OPENED for checkING just prior to the flight. Apparently, although underpricer had notified me of schedule changes, they did not update the ANZ TICKET, leading to this problem. Finallly, although I RECHECKED TH BAG IN At IAH 3.5-4 hours before the scheduled departure and the IAH-AKL segment was a direct flight, ANZ LOST MY bag and it took 4 days to find it and get it to me. Not fun.
Overall the plane was good and the crew great. The big disappointment was the skycouch. Maybe it would be good if you were a parent with 2 small kids travelling but as a couple it's hopeless. It's impossible for 2 adults to lie down so one ends up sitting. We split our time with one lying and the other sitting. We both got more sleep sitting upright. We will never book one again and don't recommend it to anyone.
Our original flight was cancelled from SFO to AKL on 6/16/25. So we had to stay overnight at a hotel after a 12-hour layover plus 3-hour delay before the cancellation. Then had to fly to LA and then to AKL the following day losing an entire day of our vacation in NZ, that we can never get back.
Full flight. Flight attendants were harried. Otherwise, fine for the typical cramped seating conditions in coach.
Everything very good except the sofa couch not as comfortable as expected.
New Zealand crew were attentive. We were not informed that we needed transit document to pass through New Zealand. A checkin employee helped with this for which we were thankful.
There was a snafu with confirming seats at check which left us in limbo for the second leg of our trip. I believe the ANZ app is not well integrated with the systems at the terminal resulting in this disconcerting error.
The only thing that was less than excellent was the food server at dinner. (I had the chicken.) It wasn't that it was poorly heated or in difficult-to-open containers; it was just that it had a very peculiar taste. And I use that to describe not just the main course but the dessert as well. Very odd flavours for what seemed to be a mainstream item. I did like that the airline offered us a free glass of wine. The breakfast omelette wasn't bad, although it was quite bland.
