Air New Zealand to Chicago is a great alternative

Business Premier is a tried and true concept that has worked well for Air New Zealand on its B777s and offers one of the most comfortable sleeping platforms in the air. The memory foam mattress and two generous pillows mean that even an aviation insomniac such as yours truly can get some shuteye. That’s still the case on the B787 which makes  the set-up just the ticket for a flight that’s roughly 15 hours one way 16 hours coming back A herringbone 1-1-1 layout means everyone gets aisle access but there isn’t the privacy afforded by some newer seat products on other carriers. I was in seat 8J in the middle and found the 787 seat narrower than its 777 counterparts. The narrower configuration was fine for those wanting to chill out, watch movies and put your feet up on the ottoman. But I found it a bit constraining when trying to work. A lack of storage also proved frustrating as was the juggling act between the tray table and the video screen. The latter appears to have been repositioned and I activated it several times with my elbow when it was in the stowed position, at one point inadvertently summoning the cabin crew. There was a bit of additional room when the screen was extended and you could use the recess it inhabited on landings and take-offs to park your elbow and maybe a drink The generously proportioned sliding tray table remains a great design and the seat controls are similar to the 777, meaning they are intuitive and easy to use. A  previously elusive headphone socket is now easier to find and the fold down drink holder at the rear was positioned well in terms of avoiding spills but is not the easiest thing to access.

New Zealanders are a friendly and gregarious people and this applies to the national carrier’s cabin crew, although not all are kiwis. The service was exemplary from the welcome drink in Sydney to the farewell in Chicago. This was consistent over all flights, which is always a good sign of a top-tier airline on its game.  

This is a country famous for its great food and wine and Air New Zealand considers itself an ambassador in this regard. We were treated to lunch on the Sydney-Auckland leg and dinner on the way to Chicago, followed by breakfast. There was a choice in both cases of two entrees and three mains, .swashed down by a stunning Pinot Gris and a mouth-watering syrah. For dinner, I opted for a tasty starter of smoked duck with pickled pear relish and walnuts, horopito and roasted garlic followed by a surprisingly good Angus beef burger with a Swiss cheese melt and relishes for the main course. New Zealand cheeses are among the world’s best so the cheese plate was hard to go past for dessert. There was a mid-flight snack of gourmet Chicago  hotdog for those who couldn’t make it through  to breakfast, which in my case centered on scrambled eggs with corned beef hash cake and tomato relish on a toasted grain muffin. That was one of four hot breakfast options or you could opt for lighter fare.

This is great entertainment system when it comes to pausing as you head off to the loo and backtracking when you’ve fallen asleep during a crucial point in the move without which the rest of it makes no sense. It’s an intuitive system that allows you to easily switch between functions and gives you a quick reference to how many hours are left in the trip so you can plan your box set binge accordingly. There’s ample content with a selection of decent contemporary and past movies and shows. The screen is sharp and bright and business passengers get noise cancelling headphones which are Ok but nothing to write home about. There was no wi-fi, which was fine by me.  

The new Chicago service is good news for Kiwis and American alike as well as a great option for Australians not heading to the US West Coast. Sydney-Chicago came in at about 20 hours thanks to headwinds that shaved about an hour off the flying time. The return trip would have been longer but was unable to assess that thanks to a thunderstorm that saw our Sydney-Auckland aircraft affected by a lightning strike while sitting at the gate. A downside for business travelers is the service is currently only three days a week but Air New Zealand officials are optimistic it will quickly move to daily. Steve Creedy flew to Chicago courtesy of Air New Zealand