Simanaitis Says
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FLYING ENZED
“AIR NZ NAMED AIRLINE OF THE YEAR FOR 2023,” says AirlineRatings.com, as reported by Francesca Street at CNN Travel, May 30, 2023. She writes, “Its economy lie-flat seating concept is making waves, and now Air New Zealand is officially the airline of the year, at least according to Australia-based aviation safety and product rating agency AirlineRatings.com.“
Praise for EnZed from an Aussie-based organization is noteworthy indeed. More typical in their antipodal rivalries is the light-hearted “Kiwis don’t mind people immigrating to Australia because it improves the intelligence level of both countries.” Ouch.
SimanaitisSays Sightings. Based on my several visits, New Zealand has appeared here twice: “New Zealand Revisited—50 Years On” tied in with my Briggs South Sea Guide; and “New Zealand’s South Island,” which described winter tire testing performed there in July and August.
My 15 Minutes of (Airborne) Fame. This recent news of Air New Zealand’s superlative rating reminds me of an occurrence courtesy of this airline and Auckland TV. My first visit to New Zealand was part of its tourist agency’s promotion of the 1999 Rally of New Zealand, an event in the World Rally Championship. Much to my delight, R&T and I got a few minutes’ interview on an Auckland TV morning show.
Later that day, traveling to South Island I had the distinct—and indeed rare—pleasure of a charming flight attendant saying, “I saw you on the telly!”
Air NZ’s SkyNest. Other airlines may tout sleeping accommodations, but Air NZ’s SkyNest is an Economy Class feature scheduled for introduction in 2024.
Nothing New Under the Stars. I’m reminded of my GMax mid-1930s’ Curtiss Condor. Indeed, in devising its six-to-a-side sleeper bunks, I estimated dimensions close to the SkyNest’s 2 meters long by 58 centimeters wide.
Airline Rankings. Street writes that Air NZ’s first place reflected its “operational safety, environmental leadership, and staff motivation.”
Gee. Do you suppose this includes recognizing folks from the telly?
“Qatar Airways, which topped last year’s AirlineRatings.com’s ranking,” Street says, “came in at number two this year, also winning the Best Business Class, Best Catering and Excellence in Long Haul Travel – Middle East awards.” Others in the top five: “Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways is number 3…. Korean Air, which also won the Excellence in Long Haul Travel—North Asia award was at number four. Singapore Airlines, named top in the Best First Class award and the Excellence in Long Haul Travel—Southeast Asia award, took fifth place overall.”
One of my favorites, now officially Lufthansa/Swiss, came in 11th this year. American carriers in the listing were Delta (15), Jet Blue (18), Hawaiian (22), Alaska (24), and United (25).
Add End. Street notes, “Air New Zealand is also making headlines this week for other reasons. From now until July 2, 2023, New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority is asking its national airline to weigh passengers departing on international flights from Auckland International Airport.”
These anonymous data will update averages used in previous load and balance assessments. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023
Simanaitis Says 
Those sleeping berths look like European train sleeping cars, just with less space between the bunks. Nice! Looks comfy.
The berth’s cost comes on top of your plane ticket. “LA to Auckland from $1294” comes up on the Air NZ website landing page. From one of your links, 4 hours in a berth is (US$254-$380). That is 20-30% on top of the ticket. You can only book one 4-hour slot. Bad luck if you can’t sleep during your slot.
I’ll be interested to see if this catches on. International coach travel has gotten far less nice in the last 30 years.
That looks really nice .
I’m old so I remember flying in the 60’s & 70’s when you were given reasonable leg room, as soon as they pulled from the gate I’d relax and snooze my way across America .
Bunks are neat but all they really needs do is stop the ‘Cattle Car’ ambiance and folks would stop fighting constantly .
-Nate
I detest flying these days.
Starts with the security screening ordeal. Our airport’s streamlined screening system separates you from your carry-on, etc., especially if you have an idiot in front of you who holds up the scanning process by not removing anything from their pockets requiring several passes through the machine or manual scanning. Then your stuff sits at the end where it can be grabbed by someone while you are still trying to get through the scanner.
Then you get to the sardine can….
Generally if a trip is less than four hours drive I prefer to drive versus fly. That way you also have a familiar vehicle at the other end as opposed to some sad rental unit. If it is a day trip, driving both ways in one day can be a bit much, especially the return leg, but overall I prefer to drive when I can.
I tend to agree, though I might get one of those sad rental units (preferably one a step up from truly sad) for a long trip to minimize excess miles on my personal vehicle. On the 3rd hand, though, I don’t drive my personal vehicles much, so a 1K mile or so round-trip twice a year to visit the kid really only brings my annual mileage up to about 1/2 of “normal.”
With 2 aboard, I’d stretch that 4 hours offset vs flying to 8. Drive a Prius like I do and the out of pocket cost is way less than flying Southwest and renting or Uber/Lyft the last 25 miles. Reference: last weekend …
We didn’t go anywhere last year due to several family issues locally, but in 2021 we took a long trip to Atlantic Canada. Initially we thought about driving, because as unemployed bums (a.k.a. Retired) time is not really an issue, but we decided that the long drive across Canada from Edmonton would be a bit tedious. Shortcutting through the US which would have saved a little time was not feasible that year because of COVID border restrictions. So we decided to fly to Toronto and rent a car there and as we were planning on doing some genealogical research on my wife’s ancestors nearby this was what we first planned. But then we realized that the drive would still be a long one and so after a few days in Ontario we decided to fly to Halifax and rent a car there. Due to supply chain issues the only car that we were able to rent was a very basic Camry with almost no options. Pity that we hadn’t stayed with the car we had rented in Ontario, as when we got there they didn’t have the car/size of car that we had booked. They tried foisting a tiny econobox on us and I said no, so in the end they gave upgrading us to a fully loaded Jaguar F-Pace at no additional cost!
You and I both sir .
I guess everyone has at least *one* bad air trip story, my really bad one involved 2nd degree burns on both legs when I was in Jamaica and they took my ticket then didn’t want to let me on the plane…
Needless to say I managed to get on and wasn’t going to get off until I was arrested .
I’ve not flown since Mom died and my jerkhoff middle brother made sure I got stuck far out side of Boston in the pouring rain, I abandoned everything but my laptop and pocket contents and walked about three miles to the ‘T’ station, wound up flying home soaking wet but first class if ever I fly again I want to go first class ~ they saw I was having a bad day and left me alone as should be done , nice roomy and comfy seat too, in spite of me being soaked right through .
I prefer to drive anyways, plenty of America I’ve not yet seen and I like ground travel .
-Nate
For modest distances – up to a day’s trip or so – Amtrak is surprisingly pleasant. Even their basic coach seats are close to first class on a plane for space and comfort. Food, unfortunately, tends to be snacks or at most airline quality unless you pay a large premium for first class.
With the train, you often get to see parts of the country that are not where you’d likely be driving. The tracks usually do not follow the Interstates (or is it vice versa, considering what got built when?). Downside is lack of frequent service (typically once a day at most) on long-distance trains, and chronic extreme tardiness that’s usually not the fault of the passenger train operator. Railfans used to call the the Coast Starlight the “Coast Starlate” and while better in recent years you can still can count on it being late at many intermediate points, even if it technically reaches its endpoints on time.
I guess I just like ground travel ~
My ‘new’ car is 40 + years old and I’ll drive it anywhere at the drop of a hat .
Being a Mechanic surely helps this but I’d not want to own any vehicle I didn’t trust to drive far .
-Nate