Comfortable flight to New Zealand

eamon

Sometimes you can get really lucky. On my last flight to Oz on the leg from Kuala Lumpar to Sydney I had a middle row of 6 (747) to myself. Made a bed of all the blankets & pillows, bliss!

richardw

zagfles wrote: »

I wouldn't worry too much about it - I am too but it's never been a problem on any long haul economy flight.

Have you been on a narrow seat B787 in economy?

zagfles

richardw wrote: »

Have you been on a narrow seat B787 in economy?

No - sorry I missed that you were specifically referring to the 787.

dondo

zagfles wrote: »

If you just want a rest stop the transit hotel in Singapore is brilliant - it's airside so you don't need to go through the hassle of collecting your bags, going through passport control & customs. You can book it by the hour so a daytime booking is no problem. There's loads to do at the airport too, swimming pool, gym, even a bird park, and they do free city tours if you have enough time.

When we went to NZ we booked it for 9 hours or so, we arrived in SIN at about 9am local time which was about 2am UK time, didn't sleep on the flight so ready for bed, good daytime sleep then up for the flight onto AKL at about 9pm. Weird everyone being served dinner with wine when we just wanted breakfast with coffee

Didn't need to sleep on either flight. Brilliant way to get over jetlag as well - couple of early nights in NZ and we were into the timezone.

I think on Singapore you can book extra legroom seats for a small charge - normal seat selection was free but there was a charge for the extra legroom ones. We didn't bother - I'm 5'11'' and had easily enough legroom. Don't know if you're used to travelling long haul economy but it's nothing like Ryanair or Easyjet.

Singapore sometimes give you free airport vouchers - which you can use for the transit hotel - this almost paid for the hotel room!

I echo positive comments about Singapore- we flew to NZ last year and stopped off at Singapore both ways- great airport with loads of facilities.

We flew Singapore Airlines- again great. I am 6' 3" and didn't have the exit row seats (as we were travelling with kids wasn't allowed) but found the legroom was OK (I struggle to sleep on planes anyway).

Joking_Joe

dondo wrote: »

I echo positive comments about Singapore- we flew to NZ last year and stopped off at Singapore both ways- great airport with loads of facilities.

We flew Singapore Airlines- again great. I am 6' 3" and didn't have the exit row seats (as we were travelling with kids wasn't allowed) but found the legroom was OK (I struggle to sleep on planes anyway).

Hello Dondo,

Just to follow up on this I am now planning the trip to NZ in November. Out through Los Angelis and home via Singapore, literally only taking a 1 night stop each way to break the flight up.

So do I need any kind of visa to step off the plane in Singapore?.......and any hotels you particularly recommend, sort of mid-range, decent bed and food.?


Anyone any suggestions for a good hotel in LA not too far from the airport?......hopefully that does late check-out as the departure is not until 9pm

For Visa I guess just the ESTA

Gloomendoom

Joking_Joe wrote: »

Hello Dondo,

Just to follow up on this I am now planning the trip to NZ in November. Out through Los Angelis and home via Singapore, literally only taking a 1 night stop each way to break the flight up.

So do I need any kind of visa to step off the plane in Singapore?.......and any hotels you particularly recommend, sort of mid-range, decent bed and food.?

No visa needed for Singapore for UK passport holders. Check out the Singapore Airlines Stopover Holidays. They can be good value. If you are very lucky, they will have special deal on. The first night was just a dollar last time we booked. It's 40/50 this year.

newatc

I'll add my vote to spending the extra on premium economy or business class rather than the additional costs of stopover. My last flight to Australasia, I stopped over in Hong Kong but still arrived home with sciatica.
So on my next flight (already booked) I got a business class seat while it was on sale and I don't think the costs will be much more.
I've already done most of the stopovers I was interested in and I'm hoping this will work better,

headpin

Air New Zealand premium economy is excellent. Their Space seats on the LHR LAX AKL route are too notch. 2. 2. 2. Unfortunately they were so good ANZ are taking them out and reverting to standard 2. 4. 2 configuration - more revenue for same space. They are expecting to complete the change by November. But if their service remains the same it will still be excellent.

WAYT

Joking_Joe wrote: »

Hello Dondo,

Just to follow up on this I am now planning the trip to NZ in November. Out through Los Angelis and home via Singapore, literally only taking a 1 night stop each way to break the flight up.

So do I need any kind of visa to step off the plane in Singapore?.......and any hotels you particularly recommend, sort of mid-range, decent bed and food.?


Anyone any suggestions for a good hotel in LA not too far from the airport?......hopefully that does late check-out as the departure is not until 9pm

For Visa I guess just the ESTA

Stopping over in LA is going to add at least £100 to the cost of your trip.
I might have done it differently if wanting to save money, but wanting some more legroom.
Previous visit was with THAI.

littlereddevil

Yes you can book exit seats on many airlines