Flights from UK to New Zealand any preferences?

[MrsB]

We emmigrated with Singapore Airlines, mainly to get the flight times & connections we wanted and also to get the 40kg baggage allowance. In the 5yrs we've been here I've heard lots of people say that although Singapore Airlines still have this higher baggage allowance it is worth making sure you have an email or something in writing to confirm it in case of issues at check-in. The service was great, food good & the cabin crew were great with our 5.5yr old who was flying for the very first time!

Although the Economy product of most of the major airlines can be viewed as much of a muchness its worth looking on www.seatguru.com and comparing sizes of seats. I did a lot of that when researching for our upcoming 1st return visit to the UK and there is actually some difference in pitch & width of seats. For my 6' 5" hubby leg room is a big issue and although I don't need 2 seats I am not the smallest of ladies so appreciate an extra half inch or so on the width of my seat. We've actually decided to fork out for Premium Economy with Air NZ flying via LA - shortest actually travelling time, new PE seats on this route, only 1 touch down. However we would not have paid the extra to fly PE on the Hong Kong route that Air NZ do as they don't (as yet) have the new PE seats and the old PE seats are not as good a 'product' IMHO.

Also worth considering, as mentioned already, is how many connections you want to make, which airports you are transiting through (Changi is our favourite), how long you want to be travelling for (the LHR-LA-AKL is I believe the shortest now in terms of hours in the air), which planes are used on which routes.

My in-laws always fly Emirates & love their economy product, my folks have flown with Malaysian (via Kuala Lumpur), Korean (via Soel) and Emirates and had no complaints about any of them. The only airlines I conciously try to avoid are BA & Quantas.

HTH, have a good flight!
Mrs B.

[Mrs G]

Do you have to ring them to book to get the 40k allowance? I have seen a few people mention this but it just gives you the standard 20kgish allowance on the website

[RejjieM]

Do you have to ring them to book to get the 40k allowance? I have seen a few people mention this but it just gives you the standard 20kgish allowance on the website

I e-mailed their customer services and this is what they said:

"Kindly note, if you hold an unused/unstamped/not validated migrant visa that specifically states that you are permitted to remain in New Zealand indefinitely / permanently, you will then be entitled to the double baggage allowance (40 kilos, per passenger).

The double baggage allowance will only be granted when you check in at the airport when this visa is sighted and checked that it has also not been travelled on before, this has to be the first time it is being used."

I'm not sure about all the different visa types but this works for the SMC.

[Delta_Cephei]

I also emailed and had the luggage allowance confirmed. Air NZ, Emirates, Malaysian and BA all said no to any increased allowance for migrants....

[jawnbc]

i love these airline threads!

I make my decision based on airline quality versus frequent flyer mileage accrual versus fare. Often the cheapest fares accrue no or few frequent flyer miles: on journeys like London-Auckland that's 12,000 miles each way or more--halfway to a free ticket within the region. It's worth paying an extra $400 to get all those points as well as status miles. My airlines of choice are: Singapore, Air NZ, Lufthansa (only fly to Asia not NZ), Air Canada (only to Australia), Thai and KLM (codeshare with Malaysian). Most of these are Star Alliance carriers.

As for seat leaning, it's a passenger's right to:
Lean their seat
Not be tapped, poked or kicked from behind
Sleep
Walk around if the seatbelt sign is off

Except for take-off, landing and during meal services. But I have found, over time, that I sleep better by *not* reclining my seat. Earplugs, noise cancelling headphones, moist eye mask, blanket, one pillow under the neck. Oh, and a sleeping tablet.

[Farmwards]

I understood that if you are emigrating, Singapore Airlines will allow you double the baggage allowance. However, when we turned up at the airport with our 80kg of luggage (between 2 of us), the man behind the check-in checked our passports (unused 30-month work visa) and he agreed the extra luggage was fine UNTIL he realised we were stopping off in Singapore for 3 nights. Apparently, this 3-night stopover counted as a holiday and therefore we were going on holiday not emigrating!! He had a word with his supervisor who told us in no uncertain terms that we weren't allowed ANY extra luggage allowance as we were going on holiday!!

It was quite an emotional day as we had just said goodbye to family and friends and now the check-in staff were telling us we coudn't take half our luggage on board that I broke down in tears!!! This did not get me any sympathy from the check-in supervisor who just repeated herself and walked off. It did however get us some sympathy from the nice man behind the check-in desk and he authorised 60kg of luggage between us..... This meant we were still 20kg in excess and we had to send this by an excess baggage company at a cost of 600 pounds (it arrived at Auckland airport a week after us and we had to take a taxi to pick it up - as we had no car at this point).

So beware if you have a stopover anywhere!!

[Farmwards]

For my 6' 5" hubby leg room is a big issue and although I don't need 2 seats I am not the smallest of ladies so appreciate an extra half inch or so on the width of my seat. We've actually decided to fork out for Premium Economy with Air NZ flying via LA - shortest actually travelling time, new PE seats on this route, only 1 touch down. However we would not have paid the extra to fly PE on the Hong Kong route that Air NZ do as they don't (as yet) have the new PE seats and the old PE seats are not as good a 'product' IMHO

I also have a 6'5'' hubby and we decided to fly AirNZ Premium Economy for our last trip back to the UK. We flew via HongKong on the AKL-LON leg, and via LA on the LON-AKL leg. I admit the seats are a lot fancier on the LA route, but in terms of leg-room, our opinion was that the HongKong route is much much better.

Agree that Singapore Changi is a great airport to transit through - it seems to have such a calming effect compared to the calamity in most airports!

[groonies]

My best experience London To Auckland has been Singapore airlines. Make use of the in transit lounge at Singapore to have a shower and a bite for circa $40. It makes you feel more human when you land after 24 hours plus of travel. Service on Cathay is also very good but seats can prove a problem for some. I am 6ft 4 and was OK in them although having proper legroom cannot be replaced.

[mylesdw]

We just came back with QANTAS London-Singapore-Sydney-Christchurch. Service and punctuality were good, they fly the A380 which we found excellent in many respects. The short leg from Sydney has the advantage that when you arrive in NZ and have to do the whole immigration/customs/MAF thing you are off a small plane rather than a huge one so the queues are much smaller.

[Mamee & Co]

I understood that if you are emigrating, Singapore Airlines will allow you double the baggage allowance. However, when we turned up at the airport with our 80kg of luggage (between 2 of us), the man behind the check-in checked our passports (unused 30-month work visa) and he agreed the extra luggage was fine UNTIL he realised we were stopping off in Singapore for 3 nights. Apparently, this 3-night stopover counted as a holiday and therefore we were going on holiday not emigrating!! He had a word with his supervisor who told us in no uncertain terms that we weren't allowed ANY extra luggage allowance as we were going on holiday!!

It was quite an emotional day as we had just said goodbye to family and friends and now the check-in staff were telling us we coudn't take half our luggage on board that I broke down in tears!!! This did not get me any sympathy from the check-in supervisor who just repeated herself and walked off. It did however get us some sympathy from the nice man behind the check-in desk and he authorised 60kg of luggage between us..... This meant we were still 20kg in excess and we had to send this by an excess baggage company at a cost of 600 pounds (it arrived at Auckland airport a week after us and we had to take a taxi to pick it up - as we had no car at this point).

So beware if you have a stopover anywhere!!

We did stop over in Singapore and I ensured I had a typed authorization email beforehand from Sinagapore Airlines. We had no problems on our journey and 3 night stopover in Singapore.