Air New Zealand review by Steve 2013-12-10

Flew Melbourne – Auckland – Los Angeles in September and October 2013. I had selected and paid for an exit row seat. Being 6′ 4″ tall, my friend had also selected and paid for a seat with no seat in front of it (where it goes from 2 seats to 3 seats) so he could stretch out. It seems that because of a change of aircraft type (B777-200 series replaced by B777-300 series or vice-versa), the seating configurations changed. Without any notice or explanation we were both assigned regular economy seats. We pointed this out to the cabin crew but there was nothing they could do since the flight was full. It made for a very uncomfortable 12 hour journey. Fortunately for the return journey there was no problem. Aside from that hiccup, the flights were good, food fine (as far as aircraft food goes), excellent service and timely departures and arrivals. I will continue to use Air NZ in future where possible because I personally find them to be superior to the other offerings flying east out of Australia.