Best airline for travel from US to New Zealand?

February 14, 2024 10:58 AM

We're planning a trip for our four-person family to NZ. We're visiting family, who are native New Zealanders, and they're graciously being our tour guides, so we don't need guidance on what to do or where to go. But it looks like a dozen airlines fly there from the US. What are the best choices?

Additional info: We'd prefer to fly out of San Francisco but can leave from other places if it makes a big difference... It would work best if we flew into Auckland and out of someplace on the south island... Obviously, we'd like to keep costs down, but not at the expense of quality, safety, etc. ... We'll be there somewhere between two and three weeks... We'd be traveling in July (I know, NZ winter, but it's the only window we have for at least a year, and we're OK with blustery weather). Thanks for any wisdom you can offer!

posted by martin q blank to Travel & Transportation (18 answers total)

90% of international flights, if not more, land in Auckland, at the international terminal. You pass through customs there, then transfer to the domestic terminal (short bus ride away) for the next leg of your journey. You can get anywhere under 2 hours though.

Air New Zealand flies non-stop from Auckland to San Francisco and vice versa... Why not start the hospitality early? I'm a biased kiwi though!
posted by socky_puppy at 11:10 AM on February 14 [2 favorites]

Best answer: But it looks like a dozen airlines fly there from the US.

This may not be important to you, but my understanding is that Air New Zealand is the only operator offering non-stop flights to Auckland on most dates out of SFO. They apparently have a codeshare with United if you're collecting United miles, but otherwise, they're the very obvious answer.

I've done SFO -> AKL direct myself, and it's already a very long journey nonstop; doing a stopover will almost certainly result in 18-24 hours (or more) of travel time one way, which is almost certainly not worth any discount, especially if you're traveling with children.

I thought Air New Zealand's service was wonderful, and their in-flight safety video at the time was something else. They would certainly be my first choice.
posted by eschatfische at 11:16 AM on February 14 [6 favorites]

(Sorry that's both fly into and out of Auckland!)
posted by socky_puppy at 11:18 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

It was about 9 years ago but we flew Air New Zealand to Australia from SFO and it was great.
posted by vunder at 11:19 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Another vote for Air New Zealand here - we flew from Vancouver->Auckland and they were fantastic.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 11:27 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Yeah, IMO unless you want to stop over somewhere unusual for a length of time (I mean actually exit the airport and go do stuff) I'd just go ANZ.
posted by aramaic at 11:39 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Yup, Air New Zealand all the way. And as eschatfische says, I would pay extra to avoid a stopover on such a long flight.
posted by widdershins at 11:40 AM on February 14 [1 favorite]

I've been to New Zealand twice in the past five years.

I flew Fiji Airways one time and Air Tahiti Nui the other time. Both times, I stopped off in their respective island paradises for a few days. Both of these airlines allow you to do this at no additional airfare charge; it's a great way to add a vacation to your vacation.

In both cases, I used points to get the tickets, resulting in a mixed-cabin flight; I flew business class on the long leg and economy or premium economy on the shorter leg to and from Auckland.

The airlines were very comparable in the air, but I felt like Fiji had a better ground experience. Both destinations were lovely.
posted by Hatashran at 12:18 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Best answer: As a NZer in the US who has done this at least 16 times in the last 12 years: it depends.

AirNZ is nice, but their economy seats are tight and can get very uncomfortable inside the 12-13 hours that you'll be over the pacific. If you have status on United or American, or if you have miles that you can use to get into E+ or premium economy, I tend to favour them over NZ economy, even though the food and service is noticeably worse. If you're in business or first they all have nice offerings, I'd just go with the cheapest.

If you'll be in premium economy on AirNZ, that handily beats the United and American offerings at similar price points.

Going through Australia, or doing something like stopping in Hawaii or Fiji is very rarely worth it unless you want to stop and take a few days.
posted by Jobst at 12:20 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Oh and AirNZ has this thing called the skycouch- some rows in economy where you can book all three of the outer seats which can turn into little beds. Sometimes this is only a modest upcharge from getting two seats, and if you've got two people who don't mind getting close this can be a nice option.
posted by Jobst at 12:23 PM on February 14 [2 favorites]

We flew a United/Air New Zealand codeshare in the economy cabin. On the way there, we were on an Air New Zealand flight and a took a United flight back. The service was a ton nicer on Air New Zealand, with much better food and a much better seat. The United flight back had terrible food and they cram way too many seats on those Dreamliners. I'd definitely see about booking it so you have Air New Zealand operated flights on both legs.
posted by advicepig at 1:31 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Air New Zealand is debuting nap pods sometimes this year for economy, called SkyNest. Basically like a triple stacked long distance train bunk bed. Pricing is supposed to be around NZ$400-600 for a 4 hour slot. Honestly seems like a great deal to get some real sleep in economy. Not sure when they will start service or which routes it will be on, but that would definitely tip the balance for me.
posted by foodmapper at 3:51 PM on February 14 [2 favorites]

Yeah, Air NZ. Check out the Catlins if you're down in the far south - bottom right hand corner of the South Island between Dunedin and Invercargill, full of cool things and beautiful scenery.
posted by Sebmojo at 5:07 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

I'm from NZ and my wife is from NorCal - so we do the SFO > Auckland trip a lot. We've had the best time going direct with Air New Zealand. It's a looong flight, but they know how to make the experience as comfortable as possible.
posted by Paragon at 5:58 PM on February 14 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Well, seems like there's a bit of a consensus here. :) Comfort is a big, big deal for my wife, who's a somewhat anxious flyer. That Skycouch or Skynext option might actually be worth the extra $$$ for her.

I'm told that United used to run a non-stop out of Christchurch to San Francisco, but I don't see it in their system. If anyone knows about that, please chime back in. Apparently our itinerary is to start on the north island and then jump down to the south, and leaving from there would make sense. But it seems like all the Christchurch flights jump back to AKL and you go from there.

Thanks so much to all of you for taking the time to help.
posted by martin q blank at 6:29 PM on February 14

United's service is definitely supposed to be operating - it was national news here when they started as recently as December.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:52 PM on February 14

United's service is definitely supposed to be operating - it was national news here when they started as recently as December.

United's nonstop Christchurch-SF flight is seasonal, "lasting four months during New Zealand's summer". So it won't be operating past the end of March.
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:47 AM on February 15 [1 favorite]

Also, it doesn't operate every day; it departs Christchurch on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, and departs SF on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So if you were looking at the wrong day of the week you wouldn't find it.
posted by Johnny Assay at 4:49 AM on February 15