Breaking: Air New Zealand to offer lie-flat seats in transpacific economy cabins

by Grant Martin on

After three years of waiting, the announcement is finally live: Air New Zealand will be reconfiguring their Boeing 777 cabins to incorporate lie flat seats in economy, a revolutionary change to transpacific travel and a godsend to long haul passengers. Traditionally, the comfort of lie-flat seats is only reserved for travelers in business or first class, but with these new configurations, even economy travelers will be able to stretch out for a good night’s sleep.

The novelty comes with a redesign to the way that economy seats mate together. The combination of a smooth interface between each seat, moveable armrests and an extension to the seats effectively makes a sideways bed onto which a few travelers can lie.

Changes to premium economy and business class will also be redesigned for better space utilization.

Our own blogger Kent Wien is on the ground in Auckland as we type, collecting photos, videos and all of the fine details of the new cabin configurations. Stay tuned to Gadling over the course of this evening for real-time updates, videos, pictures and to take part in the the revolution of transpacific travel as we know it.

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UPDATE: Check out Kent’s thorough profile and photos of the new seats here!

Air New Zealand to “revolutionize” transpacific travel with new cabins

by Grant Martin on

Tomorrow’s announcement from Air New Zealand about their new cabin configurations is purported to be a doozy, a change to transpacific flight that could forever impact the way we think about airline travel.

A few small clues about the configurations have leaked through, including a recent interview with ANZ’s CEO Rob Fyfe where he indicates that most of the changes would be in the economy and premium economy sections. A recent article from the New Zealand Herald also suggests that the airline may go as far as installing lie-flat seats throughout all of coach.

Here at Gadling we’ve got a couple of ideas for where the award-winning airline can go with their long-haul aircraft:

  • Like Delta has considered, ANZ could reconfigure their cabin with staggered seats, incorporating more room for passengers and creating even more space to pack in seats.
  • One of the wide-body options that Airbus has recently offered is for bunk beds in economy. Could Boeing and their 777 aircraft use the same thing?
  • The above interview with Rob Fyfe highlighted the importance that ANZ is placing on families in the future. Using cafe style (facing one another) seating in coach could help families coordinate, make extra space and softening the pain of long haul travel.

Either way, we’ve sent our own airline expert Kent Wien out to the Air New Zealand ranch in Auckland, New Zealand to scope out the new changes, snap some photos and get the skinny on what the big excitement is all about. We’ll get you updated Monday afternoon after the official launch.

UPDATE: Read all about the new changes here.%Gallery-83877%

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Another new day, another drunk passenger tries to open the aircraft door mid-flight

by Scott Carmichael on

Rarely does a week go by without a flight being diverted because someone became “unruly”.

These incidents are often pretty innocent, involving a drunk passenger trying to harass fellow passengers. But every now and then the really insane (or drunk) take things to the next level, often with violence or by attempting to damage the plane.

Last night, United Airlines flight 223 from Washington to Las Vegas had to divert to Denver to drop off a passenger who had attempted to open the cabin door mid-flight.

Thankfully this is almost impossible to do because of door seals and the pressure difference, but that doesn’t change the fact that in his mind, he was ready to kill himself and many others on board the plane.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – insane and drunk passengers are a far greater danger than terrorists. See, you can use technology and profiling to spot a terrorist, but the seriously deranged are almost impossible to detect.

As usual, the culprit in this case was alcohol. He had been drinking before and during the flight, which once again shows how dangerous in-flight booze can be, and how important it is for cabin crew to stop serving intoxicated passengers.

The 129 passengers (minus one) continued on to Las Vegas arriving about two hours late.

The “2009 dumbest moments in travel” – from the Travel Insights 100

by Scott Carmichael on

Travel Insights 100 2009 Dumb Travel Moments

In 2009, the travel industry provided us with plenty to complain about. From new fees to late night TSA subpoenas to bloggers, there never seems to be a limit to the dumb things they manage to come up with. The Travel Insights 100 asked its members to submit their own favorite dumb travel moment.

Several Gadling bloggers are part of the group of 100, and my own dumbest moment is included in the presentation. I picked fees, and the way fees are introduced. Fees beat out anything else the airlines did in my opinion, because it is the one thing that is going to keep annoying us for years to come.

Fees also annoy me because of their copycat status. For some reason, when one airline adds a new fee, others seem to follow within hours. Dumbest fee’s of 2009? The “peak travel” surcharge added to tickets on holidays, and the British Airways seat selection fee.

Daily Pampering: Air New Zealand’s business class beds

by Grant Martin on

Have you ever slept better on an airplane than in your own bed? The only time that this has ever happened to me was on an Air New Zealand flight between LA and Auckland, comfortably tucked into the business class cabin on the upper deck of their 747.

This business cabin (lower deck pictured above), a ten seat Eden of comfort, good food and endless inflight entertainment is one of the only ways to cross the Pacific in style, complete with fully lie flat beds, delectable meals and wine and non stop pampering. Perhaps this is part of the reason that ANZ was named Airline of the Year by Air Transport World.

Incidentally, the movers and shakers at Air New Zealand are in the midst of a drastic redesign to their transpacific cabin configurations. It’s all strictly under wraps until next week (hint: Monday at 5) so check back then to hear the great news!

And don’t forget to get your daily dose of pampering right here.