Yes, you only get the extra baggage allowance on Air NZ flights via the US. Other than that I guess you need to look for airlines with a good deal and if you can book well ahead you should get a better price as prices can tend to go up the nearer you are to departure date. Generally the Asian airlines i.e. Singapore, Malaysian Air, Thai Air all have pretty good reputations as do Emirates.
With all airlines you?ll always find someone who?s had something to complain about, so you just have to hope for the best when your turn comes. Some have rated Air NZ and others haven?t so it?s a matter of what you?re hoping for from a flight and crossing your fingers that you get it. Ticket prices vary from season to season therefore can be difficult to pin down. Check out
airports and airlines on this site. Hopefully some folks will be able to fill you in on what they paid.
You should be able to book particular
seats when you book if you are quick enough. Just don?t do it through an Indian lady called Mary, like we did months ago, and she still hasn?t shifted herself to doing it for us, considering we?re flying in about a week?s time. The planes we?re flying on have 3 seats and, as I like a window seat, it means clambering over a sleeping stranger to get to the loo. We hoped to get ourselves one of the few 2 seaters, but looks like we?re out of luck.
If you don?t want to hang around in Auckland when you first arrive, booking the flights straight through to Whakatane might be a good idea, assuming there is an airport at Whakatane. One less thing to have to worry about doing.
I would hope you?d find the long haul planes a tad more roomy than the ones to Spain. Some of them have longer seat pitches so there?s more leg room. We flew with Thai Air last time and it was OK although stopping off in Bangkok for a good few hours helped us a lot as we had a hotel room and could shower, have a nap and we even had time for a wander around the area. Thai Air had the habit of insisting that the shutters were kept down for the entire flight so we were in perpetual nighttime ? the flight of the long night, as I called it. If this was their way of counteracting jet lag by confusing the mind, it certainly worked for us as we didn?t have any problems apart from a bit of general tiredness on the first evening in NZ.
I hope others might fill in the gaps as there?s a lot of information kicking around out there.