[Juniper]

it seems that Air New Zealand is increasing their service to/from London. there will be two flights per day from Heathrow to Auckland, via Hong Kong.

http://www.airnewzealand.co.uk/aboutus/mediacentre/pressreleases/air_nz_announces_second_london_service_via_asia.ht m

round trip fares start at 780 GBP, with free stopover options (hong kong, los angeles, pacific islands, or if you are continuing on to wellington or christchurch you can have a free stopover in auckland).

http://www.airnewzealand.co.uk/airfares_offers/web_specials/london_to_new_zealand_pacific_economy.htm

apparently october 29th is when they increase the amount of service, but the fares are good starting now, continuing through next year, according to the web special... i'm not sure how much of a difference this is compared to old fares, but they are finding that there is more demand than they are meeting with just one flight a day.

[jonSE]

Air NZ have to do something to compete with the fact that their flights are second rate compared to say Emirates or BA/Qantas.

If you are travelling with children old enough to decide what they want to watch on their own seatback video screen or which game to play then it must be worthwhile paying a little extra to avoid AirNZ.

Went to Melbourne a couple of weeks ago on Emirates - didn't want the flight to end!