[fish13]

Hi Everyone,

My wife and I are going on a 'look see' trip to New Plymouth (start point Glasgow) on the 23rd of this month for a week. We have two options for flights and I wanted to ask people's opinions on which to go for! :)

First off is to fly Glasgow to Heathrow and go for a fuel stop only in Los Angeles and then on to Auckland with a puddle jump flight to New Plymouth.

Second is to go for Glasgow to Heathrow, then on to Hong Kong for a 1.5-2hr stop and then on to Auckland then NP?

As far as timing goes, the flight with the Hong Kong stop gets us there in 5hrs less time than the LA one.

Question is, is it better to just get on ONE plane and just deal with the length of the journey? Or is it better to have it broken up (if somewhat briefly) and get there a little quicker? But riskier in terms of lost luggage, missing connections etc??

Never done so long a flight before, but feel that tiredness/crabiness won't matter much either way as we'll be just as irritable both options? :laugh

Any ideas peeps?

Wife and I are 26/27 with no small kids etc....

Cheers,

Hugo and Melissa

[scotia]

Hi there, I would be tempted to go via Hong Kong and then on. Its 5 hours faster and it will be a good flight over. Have done that trip quite a few times over the years and the flight can be quite enjoyable.Are you going with cathay Pacific? If so they're a good airline with good in-flight catering, entertainment etc. You don't mention cost - if this is not an issue I would still go via Hong Kong. Los Angeles can be very hectic and you will probably have to go through a lot of security issues in Heathrow because you are going via the US. Having said all that, my husband and I are flying to the States on 9th Jan but going from Dublin thus hopefully avoiding a lot of the queues etc because of the ongoing security problems and we are also seeing family there. We are then flying from San Francisco to Brisbane where we'll be for a few weeks before finally flying on to Palmerston North in NZ. A lot of travel is personal choice in the end and I'm sure others will let you know their preferences also. I'm also Scottish by the way and for the past 7 years have lived in Ayrshire - Whaur aboots do ye come fae? Arra best!
Scotia

[scotia]

Oops! just checked your post and see you're in Aberdeen - also lived there for 15 years! Just another option maybe but did you check out Emirates from Glasgow - it would cut out the hazzle of going to LHR. Not sure if they do a flight to Auckland - they certainly go to Australia as we flew with them last year to Brisbane before catching a cheap flight over to NZ with Freedom Air, an airline a bit like Ryanair with cheap flights and few frills. However if I recall correctly you do have to spend a night in a hotel in Dubai (Emirates pays) and this will not suit you as you've only got a week so the emphasis is on getting there fast. Maybe another time!
Cheers Scotia

[fish13]

Hi Scotia,

Was just replying. Many thanks for your thoughts. We are going BA and cost is luckily not an issue as the company I work for are paying for it.

Any experiences with flying BA over? Hoping even though it's economy that the legroom won't be too bad! The stop in Hong Kong is only enough time really to change planes so it's not as if I'll get time for shopping or a proper stretch?

I am originally from a farm outside Dalrymple in Ayrshire, whereabouts are you living now?

[scotia]

Small world! We lived in Troon for 7 years and went to Dalrymple a couple of times. Is it there that theres a nice wee hotel that does quite good food? Dalrymple Arms or something? Anyway happy memories! Have been in Ireland for the past year due to my O/H's job and have loved it - been in Dublin since April but leaving mid Dec to head back to Scotland to spend Christmas/New Year before we head on our epic journey to NZ where we'll arrive mid Feb. Going back to your flights though! I have travelled with BA to Hong Kong and no complaints although it was a few years ago. I would suspect your bags will be checked in all the way to Auckland so you won't see them again until then, although these days its best to check due to the tightened security rules. Legroom should be fine. Also some people find they suffer jet lag less going East than going West but again I think its a personal thing! Whatever way you go - happy landings and good luck!
Scotia
Scotia

[fish13]

Many thanks Scotia, small world indeed. Where are you headed when you travel to New Zealand?

Any body else any suggestions? As Scotia says, I know a lot is personal preference, but thought I'd ask?

Cheers,

Hugo.

[fish13]

Anybody from the UK gone 'west' :D instead of more traditional route?

[fish13]

Ok,

Flights are now with Air New Zealand.

Never been on them before, are they good for long haul? Decent leg room in economy?

Cheers,

Hugo and Melissa.

[Trigirl]

are you going via Hong Kong or via LA? they fly the 747-400 via Hong Kong and the 777-200 via LA so you get a bit more legroom on the Hong Kong flights (34inch seat pitch on the 747 v 32inch on the 777)

[fish13]

Boo! Going via LA so that means I guess less leg room!

Bummer.

Are they a good airline to travel though?

[Trigirl]

i don't know but i'll tell you in 3 weeks!!

everything we've heard about them has been good though.

[fish13]

Just looked up their website and it is really encouraging. Shows the inflight entertainment as well as seating plans for different aircraft and meal options etc etc.
Well worth a look. Thanks for help Trigirl and good luck!

I'll let you know how we get on as we're flying out next Thursday!

Cheers,

Hugo and Melissa

[scotia]

Hugo and Melissa
Enjoy your flight and have a great week in NZ, glad you got it all sorted! We are going to Napier on the East Coast in Feb and looking forward to it very much.
Cheers
Scotia

[Hannah]

Hi Fish,
We went via LA first trip to NZ (over 3 yrs ago now) with Air NZ. Nothing but praise for them and would go Air NZ every time (although booked Cathay Pacific this time, and Malaysia last time, as they were cheapest flights i could find).
Hated LA and i hear it's getting worse with all the security stuff - we were herded into a little room with a couple of guards who stood around with guns. Couldn't believe it - all that effort to keep guns out of airports and then these two guys standing there with them on their belts. Sad.

have to admit that last 2 trips to NZ we avoided Air NZ to avoid the LA stop. I think it's good business sense for Air NZ to now offer a hong kong stop.

Interestingly when we booked our one way tickets this time the very cheapest flights were consistently virgin/air NZ for all dates (virgin to LA and then Air NZ on to Auckland). We decided to pay an extra £300 or so just to avoid the LA stop because if we had gone with virgin we would have to have checked out our luggage and checked it back in through security/customs before it went on to the Air NZ flight. Who needs that hassle after a 12 hour flight.
I believe they do not require you to do that if you are flying air NZ all the way as you go back on to the same plane after it's cleaned/refuelled....sure you are relieved to hear that!

For others wondering about flights my personal experience is avoid LA if you can, esp if flying with 2 different airlines. The Malaysia airlines stop in Kuala Lumpur is smashing - beautiful airport, lots of coffee shops and a fun mono-rail that my kids played on while we waited the 3 hours for our plane to re-board!!!!

Good luck Fish, enjoy New Plymouth and let us know how you all get on!

[fish13]

Hi Hannah,

Thanks for the reply. Good to hear good things about Air NZ if not LA anyway! Doesn't sound fun. :confused:

How long does/did the plane stop in LA for? I'm working out flight time from the tickets but can you remember how long (hours) each leg of the journey is?

The website was going on about how spacious even their economy seats are, did you think so? Just flew cattle class to Florida this summer and even though I'm only 6'1" my knees touch the seat in front before I'd even put my chair back! :mad:
Sorry for all the questions!

We are flying Air NZ all the way, so hopefully won't have many of the same problems you had with changing and security etc.

Last question, how on earth did you keep yourself sane on such a long trip???? :wah

Many thanks,

Hugo.

[Hannah]

Hi Hugo,
I think the stop over varies depending on times of flights etc. although we went full journey with Air NZ and the stop was exactly 2 hours and we reboarded the same plane. If I remember right it was 25 hrs total - 12 hours for one leg of the flight and 11 hours for the next.
I have really long legs and leg room wasn't great - just enough space to get across your passengers legs when you go to the loo. There is a foot bar on the back of the seat in front but I have to admit it's not great and my legs were too long for the foot rest (they hung over the top of it!). We were ok though as we had 4 seats for all 4 of us in the middle row and we laid our legs over the children!!!!
It was harder for us to keep sane on the first flight to NZ as they didn't have those little TV screens in the back of the seats - we had one TV screen at the front of the plane and my children had to kneel up in their seats to see the screen. Now i think all the planes have these little screens so you can chose what music album you want to listen to, or what film/comedy/tv show/ documentary you want to see. I have to say that it's much more bearable - i quite enjoyed being able to just sit and watch a choice of recent and decent films. Then there is all the food/drink coming round all the time so you have something to break up the day! I didn't think it was that bad - i took a book and read the whole thing, watched a bit of TV, listened to a bit of music and eat and slept in between. It really is ok. The LA thing is a drag purely because the transit room is so boring - just seats and a free coffee machine (oh, and the immigration guards with their guns!) - other stop overs allow you to go into the airport and buy proper coffee (although i doubt we'll get the chance on our stop over in Hong Kong in January as we only stop for 1 1/2 hours.

Good luck Hugo, you'll be fine. Use the stop over to get those long legs stretched and take a few unnecessary trips to the loo/look out the window to keep the blood flowing!!!

hannah

[Ana&Steve]

We flew on Air NZ last March and it was pleasant enough. (Mind you we flew out of LA, as we live in SoCal) We sat next to a British man on the way home in the exit seats, as this man was VERY tall. He had said that if you request an exit seat for leg room, make sure it's not the one against the wall, as there is a big hump coming out of the wall. (This is the seat I got :roll ) He really didn't mind the layover, as it meant he could stretch for a bit, but he did seem like the kind of person that doesn't get worked up by much. I really enjoyed all the entertainment they offered, some of the food was a little rubbery, though.
Ana