Air New Zealand’s economy skycouch service is good for couples and families
One unique option offered by Air New Zealand is the SkyCouch, an option where economy passengers can buy adjacent seats for extra space on long haul flights aimed at giving families and couples to stretch out.
By luck, I got the opportunity of doing an impromptu review of the Skycouch on the 12 hour NZ7 route between San Francisco and Auckland where I had an entire economy row to myself.
The service is the standard Air New Zealand economy service and, while it’s friendly, the cabin crew can be a bit slow with drinks, I suspect this because of the number of attendants in Premium Economy and it’s a problem when you like to keep hydrated on a long flight.
Given Air New Zealand don’t use the middle galley on there 777-300 services, it may be easier for crew and passengers if some soft drinks, water and snacks were left out during the flight.
The notable difference with the Skycouch services is the set of three extension belts, one cutely named the ‘cuddle belt’ given out before takeoff. The cuddle belt itself connects to a loop under the seat in front, this lets passengers lie flat across the three or four seats.
Once set up, families or couples can buckle up across a row and don’t need to return to the seated position if there’s turbulence. If you’re using a blanket a it’s best to have the straps over the top as the crew will wake you if they can’t see you’re stapped in.
While it’s great to be able to lie down and stretch out in economy, there are some downsides to be aware of before paying the extra for a Skycouch.
Unlike business class, the seats aren’t designed for lying on. As consequence the contours mean the lie flat is a bumpy experience while climbing in and out of the row is awkward. I managed to tangle myself up twice in my headset cord.
Another complication are the seat buckles, again these aren’t designed for people lying over them so they can get uncomfortable, organising them so they don’t dig int requires looping them over the armrest so they are out of the way.
Probably the biggest drawback is for someone of six foot, the three seats mean sleeping with legs folded. Having them hanging out into the aisle is a safety risk and will almost certainly result in a painful accident with a fellow passenger, cabin attendant or catering trolley. I found over time by back started to hurt.
Lying flat though did work, I got six hours solid sleep however I suspect that given the legroom on Air New Zealand economy is adequate I may have slept almost as well sitting.
For families, couples and even pairs of budget conscious business travellers the Skycouch is a good buy offering extra space to spread out and use. For those with the dubious blessing of travelling with small children the added utility could be a sanity saver.
For those wanting a lie flat bed at a price considerably less than a business class ticket, this probably won’t work. If that’s your intention it’s probably better to save the money and use the savings to travel a day early and book a nice hotel on arrival.
The Kenmore Residence Club is a bargain for a San Francisco hotel, just don’t be expecting a six star experience.
San Francisco is an expensive city to stay, so a place at $80 a night that includes breakfast and dinner is bargain that can’t be ignored.
The Kenmore Residence Club is a slightly run down Victorian building in the Pacific Heights neighbourhood, just over a mile from San Francisco’s Union Square.
Given the price and location, it would be unfair to judge the place on its looks. Its 65 rooms vary from doubles with ensuites for $140 a night to singles with shared bathrooms for $80.
The singles with shared baths are surprisingly large rooms with a double sized bed and a walk in wardrobe. Also included in the room are a fridge, wash basin and flat screen TV. Sheets are changed twice a week along with the included hand and bath towels.
WiFi included
As almost always with cheaper hotels and hostels, Wi-Fi is included in the room rate and is surprisingly good throughout the building. In the room I stayed in, 308, the internet access was sufficient to work with and stream radio although Skype required sitting in one of the hallway sofas.
In other rooms patchy Wi-Fi may also be a problem as many of the other guests – which seemed to be mainly Japanese and German backpackers – were working on laptops in the hallway sofas.
Working in the room was fine with a basic desk, a not uncomfortable chair and plenty of power points. The view of the opposite peeling paint on the opposite wall meant there was little to distract an attention deficient worker.
Shared Facilities
Those German and Japanese tourists mean the two shared bathrooms on each floor are quite clean – apart from one unfortunate morning where someone had been sick. This wasn’t such a problem as it was always possible to find a vacant room. Soap dispensers are in the bathrooms but for showers it’s probably best to buy your own.
On the ground floor the dining room seats around forty people for breakfast between 7am and 9am and dinner, Monday to Saturday, between 5.30 and 7. If you’re in San Francisco for sightseeing or business, it’s hard to get back in time for dinner so don’t budget on eating too many evening meals there.
The meals themselves are adequate with a self service salad or breakfast bar and a cooked option. The dinners were fairly stodgy while the eggs or pancakes are fine at breakfast but the bacon and sausages are forgettable. I found myself eating just fried and scrambled eggs with toast and loading up with salad and fruit.
If you don’t eat in the hotel, it’s only two blocks away from Japantown where there’s no shortage of good and cheap ramen, sushi and other Japanese restaurants. There’s also a Whole Foods and Walgreens within three blocks if you want to make your own meal.
Getting there
Should you want to get down to the touristy parts of San Francisco, the 38 Muni bus down Geary Street is the quickest and most reliable way to Union Square and the Ferry Building. Two blocks away on Van Ness, the 18 will take you to Fisherman’s Wharf and on weekends the 76X goes to the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands.
Coming back from Union Square, the number 2 and 3 buses stop almost outside the hotel but are far less frequent or reliable than the Geary services. If you need a Clipper Card or Muni Passport the Walgreens a block away on the corner of Post and Gough street is the place to visit.
The neighbourhood itself is quite safe although south of the Cathedral and into the Hayes Valley things get somewhat less salubrious and walking around that part of SF at night is not recommended by the locals. A stroll back from Union Square or the Embarcadero though isn’t unpleasant.
Doing your laundry
Another benefit with the Kempton is the coin operated laundry in the basement. If you’ve been travelling for a while – I’d spent the previous week in San Jose – being able to wash your clothes is a godsend, laundry powder and change is available at reception and you’ll need lots of quarters for the driers.
Staff at the hotel seem to be mainly made up of long term residents who are working to defray their rent, this means they are a quirky mixed bag of characters. Some are a bit gruff while others are delightfully helpful, again it’s not the Marriott Marquis and the rates reflect that.
There are some downsides to the Kempton, the rooms aren’t particularly quiet – this is something to be expected at cheaper hotels and there are no strong boxes or other security beyond the door locks in the room. While the place seemed safe, nervous travellers may want to consider their storage of passports and valuables.
On balance, The Kenmore is a bargain in one of America’s most expensive cities. If you’re prepared to deal with the quirks and stay a little bit out of the San Francisco tourist spots then the price is unbeatable.
On boarding the 777 the difference between the airline’s domestic business class and its trans Pacific routes is immediately apparent in the crowded eight abreast cabin which compares poorly to the four abreast on United’s domestic 757 services and is a world away from the six abreast on the Qantas A380 services.
It is however a lot better than the ten abreast at the back of the plane in economy and while the seats are cramped they are lie flat with all the standard fittings expected in a business class seat.
Once settled in the seat and underway the cabin crew are spectacularly friendly and helpful despite being overworked in the crowded cabin. The gin and tonics are particularly strong and its worthwhile being cautious of having too many of them.
Aside from lethally strong drinks, the business class food on the flight is good with a decently cooked steak as part of a four course meal including an appetizer, cheese plate and ice cream sundae. For an inflight meal, the mashed potato and baby carrots were surprisingly good.
For the regulars on the flight the most important part of the trip is their ice cream sundaes. Apparently these mean a lot to United’s loyal customers and are a nice touch with the flight attendants clearly enjoying the ceremony. If you’re nice to the cabin crew, you can expect extra nuts.
After the meals, one of the downsides of United’s crowded business class becomes apparent — the lack of restrooms which results in lines just as long as those in economy on other airlines.
Once you do make it into the toilets, the United Airlines’ amenity bag has a good range of accessories to make the flight more comfortable including travel socks, earplugs and skin moisturizer. It’s probably good United don’t offer a set of business class pyjamas like Qantas as nobody would ever get into the restrooms.
Despite being cramped the lie flat beds are fine for a sleep during the 17 hour flight. During the period the lights are dimmed, the cabin crew do tend to vanish so staying hydrated involves making a trip to the galley where along with drinks a parked serving trolley offers self service fruit and snacks.
A few hours out of an on time arrival in Sydney sees standard American breakfasts being offered. These aren’t bad but aren’t good for anyone’s diet and no-one will be accusing the United States of producing the world’s best croissants any time soon.
Overall, United’s transpacific business class service is a curious beast. While the crew are friendly and the food adequate, it’s clear the product lags behind its own domestic service and other airline’s international offerings.
United’s lagging behind the competition is shown in their ticket prices with their business class fare from Sydney to New York being a third of Virgin’s and half of Qantas on the same routing. The market is voting with its wallet despite United having a monopoly on the Australia to San Francisco routes.
For those paying for fares out of their own pockets, it may well be worth considering other airline’s premium economy offerings although for connecting flights to other parts of North America, United offers more options than competing carriers.
Should you be one of the few where your employer still pays for long haul business class fares, then United is probably the least comfortable option although your office financial controller will be happier with the prices.
Paul flew United Business Class between Sydney and New York courtesy of Blackberry
Her is a fascinating movie that raises deep questions about human relationships in a digital world of the near future.
‘Her” was released six months ago, but a 14 hour flight between Sydney and Los Angeles was an opportunity to catch up on movies missed. From a technologist’s view Spike Jonze’s story worth thinking about.
The story revolves around Theodore Twombly, played by Joaquin Phoenix, a writer struggling with his divorce from his childhood sweetheart.
He’s a bit of a geek – who goes to the beach dressed like they are at work?
Theodore’s life changes when he installs OS1 on his pocket computer. Billed as the first artificially intelligent operating system, the program’s interface is witty, intuitive and named Samantha, played by Scarlett Johansson. Theodore falls madly and hopelessly in love.
Samantha, like all good operating systems, takes control of Theodore’s online world and quickly starts to take over the rest of his life.
As Theodore and Samantha’s relationship develops, his neighbours and friends Amy and Charles separate, Charles goes to a Buddhist retreat and Amy, played by Amy Adams, becomes deeply involved with her own iteration of OS1.
The question as you watch the movie is how many of the crowds on the subway, beach and mall with Theodore are deeply in relationships with their own Samanthas. Almost everyone Theodore passes is talking to their own personal devices.
From a technologist’s point of view, Jonze’s vision of the near future is a fascinating. It’s one where screens are not the important part of people’s lives – Theodore rarely looks at his pocketbook computer outside of his work at Beautiful Personal Letters and he certainty doesn’t have a smartwatch as almost everything is done is by voice recognition.
A key part of Jonze’s vision is the alienation of people looking for human contact and in many ways this is reflected in today’s social media world – we’re all looking for our own Samanthas; witty, understanding and aligned with our view of the world.
One wonders how the helpdesk of Element Software, the developers of OS1, deal with the complexities of human relationships; particularly from angry spouses whose partners have ditched them for their more empathetic computers.
For Theodore, a hint to his future employment prospects are shown when he asks Samantha to proof read his work – she is very, very good at it and it’s not hard to see him and his letter writing colleagues being replaced by artificial intelligence in the very near future.
There’s also the privacy aspects; Theodore is writing personal letters for his company’s clients that he shares with Samantha who in turn passes them onto a publisher. It hints at the sprawling and complex issue of personal information in a world of pervasive computing.
Probably the biggest theme is how the operating systems – Samantha and the others could just be one big cloud system – start to work together. In this respect, Samantha’s eventual fate is intriguing and quite possibly terrifying for us mere mortals.
Jonze portrays a benign version of the Skynet of the Terminator movies, it’s also interesting juxtaposing Asimov’s first rule of robotics of doing people no harm against the psychological damage these system could cause, however inadvertently.
“I never loved anyone the way I loved you” are Theodore’s final words to Samantha.
The evolution of Theodore’s and Samantha’s relationship and eventual breakdown is a complex and unpredictable tale with a disturbing ending that leaves the question of what they do next.
Her is a fascinating movie that raises deep questions about human relationships in a digital world of the near future. Many of those issues are beginning to appear today.
One of the tough things about long haul, overnight flights is getting a decent night’s sleep. I find this can only be done in a windows seat where you can snuggle against the fuselage and get reasonably comfortable. So it’s a priority to get those windows seats for a big flight.
With the return flight to Sydney from San Francisco it turned out there were no window seats in the basic economy section so a $150 upgrade to United’s Economy Plus section was needed to grab one of those essential windows seats.
Check-in
The United online check in, while clunky, still worked and the upgrade to Economy Plus was a simple online credit card transaction with a straightforward seat allocation, the selection was painless and effective.
At San Francisco airport the check in, albeit three hours early, was friendly and quick with no quirks and thankfully the seat allocation had been kept.
One thing to keep in mind with United’s seat allocations is they reserve the right to change them and even kick you out of Economy Plus, albeit with a refund of the supplement, if the flight is full and the Sydney flights are usually packed.
So it’s a good idea to get the airport and check in early to reduce the chances of losing your seat which is highly likely if there’s been disruptions elsewhere in the United network meaning connecting passengers have missed earlier flights.
Getting through security is the usually fraught hassle however the TSA staff deal with flummoxed tourists and language barriers with a brisk efficiency. Keep your sense of humour and accept that travellers’ dignity was one of the early causalities of the War On Terrorism and the process shouldn’t be traumatic.
Airside
San Francisco’s International Airport is a delight compared to the snarling, customer unfriendly Sydney Airport. While food outlets aren’t cheap, San Francisco’s are decent and there’s plenty of accessible power sockets, working desks and free wi-fi that works.
The gates themselves can be some distance from the facilities so be prepared not to stray too far. The gate lounges themselves are fairly spartan and there’s no reason to wait there until a few minutes before the aircraft starts boarding.
The seats
Sadly I didn’t get the aircraft registration numbers for this flight or the previous inbound trip but it appeared that this plane was newer – say mid-1990s – than the flight into San Francisco which could well have been one of the first 747-400s ever built in the late 1980s.
United Airline’s Economy Plus is far more comfortable than standard economy
The Economy Plus seats’ additional 3″ of legroom are definitely worth it. The moment you get in the seat, you know the extra room makes a much more comfortable trip than the cramped 31″ of standard economy class.
One thing to keep in mind is that while Economy Plus adds nothing more in service, being at the front of the economy cabin does mean you get first choice of food, beverages and easy access to the middle toilets which is a slight advantage over those crammed at the back. It’s also a little quieter as the seats are over the wing rather than behind the engines.
Another benefit with the additional pitch is that you don’t get a faceful of headrest when the seat in front of you reclines so it is possible to work on a laptop, read or eat in comfort even when the person ahead of you is still sleeping.
Inflight entertainment
While the system was still the shockingly decrepit 1990s cabin screens, there were for some reason additional choices on the audio channels including a classical music selection which made it far easier to relax than cheesy 1980s love songs or gangsta rap.
Naturally there was no inflight power in the cheap seats so take advantage of the plentiful power sockets at SFO to make sure you’re fully charged before boarding.
Shortly after take off the cabin crew come around with meals. Overall the cabin crew seem tired and beaten, while they aren’t rude or unpleasant one wonders if they have all received too many stern memos from management about being friendly to customers.
Food
An interesting thing about cheap airline food is how they cook and serve it in ways that make it difficult, if not downright dangerous to eat with plastic cutlery.
Careful trying to cut that chicken
In this respect UA 863 didn’t disappoint. The tough, mystery chicken lying under a red sludge masquerading as barbecue sauce was difficult to cut and risked sending one’s drink flying into your neigbour if you weren’t careful. This isn’t helped by the weird ridges United insist on putting underneath their trays.
The bread had a strange chemical taste while the Love and Quiches Double Chocolate Crunch Bar was the highlight of the meal. The red wine was nice as well.
After as good a night’s sleep as one can get in an economy class seat, breakfast was served around two hours before landing in Sydney. Again it was tough to eat.
You’ll need lots of syrup to soften that tough toast
Like the chicken earlier in the flight, the French toast was tough to cut and hard to eat. Fortunately a good soaking in maple syrup makes it almost edible.
The fruit salad was spartan but fine while the cold croissant tasted strange like the roll served the night before. It’s a shame United can’t find one of San Francisco’s excellent bakeries to supply their bread.
Arrival
The plane arrived on-time and without problems with immigration straightforward after dodging the embarrassing and garish duty free ripoff shops.
Customs is the standard mass brawl that’s normal for early morning international arrivals at Sydney when a dozen or so wide bodied jets arrive at the same time from Europe, Asia and the US.
If you have the choice, it may be worthwhile choosing a flight that arrives in Sydney after 8am so you can avoid both the customs hall and traffic peak hours.
Once past customs it’s welcome to the snarling, belligerent and anti-traveller horror that is Sydney Airport. Get out of there as quick as you can by train, taxi, bus or car.
Note if someone is meeting you, the pick up area is on the far side of carparks A and B. It’s not marked for either passengers in the terminals or for those driving into the complex. None of this is an accident and it’s best for both parties to have mobile phones so they can co-ordinate movements.
In many ways the customer hostile attitude of the Sydney Airports Corporation is good news for United Airlines as it makes their tired inflight service feel warm and inviting.
Overall the United Economy Plus option is worth the extra $150 charge to at least get earlier service and more legroom if you have to fly UA. It’s difficult though to recommend United while they fly such awfully old equipment and you should only consider it if the connections or the fare make them the best option.
An easy flight from Melbourne to Sydney with the added bonus of queuing at both ends.
Returning from Xero’s Australian Partners’ Conference in Melbourne was again on Qantas, an evening flight rounded off a busy couple of days. Alas the free drinks on evening flights are no more for economy passengers.
Check in
Once again Qantas’ byzantine seat allocation only made aisle seats towards the back of the plane available.
This is an irritation if you aren’t a frequent Qantas passenger and for short hop flights, particularly for time and cash sensitive freelancers and the self employed it may be enough to choose the competition.
Apart from this irritation, web check in was straight forward and quick with only hand held luggage. Queues did not appear to be long at the check in desks for those with checked baggage.
Boarding
Evening flights out of Melbourne can be problematic as getting to the airport along the Tullamarine Freeway in peak hour can be slow. On this evening traffic was clear.
Surprisingly the security queues were massive as the two operating gates struggled with a relatively light load of passengers. Being early, this wasn’t a problem but others on soon to depart flights were being paged from the lines by anxious check in staff.
An 8pm flight out of Qantas’ domestic Melbourne terminal is a dispiriting affair if you want to grab something to eat as the overpriced food hall is shutting down and the range is dismal to go with the high prices.
Fortunately Gate One at Qantas domestic has ample power sockets so you can continue working instead of moping around the overpriced and depressing food court.
Onboard
Another rattly old 767. While well maintained, it’s still showing its age. Comfortable seats again.
Service
Again the cabin crew was delightfully pleasant and friendly belying Qantas’ reputation for surly service.
This could have been because the flight was nearly empty, which makes the restricted seat availability at check in even more frustrating.
It didn’t appear that the restricted seats had anything to do with weight distribution as the cabin crew invited us to move wherever we liked after the plane had taken off. This was an opportunity to nab a seat at the front of the economy class cabin.
Being an evening flight a meal was served – a basic penne pasta topped with tomato sauce and a tiny chocolate bar. The meal was fine although its size was closer to a snack.
Sadly alcoholic drinks are no longer complimentary on Qantas domestic so a ginger beer followed by a black tea were the accompanying refreshments.
On time performance
The flight was slightly late getting away but had a straight flight into Sydney and arrived ten minutes early.
Arrival
With an on time arrival and only carrying hand luggage, again there was no need to worry about baggage claim.
Not worrying about baggage is handy at Sydney Airport as you need all your wits when dealing with the Dantean circle of hell that are the airport’s taxi ranks. For first time visitors to Sydney, the inept management of something as simple as a line for taxis is a taste of the ticket clipping monopolistic incompetence that infests much of the state’s business community.
For most people it’s easier to get the train out of the airport unless you’re lumbered with luggage or travelling in a group.
Overall QF490 was a straightforward and easy flight with little hassle apart from the large security queues in Melbourne and messed up taxi rank at Sydney airport.
QF490 – 21 Jul 12. Dep Melbourin 8.00pm, arrived Sydney 9.35. Economy class ticket $180.
Paul travelled to Melbourne courtesy of Xero for their Australian developer’s conference.
Overall, United’s transpacific business class service is a curious beast. While the crew are friendly and the food adequate, it’s clear the product lags behind its own domestic service and other airline’s international offerings.
