Auckland to Chicago: How does Air NZ’s long-haul Business Premier stack up on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner?

Business Premier on board an Air New Zealand Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Photo / Dean Purcell

The Herald’s Sam Hurley flies Auckland to Chicago with Air New Zealand and reviews the airline’s luxury offerings in Business Premier.

Air New Zealand flies direct to Chicago in the United States from Auckland.

Services resumed in October last year and the airline has been operating the route three times a week with its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.

Passengers can glam up their journey by choosing Business Premier, Premium Economy and Economy Skycouch.

Getting on board: Auckland International Airport

With the electronic check-ins, the start of your journey should be a breeze and it was. But just in case I ran into trouble there were plenty of attentive Air NZ staff ready to help if needed.

Avoiding any queue in an airport, particularly through Customs, is a big plus. So being able to use a priority line with Business Premier was the first sign of an upgrade - it probably saved me 15 minutes of standing and pondering if I’d be required to remove my shoes.

Once past the shoe inspectors, Air NZ’s premium lounge is a comfortable place to relax before a long-haul flight, with a decent selection of local wines and drinks to enjoy and space to work on a laptop. I understand a refurbishment of this space is also in future plans.

Unless travelling for business and requiring a US work visa, as I did, most New Zealanders on holiday will simply need an Esta when going Stateside.

The seats and cabin

The most significant benefits - and no doubt the reason for extra cost you pay - of Business Premier appear to be found in the additional space you receive in the cabin.

A leather armchair with a footstool gives you plenty of room to stretch your legs - a luxury for any passenger. Then there’s the ability for the crew to quickly turn your armchair into a flatbed; what we all desire on a long-haul flight. This gave me enough space to get a pretty good sleep and helped avoid the usual lower back and neck issues over the next couple of days.

Business Premier passengers also get the benefit of two pieces of carry-on (up to 14kg in total, with one item weighing up to 10kg) and three pieces of checked luggage (up to 23kg each).

In the cabin was a mix of mostly Kiwi, Australian and American passengers.

Crew

The crew were faultless. Perfectly attentive and entertainingly inquisitive, while also offering treats throughout the flight.

Each passenger is given a care pack for the flight, including kawakawa balm, harakeke seed oil and mānuka hand and body cream, a fresh pair of socks, and a toothbrush and toothpaste.

These simple but well-thought-out items - along with a couple of hot towels - do make a difference when you’re prevented from experiencing fresh air for half a day.

Food and drink

The service was excellent and the food, especially when you consider you’re zooming across the sky at about 35,000 feet, was just as good.

I was offered a glass of bubbles on arrival in the cabin; passengers were then able to experience a plethora of wines, beer and cocktails.

The dinner experience is just that - a proper three-course meal. You can expect a selection of bread, appetisers, a main meal (I had hāpuku) and dessert followed by cheese - and a Baileys on ice before the lights are dimmed to a pacifying purple.

As you might expect, the quality of food and presentation in Business Premier is substantially elevated from Economy.

Entertainment

There was a reasonable selection of films and shows to watch, but in an age where we are spoilt with seemingly endless streaming services, one might expect a few more choices.

Live-streaming TV was also available but it was restricted to a single sports channel - nice to watch the Wallabies lose to Fiji though.

Free Wi-Fi was also available for every passenger on the flight, however, it was slow and unreliable at times (turbulence and bad weather no doubt had an impact). It is good enough to check your emails, send messages to friends and family, and read a news article, but good luck using it for anything more.

Arrival experience - O’Hare

Busy, busier and busiest.

Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport is routinely ranked as the world’s busiest by total number of takeoffs and landings and is consistently high on the list for total passengers, too.

And it’s easy to see why - there are a lot of people moving through the place. Getting through immigration, however, was relatively straightforward with a quick check from a US Customs officer to ensure I held the appropriate work visa. No need for any special Covid or vaccination requirements now.

A similarly easy enough experience for collecting my luggage.

But outside the terminal - chaotic. Much of O’Hare’s vehicle pick-up zone resembled an expanding construction site, contributing to overcrowding on a relatively small sidewalk.

O’Hare, considered the most connected airport in the world, is not just the gateway to one of the USA’s best cities but also provides a launching point for Kiwis with short flights to some of the other Great Lakes and East Coast metropolises, like New York, Boston, Washington DC, Toronto and Montreal.

Verdict

Overall, Business Premier turned what could have been an uncomfortable 15-hour flight in Economy into something quite luxurious. We were lucky enough to shave an hour off due to a tailwind and it felt like a relaxing eight-hour journey.