The flight to Melbourne was a fast one - we left late to arrive early but the pilot kept us informed of what was happening at all times. Same with a strong tail wind and a few bumps on the way back. The flight Manager Michael on the flight back was probably one of Air NZ's best - extremely helpful and personable. The whole crew seemed to really love their jobs.
The one downside to Air NZ's morning flights is the dreadful breakfast - how they expect a hash brown to survive under a sea of baked beans is beyond me ( tip...it doesnt!).
No matter how many times I fly this route, I never tire of the Southern Alps scenery.

Paid the premium price for business class - wanted to have the best chance of not losing vacation time to jet lag.
Most important thing - sleep - was excellent. Very comfortable "bed", even included a little rolled out mattress. Had a bad experience on outgoing flight when I asked the flight attendant to help me make the bed (I was the last in my section). She was rude to me, apparently I was not on "her" side of the aisle and she was annoyed that she had to help me. Other than that interaction, all flight crew personnel were really nice and helpful.
Booking - used the phone a lot to book this, got a connecting flight to/from Houston and Orlando (our actual starting point) on United in premium economy to save some $, also ANZ was a bit less than United on the long flight - the booking process was excellent. They even let me add a leg from Queenstown to Auckland a few weeks later for practically no charge. Great to have our luggage booked through for the return flight.
Food - I am pescatarian, my husband is ovo-lacto vegetarian. I sometimes take a chance that there will be a fish entree but they don't let you pick your entree in advance and there was a lot of meat on past menus so I went with the ovo-lacto veg for both flights. Our food on the way to Auckland was very good - at a similar quality to the non-special meals, using some elements from items on the menu. On the return our food was awful - it was the combo GF, Vegan, Veg that we have seen before (usually not in business class). Packaged bread that was like sawdust - very disappointing. Why couldn't we have the beetroot salad as our appetizer instead of a few threads of sprouts and beans?
Entertainment - really good for me - did not rely on using my own device. Lots of choices, user friendly.
One tip - there are two sections in Business class - take the front section if you can, they seemed to get served first and have more staff.

We had to book our flights thru an agent due to flying from Toronto to Vancouver then to Auckland, and not wanting the prescheduled 2pm flight from TO to VAN. Our past experiences have taught us that it's too late, especially if there is a delay or deicing. We arrange take the first flight out of TO in this multi flight trip. So we couldn't book on the Air NZ website. Had we I would have paid the $700.00 for the Skycouch right off the bat.

We had to put in a bid, it was not accepted. I was told by the boarding gate agent that the flight was full, it wasn't. They could have made more money by accepting our bid which would have meant moving the person sitting with us to one of the many empty seats. So they obviously don't need the cash. I also tried to buy the two available business class seats but they were still $1,500 each at the time of boarding.

This happened again on the way home. The Skycouch on these flights were occupied by all families. One of which had a small child which kicked our seat all the way (and cried, and screamed, and snorted her snot all the way) while she lied comfortably on three seats while we three adults were crammed into the much narrower seats on these new Boeing Dreamliners. You can't fit the meal and your cup on the tray anymore.

If you sit in a Skycouch row that isn't utilized to be a couch then the foot rest is a pain. You can have it tilt up slightly, then your shoes will get stuck under it or the person behind you who has shoved all their pillows and blanket under the seat in front of them will jam the foot rest so it won't go back.

This was our fourth return trip from Toronto to Auckland. The food isn't as good as it once was. The service is good, and the bathrooms kept clean. Forgot how warm it gets on the wing, when you went to the bathroom you could sure feel the difference, it was a relief to cool down.

We were only 15 mins in customs and our luggage was ready immediately after. They are real pros at this, great ground staff. Thank you. Love your safety videos, would have liked to seen more NZ TV shows and NZ movies available like in past.

We had originally paid extra for the two seats at the back of the old 300 planes and were looking forward to sitting alone, but the plane was changed on us to a Dreamliner (yuck) 4 mths prior so I sat us in a Skycouch row in hopes of helping our bid, it didn't. Most empty seats were behind the wing and lot of couples had three seats to themselves.
Our domestic flights from Auckland to Christchurch and Queenstown to Auckland were as pleasant as ever and thank you.
Not sure I would fly Air NZ again, unless these proposed bunk things work out.

A lot to like flying with Air New Zealand: Genuinely friendly and helpful flight attendants, comfortable seats with ample leg room, good in-flight entertainment and our flight departure/arrival was pretty punctual. Meals were good- pork with rice & 3 cup chicken. Breakfast was also good. Good music and library wallpaper in bathrooms.

We paid the extra to get seats for the family together , but they changed to a different plane and somehow couldn't put use together, and the person at the counter in LA , just shrugged her shoulders and said I can't do anything.When I complained they made a story "Another passenger with medical requirements or disability should be accommodated in your preferred seat; or .An infant and their caregiver should be accommodated your preferred seat " but they didn't bet on me talking to that passenger , and this was not the case.Then it took 6 weeks for a refund .