I love South Africa but hate the ten or eleven hour flight. We’d also love to visit Australia and New Zealand but that’s more than twice as bad.
I was interested to read that Air New Zealand have introduced a new way for economy class passengers to travel in economy class.
It’s called Skycoach and is available on the Boeing 777-300ER.
It turns the window, middle and aisle seats into a single space which the airline calls a couch designed for two. The armrests are stowed away and the leg-rests rise to fill the foot-wells to create what you might think of as a flat-bed (except that it’s a little narrower than the luxury beds at the front of the plane.)
It’s a tight squeeze for two people to cuddle up.
I’m not sure it’s right for me – I’m just too big (but it’s not the time for me to rant about size-ist policies).
But I do think it’s a creative solution to an irritating problem and I wish Air New Zealand well with it.
I’d say that this is differentiation by how.
You’re still flying from A to B and arriving at the same time so the basic service is the same. But how you are doing it is that bit different and hopefully more comfortable.
