Best Australia to US flight routes and seating, including Qantas and United Airlines

1. United Airlines’ Polaris business class offers the most generous ride space-wise, with a seat that’s almost 56 centimetres wide, and 198 centimetres long when fully flat. Polaris is user friendly, and gets the job done. The bedding by Saks Fifth Avenue is a nice touch.
2. The Qantas 787-9, which flies Auckland to New York direct and has ergonomic David Caon-designed seats, is also a great option for the pointy-end traveller. Just let’s hope you don’t want Wi-Fi. (Qantas swears it’s coming).
3. Bagging American airlines is a favourite Australian pastime, and Delta is a prime target. But many corporate types rate the business class Delta One suites on Delta’s A350s, not least given this aircraft type has an average age of just five years – far younger than Delta’s overall fleet. Delta also offers terrific connectivity for domestic flights across the US once you arrive there. The seats are unbelievably narrow at 52 centimetres across – compared with 55.9 centimetres on the Air New Zealand 787-9 – which passengers complain can feel tight. But we’re giving Delta the bronze due to the more favourable cabin configuration offering greater privacy than the outdated, awkward angle of the seats on Air New Zealand, which results in many passengers facing one another across the aisle.

Premium economy to the US

1. Qantas takes gold with very generous seat specs. On the A380, the seat is 49.5 centimetres wide, with a 24.1-centimetre recline, and a pitch of 106.7 centimetres (pitch being the distance from the back of one seat to that in front of it). On the 787-9 Dreamliner, the seat is 52.1 centimetres wide, with a 24.1-centimetre recline, and a 96.5-centimetre pitch. Many airline executives say premium economy is the most competitive cabin over the next few years. Qantas bet big with its generous-sized seats. Then again, the question when flying premium economy on a direct long-haul flight is: can you land feeling even vaguely functional having sat upright for the 16 hours and 15 minutes it takes to fly from Auckland to NYC?
2. Air New Zealand comes in at second place with the next most generous recline at 22 centimetres. Seat width is 49 centimetres and the pitch is 104 centimetres.
3. Delta Air Lines has a seat that’s 47 centimetres wide, with an 18-centimetre recline and 97-centimetre pitch. You might want to skip the sundae for dessert or that chair could become a really tight fit.

With thanks to our travel experts who helped inform this guide, Anna Burgdorf and her team at Travel Associates; Flight Centre Travel Group boss Graham ‘Skroo’ Turner, plus Haydn Long and Grant Payne; Lonely Planet co-founder Tony Wheeler; Virtuoso’s Fiona Dalton and Baillie Lodges’ James and Hayley Baillie.