Berths on buses and sleeper planes

Andrew: At the directive of El Jefe.

So, Air New Zealand is going to try economy berths on its Auckland to JFK run for a year.

Here’s the link
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/air-new- ... ds-economy

Good luck to them and the Red Sox.

John_Perkowski wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 12:52 pm Andrew: At the directive of El Jefe.

So, Air New Zealand is going to try economy berths on its Auckland to JFK run for a year.

Here’s the link
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/air-new- ... ds-economy

Air New Zealand will fly out of Newark (KEWR) not KJFK. The first flights firm the Newark will begin this coming October 30th. Closest flights before that are from Chicago. So this summer I’m taking the Lakeshore Limited sleepers from NY Penn for the roundtrip Chicago connection. Will fly economy coach, but paid the upgrade for very roomy exit row seats. The berths are a bit too costly. Will be riding the scenic Northern Explorer train https://www.railnewzealand.com/train-se ... n-explorer from Auckland to/from Wellington for the all volunteer run 5 day annual World Science Fiction Convention. George R. R. Martin who I’ve known since we were classmates in first year of high school is the Toastmaster. http://www.worldcon.org/

Is this airline.net? I'm saying this since I'm not sure why the main rival of railroads has a discussion unless if railroads are or will be using the same techniques and if any airline is planning on running a railroad.

Ken W2KB wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 3:01 pmWill be riding the scenic Northern Explorer train https://www.railnewzealand.com/train-se ... n-explorer from Auckland to/from Wellington for the all volunteer run 5 day annual World Science Fiction Convention. George R. R. Martin who I’ve known since we were classmates in first year of high school is the Toastmaster. http://www.worldcon.org/

Tell him to stop riding trains and start writing about dragons!

Pensyfan19 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 4:17 pm Is this airline.net? I'm saying this since I'm not sure why the main rival of railroads has a discussion unless if railroads are or will be using the same techniques and if any airline is planning on running a railroad.

I thought you’d be happy since we are talking about a private company?

From what I can tell about our Dear Leader’s thought process, this is germane because while Amtrak and other railroads are trying to eliminate beds and sleeper accommodations generally, an airline thinks there’s enough potential and a long enough flight to reinstate them. It’s an interesting model comparison, direct oranges-to-oranges rather than apples-to-oranges like sleeper trains to lie-flat airline seats.

Not quite. According to wiki [I know: anyone can write anything there], the New Zealand government is currently the majority owner

Back in the early days of commercial air travel, DC-3's and 6's had berths similar to Pullman cars for extended flights.

nkloudon wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 10:09 pm Back in the early days of commercial air travel, DC-3's and 6's had berths similar to Pullman cars for extended flights.

Yep, the original Douglas Sleeper Transport (DST, the immediate predecessor of the DC-3) was even designed with Viewliner-like top berth windows. If I’m not mistaken, every Boeing 314 flying boat passenger had a berth as well. Not sure how much the early airlines took from American railway practice and how much came from ships, but I’m willing to bet the average airline passenger (aka the rich) would have been quite familiar with the berth concept at ground or sea level.

"Skynest" sounds cool. Sort of a SkyTrain. But what about seat belts? Turbulance? (And a jet aircraft is really a TWIN TURBO!). If we are going off topic seat belts should really be available on trains.

Amtrak could offer thru-ticketing, or thru-module routing (Viewliner II modules get transferred containing their human sleeping cargo)

What about sleeping berths on buses? It's been a long time since I've seen them, but decades ago in Key West, which more decades ago had train service, I saw 2 long distance buses with compartment hatches on the outside that the driver said were for sleeping berths. They looked extremely tiny like the drawers I'd see on television shows at morgues.

Patrick Boylan wrote: ↑Sat Feb 29, 2020 8:14 am What about sleeping berths on buses? It's been a long time since I've seen them.....

The 'Cabin' Bus runs overnight between SF & LA

https://www.ridecabin.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRTzEJ8znL0

Wow, and this directly competes Amtrak

Rockingham Racer wrote: ↑Thu Feb 27, 2020 7:30 pm Not quite. According to wiki [I know: anyone can write anything there], the New Zealand government is currently the majority owner

that is correct, 51 % , with the rest listed on the NZ and Aussie stock exchanges. A partial privatization of a former government owned company.
They are ending one of the flights to London, to start the New York Flights.( probably a victim of competition from Emirates, on the Eastern route).

Moderator Note: retitled to be a little more general.

I hope Amtrak is watching this closely.

ANZ’s flights are in that 17-20 hour range where Amtrak feels obligated to provide sleepers on overnight runs but where they probably aren’t worth it for daytime use.

If there’s a good convertible product to be considered, I’d rather see them looking at it *before* ordering new mid/long range equipment.