Air New Zealand  is offering sale fares  on this route at $699 or thereabouts, round-trip including tax, via its comfy nonstop Boeing 777 service. These fares, available only through Air New Zealand’s web site, are about $100 less than competing flights on Virgin, United, American, and British Airways. Plus you get that famous friendly Air New Zealand service. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but upon boarding my last ANZ flight, as I was trying to stuff my rather bulky carryon in the overhead bin, I was accosted by a flight attendant who admonished me, “Oh no you don’t! That’s my job!” He then snatched the bag out of my hands and found room in the bin. True story.