Deed"s done and EK booked.
The clincher was being told by ANZ that to reserve a remotely comfortable seat in econ I would have to pay an additional £100 on the LHR - LAX-AKL route - each way! Only about half of economy is now "free" seating - getting to be like Ryanair!
So with "decent" booked seat, LHR to AKL return is now £1527 on that route compared to EK - £945 - nearly 40% more expensive!