I have travelled on both the 747-400 and 777 (most recent 777 trip was last month) between SFO and MEL over the past few years. Although I am a big fan of the 777, I actually prefer the seating on the (updated) 747-400s. The 747-400s retain the 34" seat pitch while on the 777 it has been reduced to 32". Over the course of a long flight that extra little space makes a difference.
On my most recent trip, because the plane was less than 50% full in Y, I had the entire centre row to myself. For some reason I had a hard time getting comfortable lying down. The one thing that I noticed was that the arms on the 777 seats do not really flip all of the way back but instead only go 90% of the way so the arm continues to protrude into your sleeping space. I also found it quite difficult to fasten the sleep belt while lying down even when extending it the full length. I could be wrong but I don't recall such issues on 747-400 flights.
I have always found Air New Zealand service to be excellent on all long distance flights, but for my money if I had a choice I would take the 747-400 flight.
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