A very early departure for the airport
The alarm clock went off at the inhuman hour of 4 am. My flight was leaving at 6.45 am and I had a taxi booked for 4.45 am.
I am not a morning person, I have never been and will never be. Fortunately I had nearly finished packing my bags the evening before so only thing left was to do was to take a shower, make myself a cup of coffee and pack the remaining stuff.
By 4.30 I was ready to leave and it turned out the taxi driver had already arrived, so we left slightly earlier than planned.
Samoans in general are very friendly, warm-hearted and open-minded. During my visit to Samoa it frequently happened that strangers greeted me or spontaneously started talking to me asking where I came from and what I was doing in Samoa and for how long I was staying. Some obviously wanted to sell something, other just asked out of curiosity.
Not really what I am used to, but at the end it was quite nice, especially as I was travelling on my own.
The taxi driver in the morning was no exception. The young man openly introduced himself and during the ride to the airport he asked me everything from my name, age and profession to my civil status and the reason for coming to Samoa.
Although he was friendly and certainly meant no harm I am a completely anti-social person in the morning and really had to struggle to keep the conversation alive.
Fortunately he realised this and turned on some Samoan music instead.
Not a lot of traffic on the road to the airport, so the 35 km drive to the airport took only about 40 minutes (it can take up to an hour).
During the ride I took the opportunity to admire the surroundings and the very exotic architecture on the island, and there are so many churches, basically every small village had its own church.
Once at the airport the taxi driver helped me unload the luggage and I paid him the 60 Tala we had agreed on.
The departure hall at the airport is in open air, quite nice during this time of the day (5.15 am), but I can imagine it gets rather hot and humid during the day.
Pics
Welcome to Apia Faleolo international airport
A large part of the terminal is in open air
Check-in at Faleolo airport
Interestingly there was a premium line for business class passengers and NZ/Star Alliance gold card holders.
Only one person in front of me, in contrast to the rather lengthy line at the economy class check-in, so two minutes later it was my turn to check-in.
The female check-in agent confirmed my seat request for seat 02K, she asked me where I wanted my sent to and she also entered my SAS frequent flyer number in the reservation.
All fine so far although I could only get a boarding pass for the first segment, but the rest I could sort out later.
An Air New Zealand Koru Club priority tag was also attached to my suitcase.
Apia is one of the few remaining airports in the world where passengers have to pay the departure tax of 40 tala at the airport, but that was quickly sorted out at one of the banks.
Pics
The Air New Zealand premium check-in
Far more people in the regular economy class line
The airport coming to life…
There is no lounge in Apia for premium passengers, in fact 75 minutes before departure not even the security check and passport control were open.
I noticed there was a second floor of the terminal building with a nice souvenir shop and a café. On the same floor there was also a small observation deck overlooking the runway and the apron (although the windows were a bit dirty). With not much else to do I decided to stay there until security would open.
It was rather interesting to stand there for half an hour seeing the airport coming to life just for this Boeing 767 arrival and departure.
The taxiway lights were turned on (for the few taxiways that exist) followed by the apron lighting. Then two service cars went from one end of the runway to the other to check that the runway was in an acceptable condition and that there were no foreign objects on the runway.
Finally the approach lights and runway lights were turned on, more airport staff appeared on the apron and we could assume the plane for Auckland was due to land very shortly, which it also did.
The incoming flight was delayed by almost 40 minutes, which we later learned was due to some technical problems in Auckland.
Finally we could see the landing lights of aircraft in the far distance and the Boeing 767 touched down at 6 am on runway 08 and taxied right in front of the observation deck to the apron for some nice photos.
Pics
A souvenir shop and a café on the first floor, next to the observation deck
The runway lights are finally turned on, notice the cute but rather primitive ATC tower!
The Air New Zealand Boeing 767 from Auckland has just landed
The aircraft is taxing to the parking position on the apron
Boarding
Passport control and security check had now finally opened.
Standing in the departure line I could I could see many people holding a blue-coloured form in their hands, which I did not have. I realised that was probably some kind of departure card and I left the line to check if I needed to complete one as well.
Apparently the forms were available at the entrance to the economy class check-in line, but there were no forms available at the premium line as far as I could see and the check-in agent did not mention anything about it.
Both passport control and security were a breeze and I was soon standing in the very small transit hall. The transit hall basically had a bar and a small duty free shop, and that's about it.
The duty free shop was both used for arriving and departing passengers and was located right between the immigration hall for arriving passengers the transit hall for departing passengers.
Since departing and arriving passengers have to be separated they first opened the shop for the arriving passengers, providing no access to us. Then around 30 minutes before departure when all arriving passengers had been processed they closed the doors facing the immigration hall and opened the doors for us.
We got rather limited time in the shop (15 mins maximum), but there was not much of interest in there anyway.
The first boarding announcement was made at 6.40 am, very late as the flight had a scheduled departure time at 6.40 am.
The gate area is easily the most primitive I have ever seen. Basically two desks on each side of the door with two regular desktop computers connected to two boarding pass readers.
There was also a third table with a third desktop computer which worked as some kind of service desk.
It all looked very funny and reminded me of the computer lab I used during my university studies, but I guess it did the job…
Two stairs were in use for the aircraft to speed up the boarding process and the ground staff did their best to direct passengers to the most appropriate door.
Onboard we were greeted by some smiling crew members who also did their best to speed up the boarding process and minimise the delay. The captain also addressed the passengers, apologised for the delay and mentioned the reason.
They had some problems with the electric system onboard with neither the flight mechanics in Auckland nor the ones in Apia managed to fix. As a consequence the personal reading lights were not working during the flight.
Pics
The very small transit hall
This is the "gate area". The "gate" in the background and the "service desk" closer to the camera. I bet you have never seen a gate like this one before!
Doors have been open, we are ready to start boarding
The Air New Zealand Boeing 767 on the apron, finally the sun has risen
The departure section of the terminal building
Apia-Auckland, flight NZ 61 operated by Air New Zealand
Departure: 06:40
Arrival: 09:50
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300
Class: Business Class
Seat: 02K
Pre-departure drinks were offered, a selection of water or orange juice. One passenger got a glass of champagne, so I guess it was available even on this early morning flight, although you had to ask for it.
We finally pushed back at 7 am and the standard safety demonstration video was shown before take-off.
As usual the personal monitors were to be safely stored in the armrest during take-off and landing, but since there are no overhead monitors in business class on the Boeing 767 an FA passed through the cabin asking all passengers to pull out the monitors so we could watch the safety video. Afterwards she passed through the cabin again asking all passengers to stow the monitor before take-off.
It all felt quite stupid and something they should have thought about.
We did the short taxi to the holding point of runway 26 (interestingly the opposite direction of runway 08 used for landing an hour earlier) and took off almost immediately to the west. Some last views of Samoa outside the window before the view turned into grey clouds.
Pics
Welcome onboard flight NZ 61 to Auckland
Lining up for departure next to the beautiful waterfront
Last sight of beautiful exotic Samoa before the view turns into clouds
The menu
Seat belt sign was turned off almost immediately and the menu for the breakfast service was handed out with the following options this morning:
Quote:
Menu Apia-Auckland
Wake-up Drinks
Start the day with your choice of juice, freshly brewed or decaffeinated coffee, tea, herbal tea or hot chocolate
Fruit and Cereal
Fruit selection with assorted cereals and yoghurts
Bakery
Croissants, muffins, white and wholemeal toast with fruit conserve
Hot Breakfast
Fresh herb crepe filled with scrambled eggs and bacon, roasted field mushrooms and local vine ripened tomatoes.
Lemon curd hotcakes
served with wile berry compote and freshly whipped cream
Wine
Our wine list showcases some of the best wine New Zealand has to offer - from a country that celebrates its zealous passion for producing top quality wines.
Spirits
Glenfiddich Malt Whisky
Chivas Regal Blended Whisky
Jack Daniel‘s Black Label
Gordons Gin
42 Below Vodka
Courvoisier VSOP
Captain Morgan Rum
Ron Bacardi Superior
Port and Liqueurs
Portuguese Port
Grand Marnier
Baileys Irish Cream
Beer
A selection of beer featuring Steinlager Pure, Speight‘s Gold, Heineken and low alcohol lager
Soft drinks
Mineral water, Orange juice, Apple juice, Tomato juice, Cranberry juice, Pineapple juice, Cola, Lemonade, L&P (sparkling lemon drink), Tonic water, Ginger ale, Diet cola and Diet lemonade
Hot drinks
Freshly brewed or decaffeinated coffee, tea, herbal tea and hot chocolate
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The meal service
The breakfast service was quite good and extensive.
Hot towels were handed out followed by the breakfast tray which contained some slices of tropical fruits. Yoghurt, muesli and cereals were also offered from a basket on the trolley as well as coffee, tea and soft drinks.
Next a selection of bread and pastries were offered including toast, wholemeal bread, croissants and muffins.
Finally the hot meal was distributed, a selection between scrambled eggs and hotcakes.
As I had already had traditional breakfast with scrambled eggs, egg and bacon on a fair number of flights during the trip I chose the second option which was very good but also very filling with both berry compote and whipped cream.
More coffee and tea were offered and afterwards the tables were cleared.
Most passengers had woken up early this morning and wanted to get some rest after the meal, so most seats were reclined and most window shades were also lowered.
Fortunately there were more than two hours to go to Auckland after the meal service was over. I can imagine especially the passengers staying on the southern side of Opolu must have had a very early morning.
Pics
Fresh fruits and yoghurt
Toast and preserve
Yummy hotcakes with berry compote
The seat and the inflight entertainment system
There were four rows of business class on the Boeing 767 with a 2-2-2 configuration.
The seats on the Boeing 767 were quite comfortable in black leather with decent legroom (50” seat pitch) and a very comfortable headrest.
The seats were not as good as the business premier seats on the longhaul B747 and B777 planes, but I still found these seats OK and had no problems to get some rest onboard.
Unfortunately I did not manage to get any very good photos of the cabin and the seat, mostly because a lot of passengers had already boarded when I came onboard and also I got some problems with my camera during the flight, but I did get a few average photos at least.
The inflight entertainment system was the same as the AKL-APW flight on the Airbus A320, i.e. very good with an excellent and very extensive selection of movies, documentaries, TV-series and music albums.
The video control was available in the armrest. Earphones were distributed by the crew and were of pretty good quality, no complaints at all about the sound.
I watched a program about an American woman who was a millionaire and who joined a project to spend a week in a low-income area in a rural area to experience a completely different way of life. Surprisingly touchy program!
Pics
The business class cabin onboard
Passengers getting some rest in the business class cabin after the breakfast service
The flight map
The video control for the inflight entertainment system
The inflight entertainment system
Plenty of music albums, including Queen - A night at the opera
Arrival in Auckland
There were frequent rounds of water and orange juice during the flight.
Around 9.30 am New Zealand time we started our descent into Auckland. The weather was grey and cloudy and there was not much to see during the descent except for clouds.
Sweets were handed out by the crew before the cabin was prepared for the landing.
We finally landed at 10.00 am on Auckland runway 23L, just 10 minutes late. Because of the grey weather the first view of New Zealand were only 10 seconds before landing.
It was also time to adjust the time. New Zealand is one hour behind Samoa during the flight and we also passed the international date line meaning we arrived one day later than we departed.
It took some time to reach the gate, mostly because an aircraft was pushing back, blocking the taxiway to our gate.
I was one of the first persons off the plane and the first person to reach the immigration line for foreign passports.
Auckland was not my final destination of the day but I had a few hours to spare and decided to head to downtown Auckland to do some shopping.
I had written my intentions very clearly on the landing card which the pleasant female immigration officer made a funny comment about. But other than a few standard questions both immigration and quarantine were quick and straight-forward.
My luggage had been through-checked, so nothing I had to worry about.
Pics
Just landed at a foggy Auckland airport
The bus stop outside the arrivals hall
Next it’s time to review my first ever flight on the Airbus A380, in Emirates business class, one of the real highlights of the trip.
But that’s for tomorrow…