NZ703
AKL-SYD
Duration: 3:30 (3:00).
A320R: ZK-OJK
M class The Works (whatever that is) - No C on NZ narrow bodies.
Seats
4D & 4E, pre assigned, about 80% load.
That monday morning, after spending yet another night at the
Novotel, and repacking our bags we were ready to head back to the Premium check in area in AKL International. This time we did not bother trying the machine, and went directly to the same agent whom helped us last time.
I was somehow anxious to see if it was possible to send our luggages all the way to OSL, but that was 4 segments. I know NZ has had some changes in Interlining bags policy recently, but this being *A, I was hoping for the best.
Anna, the agent, was sceptical at first but to her own surprise she managed to print two sets of tags per bag. One for the first two legs, and one for the two lasts. I was somewhat suspicious but since I did not want to bother picking our bags up in BKK, I did not bother arguing. Priority tags were attached to our bags and we were on our way.
This time, Anna directed us towards the elevator leading to the Premium queue at immigration. We were not directed there the previous time, so that came as a surprise. Still, the possibility is course fantastic and it works very well. Mind you, I had this time filled in our pink cards in advance.
As there was no queue at the Premium immigration counter, we were airside 45 min after leaving the Novotel. Not bad for a Monday morning. Not bad at all!
Premium immigration counter
My breakfast
Our A320
At the lounge our economy boarding cards were of course not accepted. I showed my Senator card, and the lounge dragon had to check with her manager if she could let us in as she could not enter my SEN number in the system (USAirways DM number could not be removed). The manager confirmed and let us in, but we waiting a good 5 minutes. I also asked him if it was possible to get better seats; for example in row 1. After checking he said all seats were unfortunately taken there, and that no other better seats were available which turned out to be true.
I have already documented the
Koru Club in this trip report so I will not do it again. Just for the sake of mentionning it, that particular morning, the spread consisted of pancakes, cereals, pastries and some hot choices (powder scrambled eggs and bean casserole). I had a cappuccino from the barista, a pastry and some porridge.
At boarding there was a priority line indicated but no one was working there. So we queued up, and ended boarding after most of the people. I was welcomed on board by my name (the purser had a look at my boarding card while boarding), and since we almost were last on board there was of course no room in the overhead bins which was quite annoying.
Boarding, note the priority line to the left side, unattented
Cabin with a larger pitch on the left side
The cabin itself was the same than on our flight to ZQN. It has a modern feel and all seats have PTVs. However the seat map on seat guru was wrong for this aircraft.
On that route the 2 first rows (The Works Deluxe) had their middle seats blocked. Then the seats on the left side of the aircraft up until the emergency exit row had a much larger pitch than .the seats on the right side, I'd say there was around 34' inches pitch on the left, and around 32' on the right side. Of course we were seated on the wrong side, and we had not noticed that detail on our previous trip as we were in row 1. Strange as, when I did the online seat reservation I could choose all rows besides 1 & 2. No matter, 32' is alright for a short flight and the seats were rather comfortable.
We had headsets at our seats so we started using the IFE right after boarding, as it was already enabled. Not sure how safe it is to have everyone with headsets on for taxi and take off, but that's the way it was! We watched 2 days in New York, pretty cool movie!
Service startd after approximately 30 minutes. First the drink cart came out. Choices were juices, water, soft drinks, wines, tea and coffee. Clean up cart came to pick up our empty glasses. Then 10 minutes later breakfast was served. Choice was frittata or continental breakfast. And another round of drinks with other glasses. I thought the second round was redundant. Why did they had a drink service in the first place? Serve breakfast a bit earlier and the drinks in the same time, would have been cheaper and more environmentally friendly. Offer a refil of coffee, tea and water, and that would have been enough.
Breakfast option 1: Frittata and sausage; not great if I'm honest
Breakfast option 2: Continental
Anyway, it is worth to mention that the crew did a great job, they were very efficient and polite. Mid flight I had a conversation with the purser in their mini galley. She explained me the different classes of travel on that particular flight (Works Dluxe, Works, Saver and Grab a seat), I enquired about the list of names she had on the galley wall and she said it's for air point gold or star gold member. They basically get a special greeting after boarding. I was not on the list as my senator number was not registered. Anyway we had a nice chat about NZ and *A. We also talked about one of the FAs helping out at the gate and she said it was newly introduced and liked the idea as well.
Our A320 in SYD
Conclusion
That was a good flight from NZ. The seat pitch is a bit tight, but ok for a few hours. Nonetheless, if flying on NZ A320R, I would recommend the left side of the aircraft.