goodo
Nov 15, 06, 4:04 am
Here's a quick report on my latest jaunt across the ditch. Tickets were looking good - smart savers a week out had nothing left, so I would end up earning miles, or so I thought. When the ticket actually got booked, there were smart savers available.
I left home a bit late and had to make a stop on the way to the airport, drastically reducing time available to spend int he new NZ lounge. I got to the airport, finding that NZ had moved their check in desks to the other side of the checkin area. I was the first person in line waiting to checkin at the Biz/ *G desks. Checked in my ~45kg of bags. I had an exit row middle seat reserved, because of the leg room. I was offered an aisle with the seat next to it empty, but i stuck with my reserved seat. Bad decision. I voted at the election booth in the intl terminal, changed some currency and off through passport control, picked up duty free, and made my way to the lounge, even though it was was after the offical boarding time. Down 2 sets of escalators. Welcomed into the lounge warmly, had enough time to put my newly purchased memory card into my new digital camera, have a drink and check for wifi - only a telstra hotspot. It looks pretty good, hope to check out more of it on next month's trip. I left before boarding was called in the lounge, about 25 mins after the boarding time on my BP, and the attendant remembered my name as I left which was nice.
Boarding hadn't been called yet, so I waited until they announced boarding. They began boarding with the back rows in economy, so by the time they mentioned that biz class and *G passengers can board at their leisure the place was swarming with much of the entire Y cabin. I got to my seat until my seatmates arrived, and I realised the error of my ways. As much as I need the extra legroom, sitting in the exit with with 2 other big blokes isn't anyone's idea of a comfortable flight. My mate in Alpha promised never to fly the 744 again to NZ. I wish I'd taken the regular aisle with an empty seat adjoining. Sat across from a very chatty FA which had just arrived from Samoa the previous day and was doing AKL-MEL-AKL today.
Lunch was served, i watched a movie, and before you knew it we began to descend. The 744 had the extra PE seats downstairs, which looked quite comfortable compared to my row of 3. Weaving my way towards immigration I came to the first set of passport control officers for AU/NZ passports. 3 officers, By the time i walked to the front of the line there was an officer available. Down the escalators to carousel 1 at the end of the hall, just as bags started coming out. My 3 with (new?) priority tags were out in the first 10-15 bags, and I was out back to the exit before most passengers had even come through immigration.
Declaring some food, I made my way to MAF stations to find no-one there to look through my suitcase. I could see a bunch of officers behind a window but it took a few minutes before anyone came out. The place was deserted! After a quick lookie I was out of there and on my way to the car rental counter, then to my car for my trip down to Hamilton . Time from touchdown to getting to my car around 25 minutes. Not bad!
goodo
I left home a bit late and had to make a stop on the way to the airport, drastically reducing time available to spend int he new NZ lounge. I got to the airport, finding that NZ had moved their check in desks to the other side of the checkin area. I was the first person in line waiting to checkin at the Biz/ *G desks. Checked in my ~45kg of bags. I had an exit row middle seat reserved, because of the leg room. I was offered an aisle with the seat next to it empty, but i stuck with my reserved seat. Bad decision. I voted at the election booth in the intl terminal, changed some currency and off through passport control, picked up duty free, and made my way to the lounge, even though it was was after the offical boarding time. Down 2 sets of escalators. Welcomed into the lounge warmly, had enough time to put my newly purchased memory card into my new digital camera, have a drink and check for wifi - only a telstra hotspot. It looks pretty good, hope to check out more of it on next month's trip. I left before boarding was called in the lounge, about 25 mins after the boarding time on my BP, and the attendant remembered my name as I left which was nice.
Boarding hadn't been called yet, so I waited until they announced boarding. They began boarding with the back rows in economy, so by the time they mentioned that biz class and *G passengers can board at their leisure the place was swarming with much of the entire Y cabin. I got to my seat until my seatmates arrived, and I realised the error of my ways. As much as I need the extra legroom, sitting in the exit with with 2 other big blokes isn't anyone's idea of a comfortable flight. My mate in Alpha promised never to fly the 744 again to NZ. I wish I'd taken the regular aisle with an empty seat adjoining. Sat across from a very chatty FA which had just arrived from Samoa the previous day and was doing AKL-MEL-AKL today.
Lunch was served, i watched a movie, and before you knew it we began to descend. The 744 had the extra PE seats downstairs, which looked quite comfortable compared to my row of 3. Weaving my way towards immigration I came to the first set of passport control officers for AU/NZ passports. 3 officers, By the time i walked to the front of the line there was an officer available. Down the escalators to carousel 1 at the end of the hall, just as bags started coming out. My 3 with (new?) priority tags were out in the first 10-15 bags, and I was out back to the exit before most passengers had even come through immigration.
Declaring some food, I made my way to MAF stations to find no-one there to look through my suitcase. I could see a bunch of officers behind a window but it took a few minutes before anyone came out. The place was deserted! After a quick lookie I was out of there and on my way to the car rental counter, then to my car for my trip down to Hamilton . Time from touchdown to getting to my car around 25 minutes. Not bad!
goodo