The flight from Tahiti was leaving at 2.40 am, I really don’t understand why the planes have to leave at such inhuman hours.
I had paid extra to keep my hotel room until 10 pm and obviously checked out at the very last minute. I spent some time in the lobby and in the business centre before leaving for the airport around midnight.
The taxi was once again bloody expensive, even more expensive than from the airport. It is amazing how much they charge you for a five-minute ride, and then there is a surcharge for luggage as well.
If I didn’t have the heavy luggage I could have walked to the airport, certainly doable, and I had no lack of time anyway.
Check-in
The Air NZ check-in area was already open when I arrived at the airport just after midnight, but it was packed with people. Apparently an Air Tahiti Nui flight to Sydney had been cancelled the night before due to a mechanical problem, so all passengers had been rebooked to my Air NZ flight to Auckland and then onwards from Auckland to Sydney (with a five hour layover in Auckland!!).
This did not come as a surprise to me, there was a note in the hotel lobby about it and Air Tahiti Nui offered a free pick-up for stranded passengers.
I went to one of the members of staff and asked where the priority check-in desks were since I could only see desks marked economy class.
I was told there were no business class check-in desks, they used those check-in desks for the rebooked Air Tahiti Nui passengers while all regular Air NZ passengers (irrespective of class) had to use the economy class check-in desks.
Just after me another man arrived and he asked exactly the same thing and didn’t really understand why someone who had bought an expensive business class ticket should be penalised just because another airline had cancelled a flight.
Good point! But in all fairness the regular line moved quickly anyway, it was the line with all rebooked passengers that was extremely long and slow.
Check-in was swift by a young Tahitian woman. My luggage was tagged all the way to Christchurch although I was told I had to collect it and take it through customs in Auckland.
I also received an invitation to the airport lounge in the transit hall.
After check-in you have to take your luggage yourself to a security point in the middle of the terminal where the luggage is x-rayed before being sent to the baggage sorting area.
Considering the layout of the check-in area it is obvious that the baggage-screening requirement is something very new.
I made my way through passport control (again completely hassle-free with an EU-passport) and security to the transit hall.
The transit hall in Papeete is surely something different. It looks a bit 60’s (or possibly 70’s), quite dark and dated, but at the same time it’s very exotic. They also have a little garden between the transit hall and immigration hall, quite nice!
I tried to find something in one of the tax-free shops to buy to get rid of my last Polynesian money, but I didn’t really find anything except for some extra batteries, I decided to go to the lounge instead.
Pics
Tahiti Faaa airport
The Air NZ check-in to Auckland
The transit hall at the airport, quite exotic!
The small garden in the transit hall
Premium lounge (used by all airlines), Papeete airport
There is only one lounge in Papeete used by all airlines at the airport, that basically means Air Tahiti Nui, Air NZ, and possibly one or two other airlines (the sign outside mentioned JAL).
The lounge is located on the first floor and has a nice view of the apron, it ended up being quite full after a while as there were four departures between 1.30 am and 3 am, Air Tahiti Nui to LAX and Tokyo, Air NZ to LAX, and finally my Air NZ plane to Auckland.
There were some miniature sandwiches and miniature desserts to eat, very nice snacks, but there was nothing substantial to eat except for some fruits. Since I was starting to feel quite hungry and had to stay up for another two hours I went to the snack bar opposite the lounge to buy a Croque Monsieur to bring into the lounge (I managed to find a way to spend my last Polynesian money after all…).
Overall the lounge was fairly nice with friendly staff and a good amount of drinks.
The lounge chairs were also quite comfortable, and I did my best to get some rest as this was going to be a long night.
Pics
The entrance to the airport lounge at Tahiti airport
Inside the lounge
The self-service buffet area
Drinks and cool miniature desserts
View from the lounge, that Air Tahiti Nui plane is going to LAX
My plane to Auckland has just landed
Papeete-Auckland, flight NZ 041 operated by Air New Zealand
Departure: 02:40
Arrival: 07:45
Aircraft: Boeing 767
Class: Business Class
Seat: 03K
I left the lounge before the boarding announcement had been made as I wanted to get onboard the plane as early as possible.
I waited in the gate area and was one of the first passengers to board. There are no passenger bridges in Papeete, you just walk through a covered “tunnel” to the apron and then straight onboard the plane.
I was greeted by a smiling staff and was offered champagne before departure. There was a pillow and a blanket on the seat, but no amenity kits were offered which I think is quite bad considering this was a 6-hour nighttime flight.
After I had finished my champagne I went into the lavatory and changed into my ANA sleeper suit pants, certainly better than sleeping in my regular clothes.
The flight ended up being completely full with all the rebooked Air Tahiti Nui passengers, there was only one empty seat in business class.
We pushed back 10 minutes late and took-off shortly afterwards from runway 22.
The seatbelt sign was turned off within just five minutes after take-off and the crew immediately started preparing for the inflight service.
They actually served breakfast right after departure, which I found very strange. It was 3 am, and at that point most passengers just wanted to get some sleep after already having spent half the night in the transit hall at the airport.
Well I thought it wouldn’t hurt getting something to eat before going to bed (rather than waking up hungry in the middle of the night) so I asked the staff to prepare my table for the breakfast service. Less than 50% of the passengers chose to have breakfast in business class.
A bowl with fresh fruit and yoghurt were offered followed by a hot dish.
They didn’t hand out any menus so I can’t remember exactly what they had onboard, but there were two options and I had potatoes and pancakes which was quite good, I guess the other option was traditional English breakfast with scrambled eggs, bacon etc.
Bread rolls, toast, croissants and muffins were also offered as well as fruit juices, coffee and tea. But no coffee for me as I wanted to get some sleep.
Fortunately the breakfast service was quick, probably didn’t take more than 20-30 minutes, and afterwards I could finally go to bed.
The aircraft used was a Boeing 767 with the old business class in a 2-2-2 configuration, so no lie-flat onboard and certainly no mattresses and duvets either.
I still found the seat quite comfortable though, it could be reclined 60 degrees or so I guess, so I managed to sleep (or at least doze off) for at least 3-4 hours onboard. The only problem was that I woke up in the middle of the night feeling very thirsty after lots of drinks in the lounge (to sleep better onboard!) and champagne, no problems getting a few bottles of water though.
We started our descent around 7.30 am New Zealand time. It was a bit strange not being offered any breakfast (when it was in fact breakfast time) but they did offer fruit juices, smoothies, coffee and tea prior to landing.
I went into the lavatory to change back into my regular clothes, and unfortunately there were no smoothies left when I returned to my seat, but a cup of coffee is always appreciated.
I chatted a bit with one of the nice flight attendants in the galley and asked them if they had spent any time in Tahiti, but apparently they had arrived on the same aircraft an hour earlier. I thought that sounded quite a lot, six hours to Tahiti and six hours back to Auckland, and then preparing the cabin before each flight, that’s at least 14-15 hours.
We landed in Auckland just before 8 am, about 10 minutes late.
As I was in business class and managed to collect my stuff quite quickly I was one of the first persons to leave the plane and the very first person to get to immigration.
I was obviously a bit nervous there would be lots of questions again after all the trouble on my previous two entries, but passport control was completely hassle-free.
The immigration officer had a look through my passport (lots of stamps) and before even being asked about it I told him I was on a round the world trip, but he told me he was in fact looking for a used page with some empty space not to waste empty pages as new passports are expensive. Oh! Well that’s thoughtful!
Again the priority tag worked like a dream, and believe it or not I was not asked a single question at customs either other than the usual stuff (if I was bringing any food etc).
I was in the arrivals hall less than 20 minutes after getting off the plane, and I was amazed (and very relieved) both immigration and customs were so smooth.
Perhaps that note the customs guy in Wellington promised to make in my profile helped me this time?! ^
Pics
The boarding to Auckland is just about to begin
View from the plane as we push back in Tahiti
Breakfast to Auckland
More breakfast to Auckland
A nice surprise at Auckland airport
My connecting flight to Christchurch was not leaving until 5 pm (and it was now around 8.20 am).
The only reason why I booked such a late flight was that I could not stay longer than 24 hours in Christchurch (this award trip does not allow stopovers) so I booked myself on the first flight from Auckland to Christchurch (with available award seats) that would arrive as close to 24 hours as possible before the flight from Christchurch to Sydney the next day, which turned out to be the 5 pm departure.
In Papeete they had already tagged my luggage to Christchurch and I already had a boarding pass, so my plan was to deposit my luggage again at the airport and then spend another day in Auckland.
I went to the domestic transfer counter in the international terminal (I have read reports on FT that it had been closed, well it’s still certainly there). I approached the empty check-in counter and the check-in agent asked me where I was flying and on which airline. I told her Air NZ to Christchurch.
She then asked me at what time my flight was leaving, if it’s less than an hour left before departure they want you to take your luggage yourself to the domestic terminal.
She was quite surprised to hear my flight was not until 5 pm, and this is where the surprise comes, she offered me to take an earlier flight to Christchurch if I was interested.
I told her I was very interested (by now you know the reason for the late flight), but to be rebooked I had to go to the domestic terminal, so I went outside and just as I got there the free transfer bus arrived.
In the domestic terminal they confirmed it was OK to go earlier (even though this was an award ticket, certainly not flexible). The agent asked me if I wanted to go straight away, but I actually had one thing I wanted to do in Auckland so I suggested the 2 pm departure instead (there is a departure every hour) and that was OK, a minute later I was rebooked.
My baggage was re-tagged but I noticed afterwards I got a really lousy seat, well time to test the helpfulness of the lounge staff.
Before going to downtown Auckland I made a visit to the domestic Koru Club where I knew they had showers. At the reception I asked about my seat assignment and it turned out my gold card was not in the reservation, after entering it I was given a new boarding pass with seat 05F, perfect!
That shower did wonders after half the night spent at the airport and the second half onboard a plane, and afterwards I had some more breakfast from the very extensive buffet before going to central Auckland.
I spent the morning in Auckland and did some last minute shopping I had planned to do before going back to the airport around noon.
The traffic back to the airport was slow!! Annoyingly slow!! It took over an hour to get back to the airport even though the airport is not that far from the city centre. Interestingly it took only half that time to get to Auckland in the morning, about 30 mins.
I was back at the airport only 50 minutes before departure, a lot later than expected, but fortunately no line at all at security so still some time left for lunch in the lounge.
Air New Zealand domestic Koru Club, Auckland
The lounge agent from the morning was still there and recognised me. I had told her about my plans for the day so she was not surprised to see me again and welcomed me back without looking too much at my boarding pass and gold card.
The domestic Air NZ lounge in Auckland is really nice and quite modern.
As in most Air NZ lounges I have visited there was a very extensive self-service buffet and plenty to drink. I really had a proper lunch in the lounge with cold cuts, pasta salad and a bread roll and then apricot tart and a cup of coffee afterwards.
I almost envy you Kiwis who frequently get to visit these nice Air NZ lounges.
All too soon boarding was announced to Christchurch and it was time to leave, although I could happily have spent some more time in the lounge. Oh well…
Pics
The entrance to the domestic Koru Club in Auckland
Inside the lounge
The main sitting area
The nice self-service buffet
Plenty to drink in the lounge
Auckland-Christchurch, flight NZ 535 operated by Air New Zealand
Departure: 14:00 (Rebooked from NZ 969 17:00-18:20)
Arrival: 15:20
Aircraft: Boeing 737
Class: Economy Class (one class only)
Seat: 05F
They had already started boarding when I got to the gate right next to the lounge.
Funnily on domestic flights they don’t insert the boarding pass in a machine as they do at most airports, instead they just scan the barcode on the boarding pass, quite unusual!
The flight ended up being completely full except for one seat which was broken. We pushed back 10 minutes late as they had to offload some luggage of a no-show.
I don’t remember much of the flight as I was very tired and slept most of it.
I think they offered coffee, tea and water which is the standard service concept on domestic flights. I think I remember having some coffee onboard, but I’m not sure if it helped (seems like it didn't).
The weather around Christchurch was quite nice, so I got to enjoy a very nice scenery of the South Island during the approach, the island is very green!
We landed 5 mins late in Christchurch and were quickly parked at the gate.
Once again my priority-tagged suitcases were the first on the belt, the priority tag has really worked at every single airport in New Zealand so far, irrespective of aircraft and origin. I’m impressed! ^
Pics
The Boeing 737 to Christchurch
Boarding has begun for NZ 535 to Christchurch
Nice views of the South Island during the flight
Seconds before landing in Christchurch, I can understand why it’s called “the garden city”!
The domestic terminal at Christchurch airport, plenty of Air NZ B737