jacob_m

In contrast to what most people probably would think Nadi was not my final destination, it was only included because it gave me the opportunity to try two new airlines and also the timetables were quite optimal.
But sure, getting a glimpse of Fiji and transiting at an exotic airport in the South Pacific a beautiful morning certainly wasn’t anything I had second thoughts about.

According to the timetable the flight from Seoul would land at 7.40 am and the connecting flight to Auckland would depart at 8.45 am.
I don’t know what the minimum connecting time is between international flights, but 65 minutes was at least a valid connection.

A rather different transit experience in Nadi

I absolutely had no idea what it would be like to transfer at Nadi airport, if there would be any transfer facilities at all.
My luggage had been through-checked (tagged with a “short connection”-tag) but the check-in agent at ICN could not issue a boarding pass. Fortunately the flight from Seoul arrived 20 minutes early, meaning I had about 70 minutes to sort everything out when I finally got off the plane.
To my delight I immediately saw signs for “international connections” which I followed and which took me from the open air pier to the terminal building.
There, first thing inside, was something that looked like a transfer desk, and behind it a security checkpoint. The desk was unmanned though, not a person in sight, so I approached the security guys thinking the desk was perhaps not in use and that I should go through security, but they told me to wait at the desk for an officer.

After two minutes an officer arrived, a very friendly and pleasant man. He asked what flight I was leaving on and I told him the 8.45 am flight to Auckland.
With only about 8-10 international departures a day this man basically knew the airport timetable by heart.
He asked me to follow him and we headed towards immigration, he told me the computer at the transfer desk was so slow it would actually be quicker to go landside and check-in at the regular desks.
For some reason I had actually accepted and completed a landing card for Fiji onboard the flight from Seoul, which I was very happy about now. I guess I just thought it wouldn’t hurt to have a completed one in my bag, just in case.
As the man escorted me I was allowed to use the counter for Fiji nationals with no lines at all and also the customs and the agriculture checks were much smoother and quicker when he told the staff I was just transiting.

When passing the arrivals hall I could actually see my suitcase on the belt, not particularly re-assuring they unloaded it in the baggage reclaim, but I guess they weren’t expecting any international transit passengers from the Korean Air flight.
On the other hand I can confirm the priority tag worked very well!

Interestingly I was now in Fiji and unexpectedly got an extra stamp to add to the collection in the passport.
Only a short walk outdoors and we entered the rather crowded departure hall and the man showed me to the Air Pacific business class check-in desks. Finally he asked for my baggage tag number and assured me he would make sure the bag was transferred properly. I thanked him a lot for his help, after all this had worked quite well so far.

Check-in

Two persons in front of me at the check-in desk, one of them actually being the captain from my Korean Air flight who lived in New Zealand and who was going home on the same flight as me.
The check-in process was quite slow by a young man, the main reason being he had absolutely no clue how to enter an existing baggage tag number to a reservation, I guess it’s not something they get to do very often.
He spent a good 10 minutes trying various functions before calling for a supervisor.
Eventually I was checked-in and I got a boarding pass where it correctly said one piece of checked luggage.

It was now 7.55 am, all formalities were completed with still 50 minutes to go, just had to get back airside.
A nice surprise was that they actually had a priority lane for business class passengers at the passport control, which I had certainly not expected. ^
Although there were several departures this morning most passengers were already in the departure lounge so the process at both passport control and security was very quick.

Pics
The Air Pacific Tabua class check-in. The man in front of me is the captain from my KE flight
Busy check-in area
Heading for security and passport control

A short introduction to Air Pacific

Before reviewing the flight I thought I should give a brief introduction to Air Pacific since the airline that isn’t covered very often.

Air Pacific is the national airline of Fiji operating out of its hub at Nadi airport to destinations around the South Pacific, obviously with a main focus on the leisure market to bring foreign tourists to Fiji.
The airline was founded already in 1947 but has grown quite significantly over the years.
Today the fleet include two Boeing 737-800, one Boeing 737-700, one Boeing 767-300 and two Boeing 747-400.

The network is quite extensive, especially within the South Pacific, and includes destinations as Honiara (Solomon Islands), Port Vila (Vanuatu), Apia (Samoa), Nuku’alofa (Tonga) and Funafuti (Tuvalu).
Longhaul destinations include Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in Australia, Auckland and Christchurch in New Zealand, and Honolulu and Los Angeles in the US.
However it should be mentioned some of these destinations are only served once or twice per week.

There is also an extensive network of domestic routes between the Fiji islands operated by the subsidiary Pacific Sun using a fleet of ATR-42, Britten Norman Islanders and De Havilland DHC-6.

Air Pacific offers two classes of service onboard international flights: Pacific Voyager Class (economy class) and Tabua Class (business class).
Frequent flyers also have the option to join the Tabua Club (paid membership) providing priority reservation, check-in and baggage handling, extra baggage allowance and lounge access during the validity of the membership.

And finally a few last words about “Tabua“, a word which appears often when talking about Air Pacific. Both the business class cabin, the business class lounge and the frequent flyer club are called Tabua.
There was an interesting note about it on the webpage. Tabua is the name of a sperm whale’s tooth and is a highly regarded possession in Fiji. To give someone a Tabua is an old tradition between tribes and members of a family and the ultimate symbol of respect.

Air Pacific Tabua Lounge, Nadi

Air Pacific runs a proper business class lounge at Nadi airport. The lounge is located on the ground floor of the terminal building, straight ahead after the security check after the duty free shops.

Two friendly women were working at the reception desk, I presented my boarding pass to them, but even without it they had list of all eligible passengers departing during the day and found and ticked my name on the Auckland flight manifest.

The lounge was fairly nice with a rather modern and stylish interior and comfortable armchairs and sofas.
Unfortunately being on the ground floor (basement would be a better word) there was no view to speak of, unless you enjoy watching baggage trucks. Because of that the lounge was also slightly dark.

The drinks selection was pretty good though, a bit too early for alcohol (which they had in good supply, including champers I think) but a glass of fresh fruit juice and a large cup of coffee was just what I needed.
Food consisted of fresh tropical fruit, bread and preserves, pastries and muffins.
Nothing extraordinary but perfectly adequate for a smaller lounge and the self-service buffet was very tidy and well-maintained.
There were large signs asking passengers to use the utensils provided instead of using their hands when taking food, another consequence of the swine flu threat I guess.

I only got about 10-15 minutes in the lounge, which at the end was quite sufficient.

Pics
The entrance to the Air Pacific Tabua lounge
Sitting areas in the lounge
The self-service buffet area, drinks available to the left and food to the right where the man is standing

Boarding

I had a look around the transit hall before heading for the gate. The transit hall was surprisingly large and modern with a large selection of shops, bars and restaurants. Far more than I had expected.

The gates were located on the first floor of the terminal building where there was a large crowd of people. Busy morning with flights to Auckland, Sydney and Seoul, the latter two operated by a B747 and an A330 respectively.
Boarding started 20 minutes before departure with priority boarding for business class passengers, elderly, and passengers travelling with infants. I was one of the first passengers to board the plane.
There are proper passenger bridges at Nadi airport, but the walkways from the terminal building to the passenger bridges are entirely outdoors giving a very exotic feeling.

I was greeted at the door with a friendly “Bula” (Fijian word for hello) by a lovely Air Pacific flight attendant and directed to my seat. I had prebooked seat 02F for this flight, a window seat on the second row.
Freshly squeezed orange juice was offered in business class before departure as well as a bottle of water, newspapers and magazines.

The flight was operated by a Boeing 737-800. The load in economy class was quite light, in business class six out of eight seats were occupied, the seat next to mine being one of the empty ones.

Just five minutes before scheduled departure a baggage truck pulled up next to the aircraft with a blue suitcase that looked surprisingly familiar.
I have a large rather unusual model that is easy to recognise almost everywhere.
I was very pleased to see the bag being loaded just below my feet, the very last bag on the flight. In fact I had even packed some extra clothes in my hand luggage as I was afraid the bag would not make the connection.

Pics
Modern transit area with lots of shopping
The departure lounge
The Boeing 737 that will take me to Auckland
An Air Pacific Boeing 747 parked next to our aircraft, this one will leave for Sydney in an hour
A glass of fresh orange juice before departure

Nadi-Auckland, flight FJ 411 operated by Air Pacific
Departure: 08:45
Arrival: 11:55
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Class: Tabua Class (Business Class)
Seat: 02F

A punctual pushback at 8.45 am and we made the short taxi to the threshold of runway 20 where we were allowed to take off immediately.
Interestingly we took off in the opposite direction of where I landed an hour earlier, but I guess the calm wind conditions made it possible to use any direction, probably appreciated by the crew since there are not a lot of taxiways to use.

We crossed the island of Viti Levu providing some more nice sceneries, but afterwards there was just water to be seen during the remaining three hours to Auckland.

Pics
Safety demonstration video
Nice view of Fiji minutes after take-off

Meal service

A breakfast service was offered on this flight by the lovely flight attendant serving business class.
A nicely decorated trolley passed through the cabin and the meal trays were handed out containing a plate with fresh fruit. Passengers could then choose yoghurt, muesli and cereals from a basket.
The flight attendant also had a bottle of champagne on the trolley (Grandin was the brand) and asked me if I was interested.
I rarely decline a glass of bubbles, but somehow I was still rather tired so I just asked for half a glass. The FA suggested mixing it with some orange juice, so that’s what it ended up being.

A second run was made in the cabin with an excellent selection of pastries, coffee, tea and more champagne, and finally the FA came to my seat and asked me if I was ready for my hot meal.
As no menus were distributed I had no idea what the breakfast service would be like, but with the bread rolls, yoghurt, fresh fruits and pastries being rather filling I was actually already quite full, but still gave the hot meal a try.
The hot meal was a spinach omelette, a sausage, potatoes and mushrooms. Not bad at all!

My table was cleared and the FA asked me if I wanted some more coffee, but I declined as I wanted to get some rest onboard.
I told her I had arrived on the Korean Air flight from Seoul and had already spent ten hours in the air (just like the KE captain, who was also in business class).
She was somewhat surprised to hear that, it’s certainly not the most common connection, but she fully understood my need for some rest and wished me a good sleep and told me not to hesitate to ask if I needed anything.

Pics
The very nicely decorated trolley and the lovely Air Pacific flight attendant
Fresh fruit, bread and yoghurt
Coffee and danish
Hot breakfast

Seat and comfort

Business class had two rows with proper business class seats in a 2-2 configuration.
Although not longhaul seats in any way I found the seats very soft, comfortable and spacious, I got an hour of sleep onboard without any problems.
The seats had a very decent seat pitch of 48” and I believe the same seats are used on the wide body aircrafts B767 and B747, although the seat pitch may differ slightly because of the different aircraft set-ups.
The cabin also had a very attractive interior with dark blue seats and light blue fittings, it created a very relaxed and pleasant atmosphere onboard.

The was also an inflight entertainment system available in business class.
I never made any use of it since I needed to get some rest during the flight, but there were 10 movies and some documentaries available to watch according to the inflight magazine. No AVOD though, but I found it adequate for a three hour flight.
If I remember correctly economy class only had a movie on the overhead monitors, so that’s a major advantage of flying business class.
The Boeing 747 aircrafts have a slightly better system with 21 channels.

Pics
The business class cabin on the Boeing 737
The Air Pacific business class seat
The seat controls
Air Pacific inflight magazine

Arrival in Auckland

Landing was made 10 minutes ahead of timetable at 11.45 am on runway 23L.
Sitting on the right side I got a nice although grey view of the Auckland region, downtown Auckland and the Sky Tower were easy to distinguish.

On the tarmac a Boeing 747 from Qantas was parked which I was a bit surprised to see at Auckland airport. I later found out it would depart for Los Angeles in the afternoon, I actually didn’t know Qantas operated NZ-US flights.

We got a last “vinaka” (thank you in Fijian) from the flight attendant as we disembarked into a cold New Zealand.

Pics
Approach to Auckland
Just landed at Auckland airport
A bit surprised to see a Qantas B747 at Auckland

Conclusion

In conclusion a great flight on a very nice airline.
The transfer in Nadi after all worked quite well due to the very helpful man. I made the flight and so did my bag, I even got time for a lounge visit.
The very friendly female flight attendant in business class really made every possible effort to make a nice flight for us, and she managed to create a very warm and relaxed atmosphere onboard.
The seat was very comfortable with decent legroom and the food was very good as well. I would love to try Air Pacific on an evening flight to see what their dinner service is like in business class with wine and a three courses meal, I’m sure the experience would be a delight!

shabster

you have me riveted - waiting for your next installment!
though 'reading about it' is NOT almost as good as going

jacob_m

Auckland wasn’t my final destination either, but at least the four hour flight to Apia/Samoa was going to be the last flight of the day, which I by now felt quite happy about.
I had 2 hours and 25 minutes before the flight to Apia was due to depart.

Transit in Auckland

After disembarking from the Nadi flight I followed the signs for flight connections and after a quick transit security check I was standing in the main transit hall.
My luggage had been through-checked all the way to Apia but I did not have a boarding pass for the last flight which had to be sorted out.
Air New Zealand is supposed to have a transit desk somewhere in the transit area, but I never managed to find it so I made my way to the Air NZ lounge instead to try my luck there.

A young woman greeted me at the reception desk and told me she could definitely help me with a boarding pass for my next flight.
As the whole check-in process took a bit of time we started talking and it took me about 30 seconds to realise once again why I think Air New Zealand is one of the absolute best airlines in the world.
The reception girl was extremely polite and courteous and addressed me by name several time in a very nice manner. At the same time she was really friendly and open-minded and after she had noticed I was going to Apia she asked me if it was my first visit to Samoa and for how long I intended to stay. It turned out she was from Samoa herself and had her family there.
Most of the Air New Zealand staff I have come across just have this amazing ability to find the perfect match between formality and some genuine friendliness.
I can’t think of many airlines that can manage that, some crews just get a bit too formal and distant making it almost hard to communicate with them, others get a bit too friendly and personal.

I had already made a seat wish on the Air NZ webpage for seat 02F which I also got. My baggage tag number was also entered in the reservation and after all formalities were completed I received my boarding pass for the flight.

Pics
The international transit hall at Auckland airport
The departure board with my flight to Apia displayed
An Emirates Airbus A380, there is a chance we might get to see more of that one later on...

Air New Zealand lounge, International terminal, Auckland

The Air New Zealand lounge was rather empty this early afternoon.
I read in the Air NZ forum that the lounge was refurbished just a month early, something you could well notice. I really liked the interior, modern and spacious with some odd-looking but rather comfortable chairs. ^
The whole lounge was also very clean and tidy there were three attendants frequently clearing tables and keeping the self-service areas in good orders

Food was good as always with a nice selection of bread, vegetables, soup, cold cuts, desserts and pastries. Drinks were pretty good as well with plenty of beer and soft drinks and some nice red wines of the month to taste.
I wasn’t particularly hungry but still made myself some snacks and had a few glasses of wine.

The lounge also has free wifi and the username and password were available at the reception desk. The connection was very fast and reliable and I took the opportunity to check and send off some e-mails.

Pics
The entrance to the lounge
Inside the vast lounge
The self-service buffet area with excellent food and drinks
Some of the food in the lounge
Selection of spirits
I really like the interior of the newly refurbished lounge
Cool seats, especially those to the left
More seating overlooking the transit hall
Second self-service area with coffee and tea
The lounge seen from outside

Boarding

The flight to Apia departed from gate 9, right next to the gate of the Qantas Boeing 747 bound for Los Angeles, so the gate area was pretty crowded.
Boarding started around 30 minutes before departure with priority boarding for elderly/passengers with infants followed by business class passengers and Star Alliance Gold card holders.

An awesome young female flight attendant greeted passengers at the door, very often with a cheery “good afternoon, how are you today?”.
Just the way I like it, courteous while still talkative and friendly.

I had seat 02F on the flight, window seat on the second row of business class.
Six out of eight seats were occupied in business class, but the seat next to mine remained empty during the flight.
Economy class was very full with a mix of New Zealanders and Australians going on holiday and Samoans returning home.

Once seated pre-departure drinks were offered, champers, orange juice and water. Unfortunately I have to disappoint you but now, but as I was feeling rather exhausted at this point I actually went for a glass of orange juice, although some of my fellow travellers happily accepted some bubbles and seemed to enjoy it.

While sipping some fresh orange juice I had a look outside the window to look at the action on the apron. Just as they had finished loading the last bags on our plane a small baggage truck arrived with a blue rather familiar suitcase, it was loaded as one of the last bags in the hold.
Funnily it’s the second time in a day that happened, but I was very relieved my bag was to make it all the way to Samoa, missing luggage can be such a hassle.

The flight attendant who would be serving business class then passed through the business class cabin, introduced herself, welcomed us onboard and asked us to tell her if we neede anything. Very nice!
Pushback right on time at 2.20 pm and the usual security video was shown on the monitors.
The purser also welcomed us all onboard and very nicely she offered a special welcome to the Star Alliance gold card holders and Air New Zealand frequent flyers on the plane.
Very nice gesture! ^

Pics
Waiting for the boarding to start at gate 9
The business class cabin onboard
A glass of orange juice before departure

Auckland-Apia, flight NZ 862 operated by Air New Zealand
Departure: 14:20
Arrival: 19:15
Aircraft: Airbus A320
Class: Business Class
Seat: 02F

We eventually took off at 2.30 pm from runway 23L. The view after take-off was quite spectacular with the cloudy sky mirroring in the water, very beautiful!
The seat belt sign was turned off almost immediately, or so it felt, I wonder if we even reached 10,000 feet.

Pics
Lining up on runway 23L
Spectacular view right after take-off with the cloudy sky mirroring in the water

The menu

After the curtain between economy class and business class had been closed the menus were handed out for the dinner service.
This is what was on offer on the flight to Apia:

Pics
The business class menu

The meal service

The dinner menu to Apia was very impressive, definitely above industry standard with a three courses meal, three choices of main course and two choices of dessert.
That’s definitely not what I‘m used to on similar flights within Europe.

Meal orders were always taken from the back of the cabin so the flight attendant started at my seat.
She asked for my meal order, informed me about the selection of wines available onboard (she had everything written down on her menu) and finally also took my drink order.
There were two reds and two whites available onboard. I can’t remember exactly which ones they had but the red wine I chose was a pinot noir and I believe it was an Australian brand. Veggie crisps were also served with the drinks.

Tablecloths were laid on the tables and the meal trays were handed out with the appetizer, a rather tasty tuna dish.
As main course I chose the superb horopito salted lamb cutlet and as dessert I chose the very yummy ice cream.
I skipped the cheese but finished off the meal with coffee and a glass of Chivas regal.

The meal service was really great. All courses were served separately on proper china and when it was time for dessert a nicely decorated trolley passed through the cabin with the cheese and the two dessert options as well as port and liqueurs.
The service was very friendly and attentive and my glasses of water and wine were frequently topped up.
The only thing I missed would be a proper wine list onboard.

Pics
Red wine and veggie crisps
Appetizer
Main course
Dessert

Seat and comfort

The business class seat on the Airbus A320 was in black leather and I found it very comfortable, especially with the headrest that made it easy to get some rest.
The seat pitch was a decent 42” and the seats were both wide and spacious.
I had deliberately chosen a seat on the second row as it means there is no bulkhead and you don’t have to place the hand luggage in the overhead bin during take-off and luggage. Also the inflight monitor is at the back of the seat (the seat in front) instead of in the armrest.

I can only compare the seat with the flights I took on Air NZ during the autumn 2006 with several flights operated by Airbus A320. I could easily notice the seats had been upgraded since then

Pics
The Air New Zealand business class seat on the Airbus A320
Seat controls

Inflight entertainment system

The inflight entertainment system was just brilliant, full AVOD with a great and very extensive selection of movies, documentaries, TV-series and music albums.
In 2006 a portable DVD player was provided in business class on A320 operated flights. Although I thought that solution worked well this was definitely far better.
Among the music albums they had one section named “latin music” where I even found an album of one of my favourite Spanish groups La oreja de Van Gogh.

Another nice feature was the possibility to connect a USB stick or an MP3 player to the inflight entertainment system, there was a USB port on the front of the armrest.
I connected my mobile phone which also works as music player and it worked reasonably well.

The flight map of the new inflight entertainment system was also really nice, one of the coolest I have ever seen.
Except for the standard flight map it also showed the image of a cabin window (either the left one or the right one) and what cities you would see in that direction. During our flight they showed the right cabin window where Avaraua in Rarotonga/Cook Islands could be seen (well possibly not seen, but it was surely located in that direction).
One of the pages also shown part of the rotating flight map was a page with some cockpit instruments showing airspeed, altitude, wind speed, heading and vertical speed. Just awesome! ^

Pics
Excellent inflight entertainment system
Movies, documentaries and TV sitcoms
Using the in-seat USB-port to access my mobile phone files
Stupid sitcom called Diplomatic Immunity about a fictional Pacific kingdom
Flight map
Looking right and we should be able to see Avarua (Cook Islands). Well not exactly, but still a really fun feature!
Info about the flight, coolest page I have seen on any airline so far!

Arrival at Apia Faleolo airport, with some serious health checks

Around 6.40 local time (one hour ahead of New Zealand time) we started out descent into Apia. With only one international departure and a handful domestic departures a day on average the descent was rather straight forward with no unnecessary speed limits, holding patterns or such.
Landing in the South Pacific is always an experience, especially at night when it’s pitch-dark outside and you don’t see a thing until about 10 seconds before touchdown when the first lights appear.
Samoa was no exception, although I think the first lights actually appeared an impressive 60 seconds before landing.

We touched down at 7 pm on runway 08 at Apia Faleolo airport.
The landing was rather bumpy and full reverse was applied, probably needed as it was raining outside and the runway was quite wet.
A short taxi to the small terminal building where we were specifically told to remain seated as it would take a bit of time to connect the APU (ground power supply to the aircraft) and also because of the Samoan quarantine.
I didn’t quite understand what the latter meant, but I was soon to find out why.
After the plane had parked and the engines were switched off the purser opened the door and two men in typical hospital attire came onboard, presumably from the Samoan health department. Once onboard the door was closed again and the two gentlemen went through the entire cabin.
I am not sure what they were looking for, but after having passed through the cabin twice the purser asked them “are you happy?” and they said yes. The door was opened again and we were allowed to collect our belongings and disembark the aircraft.

A health declaration form had also been distributed to all passengers during the flight which we had to complete.
At the entrance to the terminal building a team of four men were looking through these health forms. When they saw the countries I had visited in the past 10 days (Sweden, Korea and Turkey) I was immediately selected for a secondary check.
I went to a table a few meters away where two nurses were sitting. The table had all kinds of medicines and medical equipment and the nurses were wearing white hospital clothes and face masks.
I was asked to sit down and they checked my body temperature.
I was feeling just fine, but since I was rather tired after two long days of travelling I was afraid my body temperature would be higher than normal. Fortunately the thermometer said 36,9 degrees Celsius, which is about normal. I was free to leave!
Although I understand they take the swine flu threat seriously the whole set-up with an outdoor medical table outside the small terminal building just felt a bit funny.
I was really tempted to take a photo of it, but refrained from doing so due to the obvious severity of the situation.

Inside the terminal building immigration was rather quick and I proceeded to the baggage hall where baggage delivery had already started.
Four men were playing and singing Pacific songs creating a very nice and relaxing atmosphere.
My suitcase was one of the last to arrive on the belt. It did have a blue Korean Air priority tag attached to my bag where is said “Prestige” but I guess no one in Apia knew what that meant.
As I was on a pure leisure trip it didn’t actually matter, I was just happy my suitcase had successfully made the three flights, the three airlines and the two transits. A lot could have gone wrong!

All bags were x-rayed at the exit to search for food, plants and animals.
The arrivals hall was completely open air and despite the rain the weather was hot and humid and I was really longing to take a proper shower.
I withdraw some money from the ATM and started looking for the taxi stand. A man approached me and asked if I needed a taxi which I declined at first. However I could not see any taxi signs so I asked the man for a price to Apia and he said 50 Tala which is standard and absolutely acceptable. I said OK and off we went.

Nearly 24 hours had passed since I checked in at Seoul Incheon airport and by now I was really tired and could not wait to get some proper sleep.
A short review of the exotic island of Samoa is to follow.

Pics
Sunset over the Pacific Ocean
Approaching Samoa
Just landed in Apia where it‘s raining
Four gentlemen playing and singing in the arrivals hall of Faleolo airport

Conclusion

Air New Zealand once again provided an excellent business class product and a high service standard.
Excellent service at the lounge (and a nice interior and excellent food and drinks inside the lounge as well).
Priority boarding at the gate, pre-departure drink, a comfortable seat, excellent on-demand inflight entertainment, a superb and tasty three courses meal and a wide selection of drinks. What more can you ask for?
The service was again on a perfect level: attentive, courteous and reasonably formal while at the same time very relaxed and friendly with a crew happy to chat with you if you want.

Paint Horse

Great report.

somuchtosee

Great trip report. Korea is indeed formal culture and you are right on the money in terms of keeping certain distance and not get in your face as a courtesy to the passengers.

One comment I have, and I find this time and time again on FT is that I find passengers having unrealistic and too HIGH EXPECTATIONS when it comes to asian carriers vs. western/european carriers. We all know, especially the FT community, that asian carriers are way better than the most but I find it that the expectation goes beyond realistic to a point, u start nick picking at EVERY little things thats they do. Lets keep things in perspective people. When was the last time such great service was provided from other western/european airlines that we had to resort to their smile as "robotic" (as I have heard countless time descirbed as SQ stewardess) as a CON?? If I get ANY smile from UA stewardess, I would be a hapy woman; let along a glass of water when I really needed them without having to hear how busy they are. Having said that, it was a great trip. Learned a lot about the city and the details. I loved the DMZ report especially the picture of the conference room. Bravo to the OP.

jacob_m

Indeed you are right, we tend to rank Asian carriers very highly, and deservedly so in my opinion.
My experience of Asian people (in general, from airline crews to personal friends) is that they are often very hard working, serious minded, and always struggle to do a good job, and of course being a passenger on an Asian airline you notice that.
Any carrier in any part of the world could provide the same service with the right motivation and attitude (and management).

As for the trip report it's very hard to rate service as it's very subjective, but I try to review the airlines as extensively as possible and focus on mentioning "facts", positive ones as well as negative ones.
Regarding Korean Air I will actually review Asiana later on, the second Korean airline, and there was a noticeable difference between the two.

jacob_m

Introducing Samoa…

Samoa, or Malo Sa’oloto Tuto’atasi o Samoa, previously also known as Western Samoa (as there is another country called American Samoa) is located halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii, just east of the international date line.

Most visitors to Samoa arrive by plane from Auckland (4 hour flight time). There are also a handful other flights per week to Sydney, Nadi, Nuku’alofa (Tonga) and Los Angeles.

The official language of Samoa is Samoan, a Polynesian language with not even the slightest similarity to any of the languages I speak.
Fortunately most people speak good English (some better than others) so communicating with the locals usually isn’t a major problem. English is even an official language on the island (second language for most people).

The currency in Samoa is the Tala (currency code WST). Prices are fairly low on the island, expect for imported goods (including food in some restaurants).
Taxis are very cheap though and in fact if you want to have a look around the island it is often cheaper to negotiate a good deal with a taxi driver for a day/half a day than to rent a car.

Pics
Welcome to Samoa - See the island with adventure

Samoa has a population of nearly 200,000 inhabitants and consists mainly of two larger islands - Upolu and Savai’i. Upolu is the main island where the international airport is located as well as the capital Apia.
It takes around five hours to drive around Upolu without any stops, roads are OK although not perfect. There are plenty of speed bumps as well.

It should also be mentioned that the Samoans are very religious and nobody quite knows how many churches there are on the island.
I tried to make an estimation of the number of churches we passed on the way to the airport (around 45 minutes drive) and I am sure we must have passed nearly 50 churches.
In the department store in downtown Apia they even had a section with Jesus products, everything from plates to miniature statues. Never seen that before!

Apia

Apia is the capital of Samoa located on northern Upolu by the water and has all the government and administrative buildings and an extensive range of shops, restaurants and other services.
Describing Apia as a city would be quite an exaggeration (even though it‘s supposed to have around 37,000 inhabitants), a town would be a more appropriate word, you can basically walk from one end of Apia to the other end in about 15 minutes.
It’s a rather nice and cosy place though in my opinion, not the most modern of places but there are many old colonial houses and overall there is a nice tropical feeling to it.
The local market is well worth a visit and the nightlife is actually not that bad either. Apia also has a Mc Donald’s for those who don’t want to try the local food.

Pics
The Apia waterfront
The famous clock tower in downtown Apia and the Amau bilding with a department store to the right
The most famous hotel on the island: Aggie Greys Hotel
There are more churches on the island than I could count, sometimes they are just a few meters apart, as these two in Apia
Apia bus station, quite a sight!
The local market in Apia
Mc Donald‘s has also made it to Samoa, there is one restaurant in Apia
A persistent child trying to sell oranges to a tourist
Sunset over downtown Apia
Apia at night, the nightlife is actually not that bad on the island

Beaches and national parks

There are some very nice beaches on the island, a few ones in the vicinity of Apia, but the better ones are on the southern side of Upolu.
Unfortunately as it was raining (at least partly) on every single day of my visit there was no point in venturing very far away risking to be stuck in a remote place somewhere on the island in the rain without proper shelter. A real shame!

Upolu is also quite mountainous and has a beautiful and rather untouched vegetation. There is a large national park in the middle of the island for those who enjoy nature and some peace and quietness.

Pics
Nice overview of Apia and the beautiful mountains from the small port
Nice beach outside Apia, although there are nicer ones further away
A local very colourful bus leaving for southern Upolu.
These kind of “social houses“ can be seen everywhere on the island
A bus passing a local cemetery

Samoa Outrigger Hotel, Apia

Samoa isn’t one of the most developed countries in the world and the range of accommodation reflects that.
There are no international hotel chains on the island and few proper beach resorts, however there are a number of good (and even very good) middle class hotels, the most famous being Aggie Greys hotel in Apia.

Honestly in my opinion it would almost be a shame to make it all the way to this rather untouched island in the middle of nowhere and then stay in an international hotel, if it was possible.
I chose a good budget hotel called the Outrigger Hotel located around ten minutes walk from downtown Apia.
The hotel was actually owned and run by a Danish man who came to Samoa as a diving instructor, but liked the island so much he decided to stay and opened a hotel.
The hotel occupies an old and rather nice looking colonial building and also had a lush garden with a nice covered terrace and a swimming pool.
Really friendly staff as well, being a rather small and informal place they quickly learned my name and asked how the day was when coming back in the late afternoon.
Cool Vailima (local Samoan beer) was also available for sale at the reception, very appreciated by the guests.

I stayed in a proper room with ensuite facilities, TV and AC. There was even a small private veranda.
Only problem was a slightly bad water pressure and a lack of hot water from time to time, but I believe that’s a general problem on the island and as for hot water most people rather enjoy a cold shower in the warm and humid climate.

If you are on a tight budget there was also a budget option available: a traditional Samoan fale.
A fale is basically a hut with room for 2-4 beds, a bit like staying in a dorm, but outdoors and in much more exotic surroundings.
Staying in a fale can probably be a very nice experience, especially if you get a private one at a beach overlooking the ocean. However if it’s raining you really have to keep your fingers crossed the ceiling can cope with the rain or you’re up for a wet night.
With the less than perfect weather during the visit I was happy not having chosen that option.

Pics
The entrance to the old colonial building housing the Outrigger Hotel
My room with a small private veranda
The nice terrace where the breakfast is served and the pool
The rather exotic budget option for price-conscious travellers: a traditional Fale
The lobby

Kiwi Flyer

I can confirm from personal experience the computer at NAN transit desk is slow, however it should have been possible to do it all in the time you had (IIRC I had 1 hour connection).

AJO

Great report, jacob_m, thanks for sharing! ^

greg99

This is a fantastic report and a spectacular itinerary.

Thanks for sharing.

Greg

Kevincm

This is shaping up to be a great report jacob_m.

I'm more facinated by Korea and Seoul each day... will have to put it in the stop list.

Keep it up ... great work! ^

jacob_m

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:

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…

jacob_m

Over the years I have had the benefit to try a large number of airlines and visit a fair number of interesting destinations. Many of the flights have been a pure pleasure and several of them have been posted here in trip reports.
However it is not often nowadays that I feel truly excited about boarding an aircraft, with one exception, a Saturday in June 2009 when I was about to make my first ever flight on the world’s largest aircraft - Airbus A380-800 - with Emirates in business class.

Emirates currently operates the Airbus A380 to five destinations, one route being Dubai-Sydney-Auckland.
With the great generic IATA-fare I had found I could obviously include any airline of my choice and I was very to happy to learn the A380 flight from Auckland departed very conveniently at 6 pm giving me half a day in Auckland, an afternoon in the Emirates lounge, and an evening flight with full dinner service.

Arriving at Auckland airport I was feeling like a child just about to take my first ride on a rollercoaster, and I was not to be disappointed.
As this was a rather special flight on an aircraft that is still quite rare I will post a rather thorough review with far more pics than I would usually take and upload for a 3½ hour flight.

I hope you will get a good insight into this rather different aircraft and the rather different business class product Emirates offer on the A380, which itself was one of the most remarkable products I have ever tried. Enjoy!

A day in Auckland

With a quick immigration and quarantine check after my flight from Apia I was soon standing at the bus stop outside the terminal building and caught the airport bus to downtown Auckland.
My bag had been through-checked, so nothing I had to deal with until back at the airport in the afternoon.
Not much traffic around Auckland this Saturday morning so we made the ride into downtown Auckland in just about 30 minutes.
I have always been rather fascinated that there is no proper road from the airport. Except for a short drive on a highway the bus passes through all kinds of neighbourhoods with small narrow roads that should not have any heavy traffic at all in my opinion.

The weather in Auckland was very foggy but got slightly better in the afternoon. For me as a European it felt rather strange that it was winter in New Zealand, during the month of June. Although it was a bit chilly outside it could have been far worse.

I spent about four hours in downtown Auckland having lunch and doing a bit of shopping. The city centre is quite compact, centred around Queen Street, so the city is not very hard to navigate.

Pics
A very foggy Queen Street in downtown Auckland
Overlooking the port
Queen Street again, the main shopping street in Auckland. The weather has improved a bit

Back to Auckland airport, with a limousine transfer…

When did the initial reading about the A380 and the Emirates business class product I noticed first and business class passengers are eligible for a free limousine transfer at most airports, usually within a certain distance from the airport.
The list of destinations with this service offered included both Auckland and Sydney and the webpage said the service was available also for passengers on trans-Tasman flights.

I had no idea if I would be eligible with my fare, but the small print did not say anything else and when I entered my name and booking reference on the Emirates webpage my itinerary came up as well as the option to book the transfer.
Funnily as the flight from Apia to Auckland in the morning included crossing the international date line (arrival one day later) the Emirates webpage did not recognise I was in fact just transiting in Auckland.

Since I was actually not staying anywhere in Auckland I entered the address of a hotel where I had stayed on previous trip and well knew the location of.
I indicated I wanted to be picked up three hours before departure, which meant 3 pm.
After the booking was made I was a bit worried I would get an e-mail or a phone call from Emirates telling me I was not eligible for the transfer, or asking me if I really needed the transfer with only a few hours transit in Auckland, but nothing at all!
At 2.45 pm I headed for the hotel and at 2.55 an immaculate looking car pulled up at the entrance and it was not hard to figure out this one was for me.

The driver was somewhat surprised I only had hand luggage and a few shopping bags to bring to the airport, but I briefly mentioned my rather crazy itinerary and I think he got most of it.
The middle-aged man was very friendly and talkative and we had a nice chat on the way to the airport covering everything from local politics to climate and cars. A quiet Saturday afternoon meant a quick drive to the airport, just about 30 minutes.
The car had kind of a taximeter with the fixed price to the airport displayed, although I can’t remember the exact amount I remember it was certainly not a bargain fare for the 21 km ride to the airport. Fortunately it also said "invoice to Emirates".

Check-in at Auckland airport

The driver dropped me off right at the entrance to the Emirates premium check-in area, just a few steps were needed to join the check-in line.

Four check-in desks were open in the premium check-in area, three for business class and one for first class.
Although there was no one in line (in contrast to the economy class area which had massive queues) all desks were occupied, but soon I was waived over to the first class check-in desk.
It took a bit of time to sort everything out (as usual) but soon my baggage number was entered in the reservation and the check-in agent printed a boarding pass with my pre-assigned seat 14A.
Very nicely lounge invitations had already been prepared for all business and first class passengers so the check-in agent just searched for my personalised invitation in the stock, quickly found it and handed it over to me. Someone had manually written my name, flight number and date on the invitation. Nice!

I was also given a departure card to complete and as a final step the agent called for a supervisor and gave her my baggage tag number and told her I had arrived from Apia in the morning and was continuing to Sydney.
I have no idea what the ground staff did with my non-registered suitcase during all those hours, but I was happy a supervisor took on the task to sort it out.
I am sure a lot of formalities needed during this trip due to my very unusual itinerary were made far easier as I was flying business class.

Pics
The Emirates first class and business class check-in area
Lots of people queuing for the economy class check-in
The boarding pass and personal lounge invitation
The departure board, three Emirates flights are leaving this evening

Security and a stroll around the transit hall

Security was on the first floor above the main check-in area. There was a fast track line to use which the check-in agent had already informed me about, but there was almost not a person in the regular line so I joined that one instead.
Both passport and security check were a breeze and I decided to have a stroll in the transit hall before heading for the lounge and actually made use of a 2-for-1 offer in one of the tax-free shops.

Pics
Inside the transit hall
Heading for the lounge. The windows on the first floor belong to the Air NZ lounge

Emirates lounge, Auckland

I knew well the location of the Emirates lounge since it’s located right opposite the escalator to the Air New Zealand lounge I visited earlier during this trip.

A very pleasant man greeted me at the reception, addressed me by name and asked me if it was my first visit to the lounge.
I told him it was, that it was even my first ever Emirates flight and that I usually fly Air New Zealand/Star Alliance.
The man quite picked up what I was saying and gave me a short tour of the lounge mentioning all the facilities they had that the Air New Zealand lounge did not have. Very funny!

The lounge was a real surprise, although it was a combined first class and business class lounge there was certainly more of a first class feeling to it.
The lounge was in immaculate condition and had a very elegant and luxurious interior with plenty of comfortable sofas and armchairs in beige leather.

The selection of food and drinks was absolutely superb. ^
The selection of food was immense with hot food, made-to-order sandwiches, cold cuts, proper salads, vegetables, cheese and crackers and some very nice desserts.
The same could be said about the drinks selection which was simply excellent with a large selection of soft drinks, beer, wine and premium spirits.
But best of all, free flowing Veuve Cliquot champagne in the lounge.

I had quite a proper dinner in the lounge and have to say the food did not just look appetising, it also was. Two glasses of champagne well accompanied the dinner followed by a cup of coffee and, despite being rather full, I just had to try the selection of desserts. Yummy!

There was also a nice selection of newspapers and magazines in the lounge and several TVs, this afternoon showing the tragic destiny of Michael Jackson which had just been revealed.
After a lot of champagne a visit to the restroom was not all surprisingly needed, there were four toilets available, all of them in rather good condition with proper showers.
If I had known this earlier I could actually have had a shower in the lounge as it had already been quite a long day.

While finishing my lounge dinner an announcement was made in the lounge and rather unexpectedly they paged me to the reception desk. Not really knowing what it was about I went to the reception where the man recognised me and was expecting me.
It turned out they were taking care of my checked bag at the moment and the reason they paged me was because they wanted to check if I wanted my bag sent just to Sydney or to somewhere else. Someone had apparently had a closer look at my rather extensive and unusual itinerary.
I thought this was a great initiative and a superb level of service, however as I was going to make a short stop in Sydney I preferred to have the baggage sent just to Sydney. I sorted this part out already when checking in in Apia.
Still I truly appreciated them doing it. Well done Emirates! ^

There were three Emirates flights leaving this evening to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney respectively. However the flight to Sydney was the only one operated by the A380 (the other by B777s I think).
As this was a Saturday the lounge was still relatively empty, but I can imagine it getting rather crowded on a weekday with three departures within a short period of time.

I was told they would make boarding announcements in the lounge, but as I was quite excited about my upcoming flight and wanted to maximise my time onboard I left the lounge already 45 minutes before departure.

Pics
The entrance to the Emirates lounge
Inside the very elegant and luxurious lounge
Several TVs are available
Comfortable armchairs and sofas
The buffet and dining area of the lounge
Nice dining section where you can sit down to have a proper dinner
The great self-service buffet
A closer look at the buffet. Delicious cold cuts and desserts
There is also hot food available
A closer look at the selection of hot food, very nice!
Selection of fresh sandwiches made-to-order
Great selection of drinks for self-service
A superb selection of premium wines and spirits
Free flowing champagne! Veuve Cliquot…
A nice dinner accompanied by a glass of champagne
Trying some of the lovely desserts (with a second glass of champagne)
The nice bathrooms

Boarding

Due to the size of the A380 the aircraft can not use most regular gates, at Auckland airport there is a special gate for the A380 (gate 16), the furthermost gate from the security control in the newest part of the international terminal.
The gate area at gate 16 was quite spacious but not particularly crowded, so there was obviously a rather light load on the flight to Sydney.

At the gate podium there were two exits to the aircraft.
The left one was for economy class passengers leading to door 2L on the lower floor of the A380. The right one was for business class and first class passengers leading to door 2L on the upper floor, right between the first class and business class cabins.

Boarding was announced at 5.40 pm with priority boarding for first class and business class passengers. Since most premium passengers were probably still in the lounge (or were just about to leave it) I was the only person who stood up and headed to the podium (with some stares from a few envious passengers).

Boarding the aircraft was really strange since the passenger bridge to the upper deck pointed upwards. Usually when you board an aircraft you rather descend through the jet bridge from the terminal to the aircraft door, so this felt very strange.
I was greeted at the door, turned right and got my first glimpse of the interior of this massive aircraft. At first sight it did not seem that much different from e.g. an Airbus A340, it was rather the spectacular Emirates business class interior that made an impression.
I started looking for my seat 14A. The overhead bins on the A380 have a rather different design from most other airplanes and because of that the seat numbers are not at the usual location and somewhat hard to spot.
Almost every single passenger who boarded after me had the same problem.

Once at my seat an FA approached me, offered to take my jacket and asked if he could get me a pre-departure drink. I asked for a glass of champagne and was very happy to see they serve Moët & Chandon in business class. A lovely champagne!

Pics
The Emirates A380 seen from the gate
The gate area
The business/first and economy class exits to the aircraft
Welcome onboard the brand new Airbus A380
A glass of Moët & Chandon before departure

Introduction to the Emirates Airbus A380

Nobody has probably missed the launch of the world’s largest passenger aircraft, the only airplane with two full-size passenger decks and a third one used for baggage and cargo.

In the Emirates configuration the upper deck is used for premium passengers and lower deck for economy class passengers.
On the upper deck there are 14 first class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration located in the first section of the upper deck cabin on the immediate left when entering the aircraft. The first class cabin takes up around 20% of the upper deck. I believe the first class seats are basically the same as on older aircrafts.

The remaining part of the upper deck is used for business class with a large section with 58 seats and a smaller section in the aft with 18 seats. That makes 76 seats in total.
The Emirates business class seat is very different in that each seat takes up the space that would usually fit two business class seat on most airlines, so in fact business class also has a 1-2-1 configuration.

There are two staircases between the upper deck and the lower deck.
The first one is located in front of the first class cabin. The second is located in the aft after passing through the business class galley. In contrast to the forward stairs there is actually a proper staircase in the aft with wide stairs in a half circle shape.
On the lower deck ropes prevent economy class passengers from accessing the upper deck.

The lower deck is used entirely for economy class in a 3-4-3 configuration.
There are three sections with 76+135+188 seats making it 399 economy class seats in total.
With 399 economy class seats, 76 business class seats and 18 first class seats the total capacity on an Emirates A380 should be 493 passengers.
Obviously it should be possible to fit far more passengers onboard if the upper deck was to be fitted with economy class seats instead.

The business class seat

The Emirates business class seat is one of the most modern and spacious I have come across.
The unique thing about the A380 seat is that each business class seat occupies the space that would be used for two business class seats on most other aircrafts, so all passengers have access to the aisle.
This has been possible by making every second seat a window seat and every second seat an aisle seat. In the centre section the same set-up is used making every second seat is an aisle seat and every second seat a middle seat.
Look on the photos and the cabin configuration should be quite obvious!
I had pre-booked seat 14A which was a window seat. The window seats usually provide far more privacy than the equivalent aisle seats and of course a better view through the window for photos, however according to Seatguru the legroom differens slightly between window and aisle seats.

The business class seats can be reflined to a flat 79” long bed. In general the seat is very comfortable and there are lots of options to adjust/recline the seat using the wireless seat controller. There is also a nice massage function available, one of the best and most advanced I have tried on an aircraft.

Each business class seat also has a private mini bar with water, orange juice and some sodas. There is also a glass in the minibar.
The upper shelf of the minibar is used for amenities. Eyeshades and socks are available there when you board the aircraft.

Storage is certainly not a problem either. There is ample storage below the TV-screen and I was somewhat surprised I was allowed to have my hand luggage there also during take-off and landing (it was OK as long as they would fit properly).
There is also excellent storage between the seat and the wall/windows where you preferably place smaller items, newspapers and other things you need during the flight.
Then of course the overhead compartment is always available.

Every seat also has a 17” TV, in-seat power and a rather spacious table for the meal services.

All these features make it one of the best (if not the best) business class seat I have tried so far and I was up for a very comfortable flight with certainly no lack of space or privacy.

Pics
Welcome to seat 14A
The comfortable seat
Excellent storage below the TV-screen
The personal minibar
The seat control
Good storage also below the window
Reading light at the seat
The seat table
A view of seat 14E

The touch-screen wireless seat control

The seat is controlled by a specially designed seat control available on a stand on the drink table in front of the minibar. The seat control is completely wireless and can be removed from the stand and placed/used wherever you wish.
The touch-screen control is used to adjust and recline the seat, activate and control the seat massage (with several different options and programs) and to turn on and off the overhead lights.
It can also be used for the inflight entertainment system, to browse through the menus and to play/pause/forward/rewind music and movies.
If using one of the communication function through the inflight system the seat control can also be used as a keyboard to type things.
Furthermore the control will show what movie/program you are watching or what music/song you are listening to. It also shows facts about the flight like local time and arrival time.

Pics
Switches to adjust and recline the seat
Advanced seat massage
Overhead light
Keyboard
The seat control showing the music currently playing and that the seat light is on

Auckland-Sydney, flight EK 413 operated by Emirates
Departure: 18:00
Arrival: 19:25
Aircraft: Airbus A380-800
Class: Business Class
Seat: 14A

Business class had a rather light load on this flight, meaning a rather personal and attentive service later on.
After boarding was completed the purser welcomed us all onboard and also mentioned all languages spoken by the crew. Since Emirates is more an international airline than an Arabic airline the crew came from a wide variety of countries and as many as 12 languages were spoken by the today’s crew.

Finally it was time to close the doors and push back. One observation here was the obvious difficulty for the purser to get control of the aircraft with two passenger doors and a dozen emergency exits, especially as none of the stairs are located anywhere near the two passenger doors.
She made a rather irritated announcement, something like “cabin crew, all doors SHOULD now be closed, thank you!”.

Safety demonstration

As on all aircrafts a safety video was shown before departure, in Arabic followed by in English.
The only remarkable thing about it was the part showing the location of the emergency exits. Lower deck has 10 emergency exits, the upper deck 8 emergency exits I think, making the A380 quite a project to evacuate in case of an emergency.

Pics
Welcome aboard
Please pay attention
Impressive number of emergency exits on the lower deck

Departure and take-off

We pushed back 25 minutes late at 6.25 pm and slowly started taxing towards runway 23L.
As I was sitting next to the left wing I could see how massive the wings on the A380 are and surely both the captain and the ground staff need to be cautious when taxiing and pushing back.
We made a short stop at the runway threshold to await a landing aircraft, but then it was time to leave. Through the excellent inflight entertainment system I could see the take-off roll both from the pilot’s view and from the tail which was pretty nice.
Despite being such a large aircraft with a lot of take-off power needed to lift it is a very quiet aircraft, which you could especially notice during take-off. Throughout the flight the noise in the cabin was absolutely minimal.

Pics
Taxiing to the runway passing the international terminal
Taxi, pilot‘s view
Take-off roll, pilot‘s view
Take-off roll, view from the tail. Very cool perspective!

The menu

After the seatbelt sign had been switched off menus were handed out containing both the dinner service to Sydney and the late dinner and breakfast service between Sydney and Dubai.
The flight attendant asked me if I also wanted a wine list, which I certainly wanted.

Pics
The business class menu and wine list

Here is the dinner menu to Sydney:

The meal service

On the flight to Sydney a full three courses dinner was served with appetizer, main course and dessert.

The dinner started with a cocktail service. I asked for a gin and tonic and was also given a small bowl with nice assorted nuts.
Next the tables were set with tablecloths and proper cutlery, rather elegant table setting in my opinion. Only drawback was the use of plastic knives.

As appetizer I chose the salad niçoise with salmon and as main course I chose the deli platter. Although the deli platter consisted only of cold cuts I thought it was both tasty and filling and a rather unusual option.
A selection of breads were offered as well as frequent refills of drinks and water.
I had some red wine to drink with the meal and chose the French brand.

As dessert they were supposed to serve white chocolate mousse, but something had gone wrong, either they had forgotten to load it or there had been a last minute change after the menu had been printed.
Instead I was given a plate with four different smaller desserts. Absolutely delicious ones, so I certainly did not mind, although there was no way I could finish all of them I was already pretty full.
I also had a refreshing cup of coffee to finish off the meal.

Pics
Nice overview of the business class cabin where drink and meal orders are taken
Gin and tonic and assorted nuts
The table setting
Appetizer
Main course
Dessert

The business class bar and lounge area

In the rear of the business class cabin there is a lounge area with a proper bar and comfortable sofas on each side of the bar where passengers can relax and have drinks and snacks between the meals.
After the dinner service I headed there to have a closer look and to have a glass of whisky after the meal.

The bar was really nice, it felt elegant and luxurious. The selection of drinks was basically the same as in the drink list, but they have a rather decent selection of premium brands onboard I have to say.
On the bar counter they also had a nice selection of snacks, peanuts, canapés, chocolates and sandwiches. Not that I was particularly hungry after a three courses meal...
Opposite the bar was a large widescreen TV showing info about Emirates and the flight.

Pics
The business class bar
Another photo of the business class bar
The widescreen TV showing info about Emirates and the flight
The crew preparing the business class bar

A sightseeing tour of the aircraft, including the first class facilities

With the meal service finished and a light load in business class the crew were not overly busy and I started talking to two of them at the bar.
Since this was my first ever flight on the A380 (and with Emirates) I wanted to make the most of it and made no attempts to hide that. Well they had most likely already seen me taking photos anyway.

I asked the male flight attendant how many flights he had done on the A380 and it turned out it was his second flight on the aircraft, so he was almost as new to the aircraft as me.
We discusses all the nice features of the aircraft and he asked me if I knew about the first class showers they had, I told him I had read about them.
He asked me if I was interested in seeing them in real life, an offer I certainly could not decline. It turned out there were no first class passengers between Auckland and Sydney, so there was no problem to pass through the first class cabin and have a look inside one of the two very spacious bathrooms with a proper walk-in shower.
The bathrooms looked absolutely wonderful! Each passenger gets around five minutes of water to use, which after all should be quite enough.
I really wouldn’t mind trying it one day.

Back at the bar there was another business class passenger chatting with the crew and taking photos. He seemed just as excited about the A380 and the business class experience as me.
Since the crew noticed our excitement and interest in the aircraft they invited us to also have a look downstairs on the lower deck, which we decided to do. We used the rear staircase to get downstairs where a rope was blocking economy class passengers from getting upstairs.
The lower deck was pretty impressive with a seemingly endless number of rows with economy class seats. After all the A380 has room for 400 economy class passengers.
One flight attendant was clearing tables in economy class and recognised me from the business class bar and made a joke that it’s not very often passengers pay for a business class seat and then voluntarily venture into economy class during the flight.

Pics
The first class bathroom and shower

The inflight entertainment system

Back upstairs I returned to my seat and played a bit with the inflight entertainment system named ICE, which can be accessed either by the touch-screen control or a regular video control with a wire.

The selection of movies, TV-series and music albums available through ICE (Information, Communication, Entertainment) was immense.
Unfortunately with everything else going on during the flight there was not much time to explore the system, but I can say for sure with the extensive selection available there is enough to keep passengers entertained for many hours.
For example there were 10 episodes available of the TV-sitcom Friends, of which I watched two during the dinner service.
The selection of music albums was also very extensive and included a section called “All UK No 1 hits” with one album for each year from the 50’s to today. Quite nice with lots of great songs to listen to and some fun trivia about each year.
Through ICE the flight map could obviously also be accessed just like the cockpit camera.

Pics
The inflight entertainment system - ICE
Watching an episode of Friends
UK No 1 hits - 1996
The video control
Passengers enjoying ICE in a darkened cabin
Listening to some music with a nice mood lighting in the cabin

Arrival in Sydney

Around 7.20 pm Australian time (two hours behind New Zealand time) we started our descent into Sydney. The A380 did not seem to have a particularly slow rate of climb/descent like for example the A340.
An FA passed through the cabin handing out landing cards for Australia and it turned out the vast majority of the passengers were continuing to Dubai, only a handful of us were getting off in Sydney.
Invitations to use the fast track immigration and customs channel were also handed out, very appreciated! ^

We finally landed at 7.40 pm on runway 34L at Sydney Kingsford Smith international airport, 15 minutes behind timetable.
It took a few moments to get the aircraft properly parked and both passenger bridges positioned, but afterwards we could finally disembark.
Passengers continuing to Dubai were also asked to get off as the aircraft was to be cleaned and there would also be a crew change.

There was not a person at immigration, not even at the regular counters, so the whole process was very quick although the female officer had a few questions about my rather interesting itinerary.
With few passengers finishing their journey in Sydney baggage delivery started very quickly. My bag had the Star Alliance priority tag attached, but the Emirates ground staff did not seem to care much about it, but on the other hand there were rather few bags to offload anyway.
I was happy the baggage transfer in Auckland had worked well, delayed bags can become a real hassle if you have many flights within a short period of time.

The fast track card was much more useful at customs were the regular lines were horrendously long and slow.
I was standing in the arrivals hall within 15 minutes of getting off the plane. Nice!

Pics
The flight map showing we are approaching Sydney
And the same info in Arabic
The express arrivals card for fast track immigration/customs in Sydney
Nice lighting in the cabin used during the descent
Evening view of the Australian coastline seen through the window, only a few minutes to go
Final approach, pilot‘s view
The international terminal at Sydney airport
The massive wing of the Airbus A380 seen through the window

Second limousine transfer of the day...

There was supposed to be a limousine transfer booked also in Sydney. I saw two drivers with Emirates signs but none of the signs had my name on it.
I approached them and asked if they knew anything about my transfer, they didn’t but called their office, it turned out my driver had been delayed but was on his way.
After about ten minutes (or even less) my driver named Michael arrived and apologised for the delay, someone had done a mistake in the planning it seemed. Never mind! The spotless car was waiting right outside and we were quickly on our way to downtown Sydney.
Not much traffic this Saturday evening so within 10 minutes he dropped me off at my accommodation for the night right next to the central station.
Despite the slight delay the whole airport transfer was really comfortable and very appreciated after a long day of travelling (especially as it was already included in the ticket).

I was checked-in for the night in downtown Sydney at 8.20 pm, just 40 minutes after we touched down at the airport, which is certainly very impressive. ^
18 hours had passed since I checked in at Faleolo airport in the morning, which my body now reminded me about, but what a nice 18 hours!
I decided to round up the day by having a quick evening walk, although it was actually winter in Australia it was surprisingly warm outside.
But afterwards it was straight to bed, there had to be energy for a few more flights during this trip.

Pics
Inside the limousine transfer ready to leave airport for downtown Sydney
Evening view of downtown Sydney
A nice evening stroll

Conclusion

Flying on the A380 was a great experience and the Emirates business class product was most impressive.
The seat was easily one of the best I have tried in business class with a comfortable seat, nice massage function, cool seat control, a very large TV-screen, excellent storage and a personal minibar.
The bar and lounge area onboard was also really great and the ground services were certainly not bad either with a great lounge and all kinds of priority treatment (passport/boarding/immigration).
The limousine transfers in Auckland and Sydney were also excellent with pleasant drivers and spotless cars, a real advantage of choosing Emirates over competitors, especially if you have lots of luggage.
As for the service onboard it was friendly and attentive. No carts were ever used, all drinks and dishes were delivered individually from the galley/bar, which is normally not the case in business class.
Food was good too, not to mention free-flowing Moët & Chandon.

Overall I was very impressed and would certainly do it again!

Kiwi Flyer

The other EK flights from AKL are 777 (BNE) and A345 (MEL). The EK lounge can get very crowded.

jacob_m

Thanks Kiwi Flyer!
With an A380, an A345 and a B777 all departing within a 45 minutes timeframe I can imagine the lounge gets really crowded if the flights are nearly full.
Seems like I chose the right day to fly!