Kiwi Flyer

DFW-EZE Business Menu

WINES

Champagne

Heidsieck Monopole Brut

White Wines

Wairau River Marlborough New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc 2005[/b]

Murphy-Goode Sonoma County Chardonnay

Red Wines

Clos Du Val Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

Luigi Bosca Lujan de Cuyo Malbec DOC

Dessert Wine

Graham´s Vintage Port

Beverages

Bloody Mary
Screwdriver

SKYY Vodka
Tanqueray Gin
Bacardi Rum
Glenlivet Single Malt Scotch
Maker´s Mark Bourbon
Crown Royal Canadian Whisky
Dewar´s White Label Scotch Whisky
Jack Daniel´s Tennessee Whiskey

Heineken
Amstel Light
Select US beers
Additional beers may be available on selected international flights

Di Saronno Amaretto
Baileys Irish Cream
Kahlua
Courvoiser VSOP Fine Champagne Cognac

Carbonated beverages
American Airlines premium blend
Regular and decaffeinated coffee
Tea
Fruit juices
Milk


DINNER

To Start

Warm mixed Nuts
or
Marinated Cheese Antipasto

Seafood Appetizer

Smoked Salmon and Herb-Marinated Shrimp

Salad

Fresh seasonal Greens and an assortment of fresh Vegetables offered with creamy Basil Dressing
or Castello Monte Vibiano Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar

Bread Basket

Assorted Gourmet Breads offered with a choice of Butter or Castello Monte Vibiano Olive Oil

Main Course

Salt and Pepper-crusted Beef Fillet

Grilled Chicken Wrapped with Bacon

Ginger-Soy Salmon

Butternut Squash Soup

Dine Upon Request

You may choose one of the following entrees, complete with an Appetiser and Dessert, presented all at once, at any time you wish

Salt and Pepper-crusted Beef Fillet

Grilled Chicken Rwapped with Bacon

Ginger-Soy Salmon

Butternut Squash Soup

Cheese and Fruit

Saga Blue and Jarlsberg Cheese complemented by seasonal Grapes and Walnuts

Dessert

Ice Cream Sundae

Vanilla Ice Cream with a choice of Hot Fudge, Butterscotch or seasonal Berry Toppings, Whipped Cream and Pecans

or

Grand Marnier Fruit Salad presented with Mango Sorbet

To Finish

Assorted Lindt Chocolates


AMERICAN BREAKAST

Fresh seasonal Fruit

Cheese Omelette

Yoghurt

Cereal

Breakfast Bread Basket

Express Breakfast

[i]To allow you to sleep as long as possible, the Express Breakfast will be served 45 minutes prior to landing. Please notify your flight attendant.

Warm Breakfast Breads and your choice of Beverage

Pre-Arrival Beverage

Chilled Sparkling Water with Fruit Garnish

Kiwi Flyer

Summary days 1-13

• map
• 65,198 flown miles
• 25 flights
• 7 a/c types
  • 747-400
  • 767-300
  • 777-200
  • 767-200
  • A319
  • MD-80
  • 757
• 4 airlines
  • SQ
  • QF
  • BA
  • AA
• 10 countries
  • New Zealand
  • Singapore
  • Japan
  • Australia
  • United Kingdom
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Oman
  • Spain
  • United States of America
  • Argentina
• 15 airports (number of transfers)
  • 3 SIN, LHR, DFW
  • 2 AKL, AUH, ORD, LAX, BOS
  • 1 NRT, SYD, MCT, BCN, ELP, SEA, EZE

Kiwi Flyer

Buenos Aires

We took a remisi to the city. Traffic was light so the trip only took 30 minutes. Along the way we saw a protest stationed on a section of the motorway!

I stayed at the Hilton. This is a fairly new hotel about 6 years old although looks newer, located near Centro in the Puerto Madero district. The lobby has an atrium reaching up 9 floors. I was directed to check in at the executive floor check in, which is near the lounge entrance and a small minimalist Japanese style garden. I get an upgrade to a suite overlooking the canal and central city - great.

The room, in keeping with the entire hotel, has modern decor without being over the top in attempted coolness as some hotels seem to be. Due to my HHonors status I also got complimentary wine.

The lounge was quite nice although I only had a chance to use it at breakfast. There are the usual tables and comfortable sofas, tv, magazines and newspapers. There is a balcony for smokers (since no longer allowed to smoke inside), overlooking the rooftop pool and sundeck. Non-alcoholic drinks are available all day, breakfast is until late morning, afternoon tea late afternoon and drinks and canapes for a few hours in the evening.

Buenos Aires is a very walkable city, and for those too lazy or unable to walk cabs are inexpensive. The subte (subway) is also cheap although the linear nature means it isnt always convenient. I didnt try buses but imagine they are also cheap.

The traffic is chaotic at rush hour, especially when that coincided with a 100,000 strong protest in Plaza de Mayo. At these times I tried to avoid taxis but I´m not sure which is the lesser evil - inhaling far too much fumes to be good for me plus playing dodgems with the traffic, or the tension from crazy cabbie squeezing through clogged intersections and periods when stationery due to gridlock.

The central city has a strong european feel, but with some distinctive touches to remind me that I´m not in Madrid or Paris. I spent many hours walking through the inner neighbourhoods.

Each district has a certain personality. From the tourist traps of Puerto Madero and Avenida Florida, to the theatres of Montserrat, the imposing monuments and official buildings of Centro to mixed residential-cafes/restaurants of Palermo and San Telmo. There is certainly some interesting and varied architectures and ambiences!

Once again I´m lucky with the weather - warm mid 20s C and mostly sunny or hazy.

Edited to add - the Recoleta Cemetry is truly a ciudad de los muertos and well worth a visit to see the large, elaborate family tombs.

Kiwi Flyer

Buenos Aires Ezeiza to Santiago (EZE-SCL) Business Class on LA 767

I had a fun few days in Buenos Aires - sharing much of it with cawhite and airoli was a very nice bonus. I´m envious that airoli gets to spend a month here. So I reluctantly headed back to the airport. Traffic was good and so the trip only took 20 minutes.

Check in was quick and they gave me all the boarding passes I wanted so I could save time and hassle later. Argentina has a departure tax payable at the airport, AR$54 or US$18 or can pay in euros (sorry I forget the amount).

I seem to have struck a quiet time and so security and immigration are speedy. I had originally been booked on a later flight, however with a schedule change after booking changing the flight from LAN (Chile) to LAN Argentina I had a choice of new flights - the one I ended up taking with a few hours connection in Santiago, or a later one that would have a reasonable risk of misconnection.

As with so many other airports these days, you have to walk through duty free to get to the main airside section. I changed a little money at a terrible rate and then headed for the lounge. It was a surprise to me that LAN did not have its own lounge but instead uses the Admirals Club which is open all day! Fairly basic lounge but it did have a couple of computer terminals enabling me to check my email.

Boarding is called rather later than the time on my boarding pass, which was a ridiculous 1 hour before departure. I got a pleasant surprise to get the 767 aircraft as I´d been expecting an A320 (admittedly I haven´t rechecked in the past couple of weeks). Unfortunately it is the old 2-class config with no PTVs. Still there is plenty of legroom and seat width is reasonable (without being generous).

To be continued ...

Kiwi Flyer

Sorry I´m getting a little behind. Thanks for your patience.

Kiwi Flyer

Buenos Aires Ezeiza to Santiago (EZE-SCL) Business Class on LA 767 continued

The meal is an omelette, croissant and fruit, no choices.

Since it is a great day for flying, just a bit of haze, I spend much of the flight looking out the window. The first 75 minutes or so we cross the vast plains of Argentina. Initially the paddocks are a tight patchwork but soon they get bigger and bigger. About an hour in we get our first sight of the Andes peering above the haze - and stretching out as far as the eye can see on both sides of the aircraft. As we get closer I see the switch from plains to mountains is abrupt, there do not appear to be any foothills in this area.

The mountains are majestic with deep valleys, some small glaciers and soaring peaks. I see a couple of roads climbing over the Andes in a long series of switchbacks. The width of the ranges at our flight path is rather less than I expected, for we are soon descending over the edge on the Chilean side. Here there are lots of large foothills and big valleys complete with basins and braided river flats, stretching the relatively short distance to the coast.

We descend to Santiago nestled in a basin close to the Andes - it is a beautiful warm day with a bit of a haze.

Next up - an immagration snafu.

Kiwi Flyer

Santiago to Isla De Pascua/Easter Island (SCL-IPC) Business Class on LA 767, and an immigration snafu

Since the onward flight was a domestic leg of an international flight (continues on to Papeete Tahiti), I checked to see where I needed to go. The FAs told me to use international connection which I did. A quick security check and upstairs to departure level. Then I went to the LA lounge by gate 20 for a shower, check my emails and FT and something to drink. Boarding is called rather later than the time printed on my boarding pass, but is efficiently done and we push back on time.

This 767 has the new business class seats which are similar to Qantas skybed, but with no useful storage other than the small gap between window seat and edge of the cabin. The seat is comfortable - modest width but the central arm rest lowers to provide more space. The leg rest elevates nicely but doesnt quite extend long enough for me, making a choice between uncomfortable bent legs with footrest out, or uncomfortable metal of the footrest against the back of my legs (footrest in). Pillows and blanket are hidden in a cubby at the base of the seat in front.

Meal orders are taken before take off, starting from the front of the cabin. Status counts for nothing, so if you want the most popular dishes (ie fish for lunch or dinner, omelette for breakfast) then be sure to sit close to the front. It seems they only do one go through for pre-departure drinks, so if you aren't amongst the first to board then you miss out As you can guess I missed out on both a pre-departure drink (no worries this time as I'd had one in the lounge) and also my first meal choice.

As well as the new seat this aircraft has the new avod IFE. It has about 8 movies, mostly a year or more old, plus about a dozen tv shows, flight path and some games. The tv shows have an annoying video montage of Peru at the start of each one. So in a several hour flight you get to see the same (beautiful) pictures over again and again. The IFE is very buggy, going back to menu many many times, and locking completely a few times. At least when it goes back to menu you have the option of restarting from where you left off, but it is still extremely annoying. So I end up mostly reading.

The service is friendly but very slow. Some meals are being cleared away from the front of the cabin before passengers at the back are even served, and call buttons were routinely ignored. However when they did answer (or I went to the galley) they were helpful and friendly. The impression I got was they aren't customer focussed enough - doing what they need to do rather than thinking about how to give great service.

After the first few minutes we are over the water and nothing to see over than sea and an extensive cloud sheet below us and to the south. We pass a small island part way (over an hour into the flight?). There is a nice sunset before we reach Easter Island and thus no view of the island until the lights of some houses and a road by the runway threshold moments before landing.

On arrival all passengers must deplane. Those continuing on to Papeete entering the departure lounge while those flying only to Easter Island go straight through to baggage claim. By now I realise I could enter Chile without completing immigration so I head through a door to the departure immigration and explain my situation.

I spent a nervous 20 minutes or so while they work out what to do. I got the impression this isn't the first time it has happened, but nonetheless they have some extra paperwork to do and since they are busy with passengers departing for Papeete it takes some time to complete. Eventually my passport is stamped and I'm allowed to go.

Kiwi Flyer

SCL-IPC Business menu

LIST OF WINES, SPIRITS & LIQUEURS

Aperitifs

Champagne Henriot Brut Souverain
Pisco Sour
Bloody Mary
Screwdriver
Cervezas - beers

Spirits & Liqueurs

Vodka Absolut
Gin Bombay Sapphire
Ron Bacardi Reserva
Johnnie Walker Black Label
Whisky Chivas Regal
Bailey's Irish Cream
Amaretto Di Saronno
Drambuie
Grand Marnier
Oporto Graham's Port
Cognac Courvoisier VSOP

Soft Drinks

Fruit Juices
Soft drinks
Diet drinks
Mineral water

Other Beverages

Coffee
Instant coffee
Instant decaffeinated coffee
Tea
Herbal tea
Milk

Champagne

Champagne Henriot Brut Souverain [ed - they did not load any champagne on this flight!]

Port

Graham's Port Late Bottled Vintage 1997

Wines

Vina Valdivieso Eclat 2004 Valle Del Maule
Bodega Vargas Arizu Tierras Altas Malbec 2002 Lujan De Cuyo, Mendoza
Vinedos Organicos Emiliana Adobe Carmenere 2004 Valle De Colchagua
Bodega Catena Zapata Saint Felicien Chardonnay 2005 Mendoza
Vina Carmen Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2005 Valle De Casablanca


DINNER

To Start

Champagne Henriot Brut Souverain

Fresh Garden Salad

Fresh seasonal vegetables served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

As the Main Entree, we Offer

Grilled fillet of beef
Grilled fillet of beef medallion, served in rosemary sauce, accompanied by creamy polenta and steamed asparagus.

Catch of the day
Ask your cabin crew about today's fish, served with creamy dill tomato sauce, potato gratin and sauteed vegetables.

Our pasta
Ham and ricotta cheese tortelloni served with creamy sage sauce and tomato confit.

Bread Basket

Make your own selection from our bread basket, white bread, whole wheat bread, home made puff pastry crackers and grissini.

Our Dessert

Chocolate marquise with raspberry sauce

Selection of fresh, seasonal fruit

Freshly brewed gourmet or instant coffee, decaffeinated coffee, tea or herbal teas

Liqueurs

Kiwi Flyer

Summary days 1-16

• map
• 68,242 flown miles
• 27 flights
• 7 a/c types
  • 747-400
  • 767-300
  • 777-200
  • 767-200
  • A319
  • MD-80
  • 757
• 5 airlines
  • SQ
  • QF
  • BA
  • AA
  • LA
• 11 countries
  • New Zealand
  • Singapore
  • Japan
  • Australia
  • United Kingdom
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Oman
  • Spain
  • United States of America
  • Argentina
  • Chile
• 17 airports (number of transfers)
  • 3 SIN, LHR, DFW
  • 2 AKL, AUH, ORD, LAX, BOS
  • 1 NRT, SYD, MCT, BCN, ELP, SEA, EZE, SCL, IPC

jfe

It's not a mansion

Hope you liked the ribs

Emily has been playing with the stuffed animal you brought, unfortunately her favorite thing to do with it, is to hug it, smile, and then toss it into the ground

Kiwi Flyer

The ribs were great. With the visits to Spain and Argentina in the same week+ period, I have had a bit of a beef overload!

Glad Emily is enjoying the kiwi.

jfe

Here are the pictures of Emily playing with the Kiwi stuffed animal

She just had spaghetti for dinner







And here is the picture at the state line, you wouldn't stand still




Hope to see you at ELP DO 2

Kiwi Flyer

Isla De Pascua/Easter Island

I'd booked a stay at Hotel Taura'a on the recommendation of an FTer (sorry I forget who it was ) and this included an airport transfer. While a lot of the "hotels" have representatives at the airport meeting each flight, similar to most South Pacific islands, I didn't want to take the risk of turning up and finding there is some event on that filled every place, so I pre-booked. Unfortunately they got the dates mixed up and so didn't meet me, but in typical friendly islander style someone else offered to take me to the hotel and wanted nothing but words of thanks.

The hotel is family run and while not flash (no in room phone, tv, radio or clock for example) it is clean, has enough space to spread out and has a ceiling fan to help keep the humidity at bay. I can see myself spending a nice leisurely few days here again enjoying the quiet pace of life. Included in the rate is a nice breakfast of freshly squeezed fruit drink, coffee or tea, fresh fruit, bread and omelette. They also run tours of the island (I didn't use these this time so can't comment on quality or cost). Note there is a 5% surcharge for payment by credit card. Cash payment can be in chilean pesos or any major currency (US$ or euros).

There are several moai sites close to the town - within easy walking distance. The best of which is at Tahai just along the coast heading away from the airport. Each moai is in sight of the next site, and almost all are facing inland.

While it is still dark the next morning I take a walk past Tahai, at first under the light of the full moon which lit up the scattered low clouds to nice effect and later in the clearing dawn light. There were no sounds other than the constant crowing of roosters (seemingly every third house had one), the gentle roar of the surf against the rocky shore and the very faint rustle caused by the barest of breezes.

To see the further moai and quarry there are several ways, rent a mountain bike, rent a car, hire a cab or through an arranged tour by one of several small tour companies.

This is off season so it would have been easy to arrange any of these on the spot - it may be more difficult (ie need advance booking) at peak times.

By the way the maps I found on the internet should be taken with a pinch of salt - they are representative rather than accurate (both in respective of positions of streets and in not showing all streets), and there are no street signs or signposts pointing towards attractions. However, given the very small number of streets you can't go too far wrong.

I really liked the island - it is a good place to contemplate/meditate as there are naturally many questions here that can't be fully answered. However, other than the moai, diving and resting there is little to do so a week here may not be everyone's cup of tea.

When it comes time for me to leave I decide to walk the short distance to the airport instead of taking the free transfer, so as to get one last look around. Since the roads are either dirt or brick, and footpaths mostly rutted dirt or non-existant, it isn't a place to wheel you luggage around and I get a free workout on my arms!

Kiwi Flyer

IPC-SCL Business menu

LIST OF WINES, SPIRITS & LIQUEURS

Aperitifs

Champagne Henriot Brut Souverain
Pisco Sour
Bloody Mary
Screwdriver
Cervezas - beers

Spirits & Liqueurs

Vodka Absolut
Gin Bombay Sapphire
Ron Bacardi Reserva
Johnnie Walker Black Label
Whisky Chivas Regal
Bailey's Irish Cream
Amaretto Di Saronno
Drambuie
Grand Marnier
Oporto Graham's Port
Cognac Courvoisier VSOP

Soft Drinks

Fruit Juices
Soft drinks
Diet drinks
Mineral water

Other Beverages

Coffee
Instant coffee
Instant decaffeinated coffee
Tea
Herbal tea
Milk

Champagne

Champagne Henriot Brut Souverain [ed - they did not load any champagne on this flight!]

Port

Graham's Port Late Bottled Vintage 1997

Wines

Vina Valdivieso Eclat 2004 Valle Del Maule
Bodega Vargas Arizu Tierras Altas Malbec 2002 Lujan De Cuyo, Mendoza
Vinedos Organicos Emiliana Adobe Carmenere 2004 Valle De Colchagua
Bodega Catena Zapata Saint Felicien Chardonnay 2005 Mendoza
Vina Carmen Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2005 Valle De Casablanca


LUNCH

To Start

Champagne Henriot Brut Souverain

Fresh Garden Salad

Fresh salad, prepared with a variety of selected seasonal vegetables

As the Main Entree, we Offer

Grilled fillet of beef
Grilled fillet of beef medallion, served with fresh meat juice, roasted potatoes with rosemary butter and green onions stewed in whit wine.

Catch of the day fresh from Rapa Nui
Ask your cabin crew about today's variety, fresh from Rapa Nui, served with steamed sweet potato and a selection of sauteed vegetables.

Our pasta
Home made tortelloni filled with turkey, ricotta cheese and walnuts, topped with fresh tomato sauce and basil.

Bread Basket

Choose your selection from our variety of warm breads

Our Dessert

Chocolate creme caramel served with its sauce

Selection of fresh, seasonal fruit

Freshly brewed gourmet or instant coffee, decaffeinated coffee, tea or herbal teas

Liqueurs


[Ed - notice how the menu is exactly the same as the flight over, albeit the menu wording differs slightly.]

Kiwi Flyer

Isla De Pascua/Easter Island to Santiago (IPC-SCL) Business Class on LA 767

Sadly I had to leave all to soon. After walking the short distance to the airport I went to check in. First all bags including carry-ons get screened for agriculture/quarantine. I notice the business class line has a sign for One World Ruby (lowest status tier) but none for One World Sapphire or Emerald! I get my onward boarding pass issued quickly.

The terminal is undergoing some construction, although it isn't clear to me exactly what is being done since the fenced off bit is a thin sliver in the middle. On the fence is a sign saying no liquids or gels allowed in carry on. That's odd I had some on the flight in without any difficulty. Oh well better finish this bottle of water then. As it turns out I don't see anyone checking for, or rejecting, any carry on liquids; so perhaps the notice is out of date?

The landside part of the terminal has the tiny check in area and screening machine, plus a couple of souvenir shops (there is also another one in a separate building across the drop off/pick up area), and is rather hot & crowded. Suspecting there isn't much airside and that it would take all of 1 minute to get airside, I decide instead to hop outside in the warm air.

About 30 minutes prior to departure I thought boarding must be due soon so I made through airside, saying hello to the officer who helped me enter the country legally, and getting screened but without any need to remove belts or shoes.

Airside was more of the same as landside - a few souvenir shops, the other half of the same cafe that exists landside, and a teeming crowd that showed there were rather more passengers flying through from Papeete than were originating here at Isla De Pascua. As with some other South Pacific island airports, you could also hop out into the open air area for some fresh air - no scrub that, for a heady mix of fuel fumes and cigarette smoke.

We board shortly after, across the tarmac and up the stairs. This time I managed to get a bulkhead seat and so did get pre-departure drinks, did get my meal choice and all the other benefits of sitting near the front.

Edited to add - after doors closed but before take off we got sprayed with insecticide.

We had the same crew as the flight over.

Unlike the flight over there is an amenity kit of sorts, albeit a very abbreviated one. We get a shoe bag, socks, pen and earplugs.

Again, the IFE isn't working properly. This time even flight map is kaput. So I doze and read some more.

We had a brief view of the island as we head down the slope of the runway between the hills on each side, and after take off turn around the island. Then it is the vast nothingness of the Pacific, and lots of cloud cover. As we begin our descent the Andes are suddenly visible above the haze. We seem to take a different route through the valleys into Santiago and touch down a little ahead of schedule.

The flight arrives in the international part of the terminal, with a choice of international transfer (reasonable queue at security) or immigration. I remember that the transfer doesn't check passports or process departure and so head for immigration. At the agriculture screening they ask for my arrival card. I say I've come from Isla De Pascua (ie domestic flight) and they seem happy without checking any boarding pass or ticket. Seems all too slack for arrival and departure from the country. I don't know if there would have been any problems if I had instead elected to enter the country without immigration processing and/or exited the country without immigration processing, but since I do want to return to Chile I was glad I went to the effort of doing the right thing.

Since I already had by onward boarding pass all I needed to do was head past the taxi touts, take the lift upstairs and head to security and immigration. This took all of 5 minutes, probably about the same amount of time as the international transfer would have taken, and then straight back to the lounge.