BRISBANE to AUCKLAND (BNE-AKL) on Qantas 737-400 in economy class
Today's trans-tasman chariot was ZK-JTP, thus 3 rows of business class and the cabin divider was in place. This means a DVD player for the first rows of economy class and a small selection of movies to watch instead of the main screen listing (main screens are not visible from the seat).
Lunch was a choice of butter chicken and rice or penne pasta and pesto, plus the usual small hard roll, few leafs thrown together as a salad, and finish with street ice cream. Water, juice, tea, coffee, beer and wine available. The crew only came through once with drinks - a poor showing.
Our flight time was longer than normal due to not getting the usual strong tailwinds.
Despite the captain's announcement at top of descent of fine warm weather we arrived to cold drizzle. We pulled up at the gate at the end, which I don't mind for the exercise and a chance to pass others on the way to immigration. However, there was a delay in disembarking - there was no airbridge driver for 10 minutes and then he had trouble lining the bridge up with the aircraft.
At immigration the queues were modest and fast moving. I noticed on the far right lane a smartgate kiosk, although it apparently wasn't yet in use (blocked by a rope barrier). NZ has a very long health form that does not ask for health information or check if you have visited somewhere at high risk, but instead asks for much the same info as on the arrival card but repeated in a couple more boxes.