Ultimate WELLINGTON to AUCKLAND (WLG-AKL) flight
on Qantas 737-300 in economy class

After saying some goodbyes we headed to the Wellington domestic Qantas Club, probably for the last time for me at least. There were a few FTers doing this flight too, including Itsalongwaydown, Sue Oz, Wijomas, and saabflyer.

Boarding was called slightly late ... if the flight was on time. I suspected it would not be so was in no hurry to get to the gate, but our Australian friends wanted to board in plenty of time to secure overhead bin space. At security it was clear boarding had not yet started and was not imminent. We waited in the gate area for about 20 minutes before the call was made. Finally onboard there was a further delay due to a passenger who'd gone missing. He was found and did the walk of shame to his seat.

Once again we were scattered around the cabin, but all in the first several rows. This time I had an empty middle seat. Not surprising given the load was only 50% (approx).

The crew were quieter than those we'd flown down with. We left about 30 minutes late. Wijomas wondered if we were getting a water salute as a fire truck was spied nearby, but no we had a lame natural one in the rain.

More announcements of it being the final flight, and the same IFE as the flight down (normally on turnarounds the tv show differs each way, not tonight). Still IFE wasn't really needed as everyone was chatting about the exit of Qantas and the arrival of Jetstar on domestic flights. I think Air NZ missed an opportunity here - if they'd met the flight on arrival with a flyer about transferring club membership or status across there would have been plenty of takers. Admittedly they have been status and club matching for the past couple of months via website and newspaper advertising.

Food was a choice of mini mince pie or cheese and crackers. The beverage service was Lindauer sparkling wine by default, or water tea or coffee if you insisted. No other alcoholic (nor soft drinks) were loaded. No second round this time, and indeed all the rubbish was collected rather early before we reached some turbulence over Waikato.

We lost more time inflight and landed rather late. This is fitting in my view, as Qantas domestic in NZ have had a terrible ontime performance. Another announcement about it being the final flight in case anyone had missed it, no clapping this time though.

It felt like a lame anticlimactic end to an era (and the end for this particular aircraft too).