AUCKLAND to WELLINGTON (AKL-WLG) on Air NZ 737-300 in economy class
Massive queues at the post office where I was picking up a parcel and bad traffic wiped out most of my planned lounge stay. I had a chat with one agent, and while I did so I heard another passenger asking about rebooking options as his flight to Wellington had been cancelled. Wind and rain in Queenstown had kept a 737 out of position.
Since I was flying to Wellington too I checked the screens and sure enough my flight was the one cancelled. In "rush hour" there are Air NZ flights every half hour but we got the short straw. So I checked to see whether I'd been brought forward or pushed back - either would work with my itinerary. The agent couldn't find me listed on either flight and called. Apparently I'd been protected by being rebooked onto the direct flight to Taupo which was leaving imminently.
Air NZ hadn't called me so if I hadn't enquired the first I would have found out would have been a page "Kiwi Flyer please board your flight to Taupo, everyone is waiting for you"! It is odd they didn't call me - Air NZ had my phone number and moreover knew I was in the lounge having entered with my epass.
I politely asked to be switched to one of the other Wellington flights since I really did want to fly to Taupo via Wellington and Wanganui - that was the whole point of the trip. Being peak hour and very last minute switch there were only middle seats left, but I managed to get a space plus seat at least when the agent bumped a silver member out of their seat. I think this is the first middle seat I've had in a few years (many hundreds of flights) -
Boarding was soon called. I took my seat. The flight was 100% full, but at least being peak hour with lots of businesspeople means I had no problem with overhead bin space to stow my carry-on.
This was a koru hour service. So we got a choice of cheese plate or bagel bites with hummous. The cheese plate had 2 large pieces of nice cheese, 2 crackers (used to be 3 but they've run out of those packets) and a couple of grapes. Washed down with a choice of nice red and white wine, L&P, water, tea or coffee.
I caught up on some papers and enjoyed the view. Coming into Wellington we were warned it would be bumpy with winds of 70 knots. The wind turbines at Makara were all in braked position due to too much wind, and the sea was mostly white caps and spray with patches of grey-blue in between. The landing itself wasn't too bad ... for Wellington.