WELLINGTON to SYDNEY (WLG-SYD) on Qantas 737-400 in business class

A few days later I was up at OMG o'clock and headed back to the airport. There is no point in arriving too early for these early morning departures since immigration at Wellington only opens at 4:30am. When I arrived there was a long queue at economy check in and just one person who was finishing up at the line for business, one world emerald and sapphire and qantas club.

I was quickly checked in and given 2 boarding passes. I was invited to pay the $25 departure tax, only credit card accepted (no cash) to save queueing at travelex. I don't think the economy class check in offers this service. I already had a departure card (pre-filled in on the way to the airport) so no need to collect one of those at the counter.

I noticed the departure monitors had an error, displaying the Pacific Blue flight to Brisbane with 2 different times (over an hour apart). Oh dear that will confuse some people.

Immigration was open and without a queue thanks to the passenger in front of me who hadn't bothered to fill in a card. He was to one side and I was asked to skip past him by the immigration officer. No queue at security either and the screeners were more interested in talking amongst themselves than bothering me with a pat down/explosives check so I sauntered through the duty free shop and into the lounge. Inside I had a coffee to stay awake until boarding and caught up with some messages.

The lounge was moderately full but rather subdued given the early hour. Some breakfast foods but these were ignored by most. No newspapers yet - it is too early for a delivery. Boarding was called not too much later. This lounge has a back door opening to the gate so no queue to board. There is no boarding pass reader, though, so stubs are collected for cross-checking.

I boarded fairly late. Business class was moderately full but I had an empty seat adjacent. We were offered a pre-departure drink of Charles Heidsieck champagne, orange juice or water. A menu was handed out. The 737-400 does not have personal tvs and so personal DVD players are handed out in business class, after take off. The DVD menu was already in the seat pocket and I perused this while I waited. The December 2010 to January 2011 DVD listings were
- Made in Dagenham
- Buried
- Tomorrow, When the War Began
- The Kids Are All Right
- Get Him to the Greek
- Dinner for Schmucks
- Legend of the Guardians : The Owls of Ga'Hoole
- Ramona and Beezus
- Q Comedy (The IT Crowd, The Simpsons, Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em, Two and a Half Men, Glee)
- Q Variety (Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Blunders and Wonders Ashes Special, Inside the Actors Studio : Micky Rourke, Undercover Boss)
- iQ (The Making of Modern Australia, Forest Elephants, Kokoda)

The safety video was the new one featuring John Travolta. I thought it was fairly boring, but perhaps I've been spoiled by Air NZ lately?

After take off there was a hot towel, DVD players and DVDs handed out and breakfast served. Unsure if I would fall asleep I opted to watch one of the shows instead of a movie.

The flight passed quickly - in seemingly no time at all the DVD players and DVDs were collected and we were on descent for Sydney. For once we had a straight in approach, but of course it was to the eastern runway so a moderate length taxi into the terminal. Except we didn't get to use a gate, instead pulling up at a stand down by the freight area. There were a couple of other aircraft also parked up here disgorging passengers. Yup, early morning in Sydney is rather busy at the international terminal.

We had a short wait for stairs to arrive. Then into a bus. They tried getting as many people into the bus as possible. For a moment I thought they were hoping to fit all of us into one bus load - not realistic for a fairly full flight and a not very big bus. Eventually the driver decided we were sufficiently squashed up and could fit no more in and we drove the length of the oneworld pier alongside the taxi way and doubled back in behind the aircraft to the bus gate arrival door about 100 metres from where we started about 5 minutes ago.