brenrox

Auckland (AKL) to Sydney (SYD) – NZ105



Airline: Air New Zealand
Flight: NZ105
Aircraft: Boeing 777-200
Registration: ZK-OKD
Scheduled Departure time: 1600
Scheduled Arrival time: 1730
Flight Time: 3 hours 30 minutes
Class: Business Premier
Seat: 4A (Seat Map)

It had been too long since I had a holiday to Australia so for sometime I was constantly scouring Air NZ for some good deals. Not having any family/friends in Sydney, where I hoped to go, it meant I would have to fork out for the inflated accommodation prices. One day though, I came across a Travelodge deal on AirNZ’s website – 3 nights for the price of two. After seeing this and doing the mandatory TripAdvisor check, I dusted the cob-webs off the credit card and booked. At this time there were also sale flights for ~NZD70 (plus tax) for seat only. I had a heap of Airpoints (APD), but I wanted the status points, so I booked the other half on a seat + bag with APD and myself on seat only with cash. At the time I was stoked because I mistakenly thought Waitangi Day (NZ’s National Holiday) was on the Monday, so I booked for Friday after work, returning on Monday and no leave would need to be taken. Unfortunately, Waitangi Day was to fall on the Sunday, meaning no public holiday on the Monday. I pre-selected seats 19J & 19K and put in my *silver upgrade request. For a while I was contemplating not upgrading the girlfriend, but I couldn’t comprehend the consequences (I’m glad I did though, it was great sharing the experience with her!). It took about a week and numerous calls to/from AirNZ, but finally her Airpoints upgrade (APD250) was lodged. Expertflyer was showing only Z4 and the other upgrade buckets had 0 next to them.


Another day and another trip back to Air NZ parking. It was pretty quiet when we arrived and there was already a van waiting to whisk us away to the airport. On the way to the airport I noticed, what I’m guessing was sea smog – A brownie coloured cloud that engulfed the surroundings and visibility was pretty limited. We were wished a good holiday from the young Samoan gentleman as we proceeded to the Air NZ premium check in. It was dead quiet here also and we were the only ones here checking in. I had no problems with my old style passport on the kiosk machine this time and a lovely Japanese Air NZ worker came over to ensure we had no hiccups with the process. We were given boarding passes with our assigned seats (19J & 19K) and she told me what I already knew, that these were emergency exit seats, with extra leg room. I mentioned that we both had upgrade requests and she followed this up with a phone call. I heard her mutter something about request for C class and with a few buttons pressed on her computer, she told us both what we wanted to hear and it was confirmed straight away – I couldn’t hide the smile as I thanked her profusely. We placed our solitary suitcase on the conveyer belt, it was scanned and we made our way up the lift to customs. It was very dead and I mentioned to the customs worker that today must be extremely slow – he mumbled something back in agreeance. The wait to clear security was minimal and soon enough we were browsing the grog aisles in DFS duty free in the re-furbished terminal.

I hadn’t had lunch, so dragged the missus away from the perfume aisles to mark our way to the Koru Club. The lounge was very quiet when we entered and lunch service was still being offered. Lunch was penne pasta with bits of salami mixed through, four different salads, rolls and sweet green pea soup. I filled the time by surfing the net and enjoying the odd Heinekin; I was conscious not to over indulge on the food and alcohol though as I knew I would have more than my fair share on the plane.

The attendants announced that afternoon tea was being brought out which included the same soup, banana chocolate chip muffins, scones, lamingtons, beef wraps as well as the standard cheese and cracker selection. The attendant also pointed out that several flights were delayed, including ours which was delayed by 2 hours. I checked myairnz.co.nz to check our seat selection for the flight home. At the time I also looked at the flight we were due to board and the seat map had us in 4 A & 4B on the 772. I thought it was slightly odd that they would have the 772 seat map, but didn’t think much off it, but decided to check the arrivals into AKL anyways. It appeared that the next 763 flight due into AKL wasn’t until about 1730 – about 25 minutes before we were due to depart, so it couldn’t be that one. NZ124 was due to arrive into AKL about 1645 and I was hoping like hell, this aircraft was to be subbed in to replace ours. The earlier NZ175 flight to PER was delayed and I’m pretty sure they got our aircraft, and we indeed did have the 772. To my surprise, we were still in the lounge for the dinner selection also. It didn’t really appeal to me but from memory it was a beef casserole, with rice.

We left the lounge about 15 minutes before boarding was due. Silly mistake in hindsight as boarding didn’t commence until 15 minutes before the re-scheduled departure time. Ten minutes before boarding, the attendant announced a structured boarding with families with young children and passengers that needed extra assistance to board first, and then followed by a boarding call for premium passengers. When push come to shove, and it was time for boarding, it was all these passengers plus the last rows of economy, so it was a bit of a mosh pit whilst boarding. We were greeted by the attendant with a “Welcome to Business Premier”. We were like little kids in a toy shop for the first few minutes; I mean we are early twenties, both part-time students and here we are in Business Premier. On the ottoman was an NZ Herald newspaper, a blanket and menu. On the seat was a small cushin and in the arm rest were the noise cancelling headphones. Not long after getting comfy in our seats, we were asked what we would like to drink. We both opted for the Deutz bubbles. Two glasses later and it was time for the glasses to be collected as we prepared for take off. We had the new Rico safety video today, and despite not being the biggest fan off Rico, I actually didn’t mind the video at all (heaven-forbid I think I may have managed a laugh too)

Despite expertflyer.com’s seat map showing ~17 occupied seats on the seat map, there were only 12 of us flying today. Of the 12, were three Asian business men (well I’m guessing they were business men) who also had a female guide who seemed to organise everything for them – she seemed to have it pretty cushy, travelling in business class around the world, looking after them!. We Taxied down to the eastern end of the runway and took off towards Manukau Harbour.

Five minutes after take off the seat belt signs were switched off and hot towels were handed out. A few moments later our drink orders were taken and kasave chips were handed out. Following this, the entrees were handed out; this consisted of prawns flavoured with basil and resting on a potato salad; with the girlfriend not being a seafood fan, I didn’t hesitate to have hers also 9I traded her the kasava chips for the prawns, not a bad deal). They were probably some of the best prawns I have ever had and the same with the garlic bread that followed. To accompany this, I had an award winning Sauvignon Blanc.

For dinner I went for the teriyaki salmon with noodles and the other half went for some very tender beef with mash potato. Several top-ups later of Sav and listening to some of NZ’s finest music, I was quite enjoying myself. It was time for desert; with the other half being allergic to nuts, the biscotti and Kapiti ice-cream was out of the question, so we both had a chocolate gateau which closely resembled a Tiramisu, with a strawberry and cream to accompany it. By now I was extremely full, but the attendant persuaded me to have some cheese and crackers. I had one mouthful of the blue vein cheese, and that was enough for me – however the other (don’t know the type) was most enjoyable. Tea and coffee followed, I abstained, instead went for a top-up of the wine; the other half had a coffee and was convinced to add a drop of Baileys to it for a bit of flavour.

The last hour of the flight was pretty quiet and I passed the time by listening to more music and watching the airshow on the opposite seat; One of the attendants was pleasantly chatting to another passenger and to be honest, I was struggling to finish the wine by this time! One last drinks run before landing and I opted for a beer, whilst listening to some more music.

The approach today was straight in from the south, with some great views of Southern Sydney. We had a 2-3 minute taxi to the gate, but once we were there, it took at least five minutes for the ramp operator to decide which door he was going to use. The attendants discretely stopped the PE & E passengers to allow the Business Premier passengers to disembark first. Customs was empty and I pocketed both express cards as we were served straight away at a standard counter. Our bags arrived quickly enough, despite 10-20 non-priority bags before ours; after lining our bags up with ~10 other passengers, we passed the sniffer dog test and were land side within 15 minutes of disembarking and were off into the Sydney heat.