I recently returned from a two week vacation where my primary goal was to snorkle with humpback whales. This required flying to the kingdom of Tonga, which is one of only two places in the world that allow such personal encounters.

2 August 2002
UA6947 SJC->LAX Depart 17:40 Arrive 17:55
This flight was the dreaded CanadaAir Jet and it was completely full. That is not too surprising on a Friday evening. Boarding was done by row, with no priority for MileagePlus status. I was assigned seat 2A (booked 4 months in advance) but when I boarded, the seat was occupied. After pointing this out to the flight attendant, he directed me to 13B (last row). I accepted this without complaint because it was a short flight, but I dislike losing seats that have been carefully selected well in advance. The flight proceeded without incident and we arrived approximately on time at LAX.

I was happy to have a few hours between flights because I was trying to connect up with some other people headed to Tonga on Air New Zealand. This was cumbersome because ANZ is serviced at the other side of LAX away from terminal 7 and involves several security checkpoints. Fortunately there were few people in line and the delays were minor. Unfortunately my associates had arrived early on Southwest and proceeded through security without waiting. I returned to terminal 7 to make my connection.

UA841 LAX->AKL Depart 22:15 777 C seat 8F
This flight was quite full but still departed on time. There was the standard preflight drink service (OJ, champagne or mimosa) in plastic cups. Drinks and mixed nuts were served prior to dinner. I ordered a gin and tonic; the FA brought me too mini bottles and a large can of tonic water. While some may prefer a complete beverage, I enjoyed the opportunity to mix my own. I did not keep the menu because of my long trip, but here are my recollections: the salad and appetizer were served separately before the main course. I ordered filet mignon, which I don't recall having had inflight before, and enjoyed it quite a bit. I was disappointed to see that the New Zealand wine selections were not available and skipped wine with dinner. The dessert was nothing memorable. The FAs were an experienced crew and they did an adequate job checking on the comfort of passengers in the business class cabin. I did have to go back to the galley once for water.

The flight arrived on time but immigration took a long time. There were only two officials on duty at 6AM and it took 30 minutes to reach baggage claim. I was merely a transit passenger (but spending the day in Auckland) so I waltzed through the agricultural inspection in record time. I was forced to wait until 8:15AM for my associates on ANZ but we managed to make it into Auckland by 8:45AM. We took a quick bus tour to get our bearings and followed that with a harbour cruise in midafternoon. Unfortuately, there was little wind so we were unable to use the sails. Afterwards we returned to the airport to make our connection to Tonga.

4 August 2002
ANZ74 AKL->TBU Depart 22:15 Arrive 02:15 Seat 6D Y class
This was my first experience with Air New Zealand and I was very impressed with their efficiency. The flight was quite full but it boarded and departed on time. There was a complete meal service and movie shown during the three hour flight. I skipped all of this because I was trying to sleep. The seating arrangements were interesting too: the front of the aircraft had fully occupied rows while the rear had empty middle seats. This seems almost the reverse of "European" business class, but I don't know why this seating strategy was used.

5 August 2002
We arrived in Tonga on time but it by the time we had collected our bags, boarded the shuttle bus and arrived at the hotel, it was about 3:30AM. This hotel (International Dateline Hotel) is undergoing extensive renovations and these proved to be quite bothersome during our short stay. Our rooms were on the third floor and directly faced the construction site. Work started promptly at 7AM and easily awakened us all from our three hour nap. I gave up on sleep and simply tried to make it through the rest of the day. Breakfast service was pretty good and was reasonably priced. At 2PM we departed for our 9 day ocean cruise in search of humpback whales.

14 August 2002
We returned from a most enjoyable whale trip around 9AM and proceeded to check into day rooms at the aforementioned International Dateline Hotel. Although contruction was still underway we resolved to spend almost no time in the hotel before our early morning fligh back to Auckland. We managed to see most of the island by tour bus in a few hours. After returning to town, we walked around to see as much as possible before returning to the hotel around 5PM. Our final stop in Tonga was a farewell dinner at the Seaview? Hotel with other passengers from our cruise. This was a most enojoyable evening, at probably one of the nicest restaurants in Tonga. Including wine and dessert, I think we each spent no more than $25.

15 August 2002
ANZ73 TBU-AKL Departs 02:45 Arrives 0500 Seat 16D Y class
This trip was very similar to the first one. As a change of pace, I was seated in the rear of the 737 and thus had an empty seat next to me. Once again I chose sleep over dinner and a movie.

As the conclusion to our trip, we spent a few days exploring in and around Auckland. I must say that I found New Zealand to a beautiful (and inexpensive) place to visit. I can only imagine what the much less densely populated South island is like. I definitely need to return in order to explore it.

18 August 2002
UA842 AKL->LAX Flight Canceled
After reaching the airport around 4PM, I was quickly informed that the 6:30PM departure would not be happening. Apparently mechanical difficulties required the entire flight to be scratched. The only alternative was ANZ and this flight was already quite full. Since I was flying on an NC ticket, I would be downgraded to Y for ANZ. Fortunately there was no space available and I was forced to wait for UA's replacement flight the next day. I received accomodations at the Hotel Grand Chancellor and it proved adequate for my needs. There was reasonably priced Internet access in the lobby so I could alert my ride (and the office) that my trip was slightly delayed. The food service was only average: the dinner buffet had very little to offer aside from rice, beef, gravy and potatoes; the breakfast buffet was a little better.

19 August 2002
UA842 AKL->LAX Depart 14:30 Arrive 0659 C class Seat 8F
This flight left at a special time, 4 hours ahead of schedule and was only patially fully. There were approximately 120 passengers in Y and 2 in F, while C was almost completely full. I think there may have been another flight leaving at the normal time too.

There was another experienced crew on the flight and once again preflight drinks were handled efficiently. After takeoff I noticed some changes in the drink service: my gin and tonic was served as a complete beverage but I a refill was provided automatically. I also noticed that one of my seatmates was enjoying attentive refills of her champagne, before and during dinner. I was disappointed to see that once again New Zealand wines were listed in the menu but not available on board. I ordered chicked scalappino instead of the filet mignon and red snapper. Once again I enjoyed my selection. I also noticed that the FA skipped around the cabin when taking orders, clearly they were using MileagePlus levels to determine the priority for filling dinner requests. Dessert was a choice of cheese or caramelized banana mousse. I selected the mousse but was not overly impressed with it; I elected to only eat half of it. There was a midflight snack service but I must have slept through it. I noticed my seat opponent<TM> enjoying some sort of hot sandwich but did not see any other sandwiches in evidence. Breakfast was a choice of poached eggs with Hollendaise sauce or a fruit plate. I chose the fruit plate (pineapple/strawberry/kiwi/melon) and found it quite enjoyable.

Flying time to LAX was only 11:30 and we arrived at the gate 15 minutes early. In expectation of early arrival we were directed to the Tom Bradley Terminal since it opens at 6AM and the United terminal opens for immigration at 7AM. This was particularly helpful for me because it meant that my hike (with 6 bottles of New Zealand wine) to Terminal 3 for my connection was now much shorter. Of course it also meant that people with connections on United now how a much longer walk. This entire process was particulary interesting because delays with the sky bridge prevented us from exiting the plane before 0715 and we quite easily could have done that at Terminal 6.

The immigration and customs process was quick and painless. I found my self standing at the gate for my flight in terminal 3 by 7:50AM.

AA282 LAX->SJC Depart 0915 Arrive 1030 Y class Seat 12A
The cancellation of my original flight from Auckland required a new connection to San Jose. Fortunately this was all handled by United and I merely had to give my old ticket to American Airlines in exchange for a seat on their MD80. This ticket exchange undoubtedly marked me as a suspicious traveler; for the first time I was unable to avoid the secondary security screening. However it was not overly intruisive I actually enjoyed this flight as a fine replacement for the CanadaAir Jet. It was roomier and did not seem as noisy. I even managed to have an empty seat next to me. Unfortunately the arrival gate in San Jose was the farthest one possible from baggage claim. By the time I reached baggage claim, my wine bottles were really starting to feel heavy.

I whisked through baggage claim and reached my apartment by 11:15AM. Now I am back at work and hopefully will be able to avoid the effects of jet lag.