I was on NZ90 yesterday, departing NRT for AKL on 16 April. Was in J on the 763. I envied those who can sleep anytime, anywhere. The 763 J seats are just so narrow, it's difficult to get comfortable for the 6-7 hours you'd like to sleep between meals. The onboard staff, however, were fanatastic with their service. More on them in a bit.

The captain came on about 30 minutes before landing to let us know that weather in AKL was quite bad and that we were going to have a pretty bumpy landing. As we were about 10 minutes out and then on final, he wasn't kidding. He reported earlier a a very low ceiling. Probably more like 500 feet. When we could see the ground, only a few seconds passed before I saw an NZ and QF aircraft on the taxiway waiting for takeoff. Problem was, we were still about 200 about above the runway. About two seconds later, the engines spun up and we aborted the landing. Five minutes later, the captain came back on to tell us "we didn't make it into Auckland" and that we were diverting to Wellington.

Landed in WLG, which was very rainy and windy but wasn't as bad as AKL must have been. Taxied to the gate at the INT terminal but had to sit on the plane for a little over an hour as they decided what was going to happen next. Compounding the problem was that our cockpit crew went technical. After an hour, the ground staff at WLG created a "sterile" room for us to deplane. The airport opened the Relay shop for papers, magazines, etc. (plus the NZ/OZ mains adapter that I left home in New Jersey), and Mojo's for coffee, drinks, etc. NZ also provided free water and cookies. They finally permantly deplaned certain pax going to Dunedin and Napier, IIRC, to have them go through immigration and get on flights out of WLG. On the ground for about three hours before a new flight crew came down from AKL to take us back. The ground staff at WLG were great. Very helpful and accomodating handling a situation they probably don't get too often, an international diversion. They said domestic diversions usually are from a fogged in CHC. Kudos to the WLG Air NZ ground staff and airport staff.

About 10 minutes before reboarding, they called a few of us over, those of us who were to connect AKL-ZQN, which was my final detination. We told that ground staff in AKL would guide us to a hotel room overnight and a reaccommodation on the 18th to ZQN. Kevin and his cabin crew, including Krystle, were fantastic. They worked both legs of the flight. They were great and the meals were very good coming down from NRT. However, if you can avoid the J seat to/from NRT or HNL, do so. There are still certain days that a 772 operates NRT-AKL. Fly on one of those days.

Landed in AKL at 1430, about 6 hours after original arrival time.

Kudos again the the NZ crew, both cockpit and cabin. To a captain and first officer who put safety first. To a cabin crew, who we also know put safety first, and doing their best to keep a large group of people informed, especially during those times that information wasn't coming as fast as a few pax expected.

In the Sudima Hotel just outside AKL, waiting to head back over for my one day late flight NZ641 down to ZQN. Here's hoping for an eventless flight.