Taipei to Brisbane on China Airlines A330-300 in business (TPE-BNE CI C)
Brisbane to Auckland on China Airlines A330-300 in business (BNE-AKL CI C)
I prefer to fly back from Taipei on the Sydney flight because it is less risky to connect to my onward domestic flights (which invariably are on separate tickets). Not only does the Sydney flight scheduled to arrive in Auckland nearly an hour earlier, but the curfew at Sydney means the flight will be prioritised because a delay of more than an hour will hit the curfew on the return back to Taipei. But this trip I was returning on a day when the flight routes via Brisbane.
Otherwise there is little difference. A slightly shorter flight for the first leg, so even less sleep. Full aircraft to Brisbane and, this time, also a full flight to Auckland.
Once again there was a modest delay in boarding - unannounced so again more time spent in the gate. 40 minutes this time. We made up time en route and arrived at Brisbane on time.
China Airlines uses the Air New Zealand lounge at Brisbane. At this time of year it isn't too full, but in southern winter the flight is timed similarly to two 777 Air NZ flights so the lounge is crowded. The boarding call in the lounge was made a little late and it took me a couple of minutes to save my work. By the time I made my way down the pier to the gate near the end the gate was empty of passengers. I just barely avoided the walk of shame for boarding late, reaching the aircraft just after the previous passengers who obviously had been waiting in the airbridge.
Onboard my seat was occupied as someone had decided they liked my seat better
The crew didn't want to move the passenger to their proper seat so I ended up taking their seat. Of course they had put their carry on above their seat so there was no space for mine, which ended up in a closet.
We made good time and landed half an hour early. I thought I could switch to an earlier flight, maybe even the second prior flight from the one I had booked. It wasn't to be - we stopped on a taxiway for our gate to become free and pulled in on time. Immigration was empty but there was a long queue at customs, which took 20 minutes to get through (of which maybe 30 seconds was with the officer).