This doesn't really answer the question, but a few weeks ago while I was at a friend's place in Wellington, I was leafing through an old copy of Cuisine magazine from the mid-90s. In what was obviously one of a series of features on high-profile people and their eating habits, there was a slightly younger looking Helen Clark. (In fact, I recognised the photo as being one that was put out the first time the Labour party tried to revamp her image when she was being groomed for leadership: she had immaculately coiffed hair, a slash of bright red lipstick, and some eye make-up which, combined with a bit of soft focus, made her look a lot less scary than usual... but I digress!) In between various comments about Wellington restaurants etc, there were some remarks about the respective merits of Air New Zealand and Ansett New Zealand (RIP) domestic business class (RIP again!) food - clearly she flew both airlines regularly in business class, and for what it was worth she rated Air New Zealand more highly.

More recently, I have some vague memory of reading somewhere that she was booked in business but was routinely op-upped to first by Air New Zealand... however that could be completely wrong!

[This message has been edited by mad_atta (edited 07-18-2003).]