Air New Zealand
Economy Class (Y)
Discounted Economy Class Fare
NZ615: AKL-ZQN (Auckland to Queenstown)
19 November 2018
Airbus A320 (One Class Configuration)
ZK-OXK
Seat 9A
Departure: 09:30AM 10:43AM
Arrival: 11:20AM 12:34PM
Our arrival into AKL was more or less on time, so we had several hours to kill before our onward flight to ZQN. Out of an abundance of caution, I'd given us a 4-5hr buffer between these flights. As it turns out, we could've easily made an earlier flight. However, our car rental didn't begin until noon and we couldn't check in at the lodging until 2PM, so there was no reason to rush anyway.
After getting a SIM card at duty free (pro-tip) and quickly making it through immigration and customs, we made the short(ish) walk to the domestic terminal. It had been a year since I'd last visited AKL and I was impressed by the progress they'd made in renovating the international terminal. Since we had several hours before our onward flight, we grabbed coffees and a snack.
Soon enough, it was time to board our plane to ZQN. Everything was going well until the captain came over the PA. He informed us that there was currently weather at ZQN and there was a chance we'd have to turn back mid-flight. But he promised he'd do his best to get us there. A bit of an ominous start to the flight.
Apron View from 9A
Hmm... What's a 777 doing parked on the taxiway?
Yup, that's our plane from DOH
So, apparently, QR has their planes sitting on the ground in AKL for 11-12 hours every day waiting for the next flight. That's pretty poor aircraft utilization, but I suppose they can afford it.
Anyway, after spying our inbound plane, the NZ bird came to a stop just beyond the gate. Then we waited for several long minutes before the captain came back over the PA. He informed us that the nosewheels were damaged and needed to be replaced. The repair would be done in an hour and we had to deplane. Soon enough, a maintenance truck came along and they offloaded two new wheels for our plane.
Ground Crew Finishing the Replacement of Both Nosewheels
True to his word, we were back on the plane in less than an hour. Overall, I was pretty impressed with how well the situation was handled by NZ. Before long, we were in the air on the way to ZQN.
Final Approach into ZQN
Southern Approach over Lake Wakatipu
Mount Crichton
Luckily, the weather held out long enough for us to land. It was still raining, with low cloud cover when we landed, but it proved not to be an issue for our experienced flight crew.
Landed at ZQN
Once on the ground, it was readily apparent why earlier flights had not made it. It had been snowing all morning at ZQN. As a result, the terminal was absolutely packed. The scene in the terminal very much reminded me of flying out of EGE on Saturday mornings in March (turnover day during peak ski season). That said, it was a bit unusual to get snow this late in Spring and we weren't really expecting to get snow. However, we'd packed appropriate clothing just in case...
After getting our bag, we grabbed the nearest taxi to get our rental car. I'd decided to rent a car off the airport premises, as the cost savings were enormous (50-75% less expensive than airport rentals). We picked up our car ($140NZD total for 4 days) from the rental shop and made our way to Pack N Save for groceries.