I am well aware that spending 4 days only in the North island is quite a stretch, but this will give me the opportunity to go back there someday (and not alone) to do some of the things I was not able to see, the Tongariro and Egmont NP for example.
Nonetheless, I was looking forward going to my next Kiwi stop, Wellington, New Zealand's capital city (although Auckland is by far the biggest city in the country, it is not the Capital city). Wellington being located the southernmost part of the North Island, and facing the South Island, I was expecting to have nice aerial views of the Cook's straight during the approach and booked a front window seat (2F) as soon as the Air New-Zealand online check-in opened. As an Av-geek, I was also looking forward flying with ANZ for the first time, I have always been a big fan of their safety videos !

I arrived at the domestic terminal of Auckland airport about 2 hours before the departure of my flight to Wellington. Since I was still a Turkish Airlines Elite card holder for one more month, I could enjoy the Star Alliance Gold benefits for one month, and therefore use the premium check-in desks, access to the NZ domestic lounge and select a preferred seat onboard for free.



AKL Domestic terminal


Left for ANZ, Right for Jetstar


NZ domestic check-in area

Checking my bag was swift, such as clearing security. It seems that not all domestic flights in New Zealand need to clear security, it appears that to board smaller regional planes, it is not required to my greatest surprise. Anyway, since my flight was going to a major domestic destination and was operated by an Airbus 320 and not a regional aircraft, I had to clear security, but this is was a formality, with zero waiting time.


Security clearance only for 4 main NZ destinations


First encounter after security. I love the NZ livery !

There is not much to do or see in the domestic terminal to be honest. I was happy to have lounge access for this flight so I could spend some time in a comfortable waiting area rather than in the terminal which looked like a big hallway.



NZ domestic lounge AKL airport

The lounge access is mostly automated and by just scanning my boarding pass I was granted access, there was no need to show my TK*G card.
Note that since there is no business class on board NZ domestic flights, the lounge access criteria is purely based on *G status or if you are coming from or connecting to an international Star Alliance Business or First class flight. I also think that NZ sells separate lounge access with some domestic tickets in the form of a "package" including flexibility in the ticket use and checked-in bags.
The lounge was busy when I arrived (It was on a monday end of afternoon) but i was able to find a seat. The lounge is not the most modern I visited but was comfortable. I was however, very pleasantely surprised by the food and drinks selection, especially considering this is "just" a domestic lounge - and the quality was very good (Being French and pretty much partly made of cheese, I loved the cheese selection they had in NZ lounges I visited ! ).
The lounge is equipped with restrooms, a business center and also a staffed bar.
Finally, the lounge is accessible to all eligible domestic NZ passengers, although you need to clear security to access the lounge. In case your flight departs from one of the regional gates which do not require security check, you can reach this gate from the lounge using a secured one-way automatic gate to get out.


NZ domestic lounge AKL








Food selection NZ domestic lounge AKL




Beer and beverage selection


The place was a bit crowded though


Snack...


... with a view !

I left the lounge about 40 minutes before departure to do a bit of plane spotting and make sure I would board at the beginning as I had my carry on bag and back pack to place on the overhead bin given that I was seated in the first row.


New livery


My flight to WLG will be on the "All Blacks" A320


Gate 29 to WLG

Boarding began at 17:10 with priority boarding first. Although this flight was operated on an Airbus 320, the boarding procedure was improved using the jet bridge for the first 15 rows and some stairs in the back for the last 15 rows.





ZK-OAB to Wellington

Air New Zealand NZ447 – January 21st 2019
AKL - Auckland Intl 17:30
WLG - Wellington Intl 18:35
Airbus A320 – ZK-OAB – Seat 02F, Economy, window, first row

Boarding a domestic airbus on ANZ is like boarding a flying bus, the entire space is used for seats and the first row is actually directly facing the door 1L. The galley is therefore pretty small but I guess this is enough as the longest domestic flight operated by those birds is less than 2 hours long.



The flyingbus !


Seats 02D-E-F


Row 1 is directly facing door 1L and the 2 front crew members


Legroom seat 2F


Pushing back from AKL

The "Kiwi rap safety video" was showed on the overhead screens before push back ( )

And as I usually do when flying a new airline, I opened the inflight magazine before take off.


NZ fleet


NZ domestic destinations


NZ International destinations, although they unfortunately stopped flying to London LHR

We took off at 17:48 with a nice view on the other aircraft taxiing...




NZ maintenance hangars


Taking off AKL

Air New Zealand markets some domestic flights, operated on weekdays at the end of the afternoon/early evening as "Koru hour" meaning that the inflight service is adjusted so that passengers can enjoy their early evening flight with a selection of white and red new zealand wines and served with cheese as a snack. I think that ANZ has always been an innovating airline (think about their skycouch on long haul flights for example, they were also the first ones to have funny safety videos which proved the fact that passengers are more prone to follow the safety video if it is no boring to watch...), and this Koru hour concept is another example.
So I opted for a glass of white wine (was not thrilled by it though) which came with a piece of cheese. Trivia questions were broadcasted during this full flight as in flight entertainment.


Koru hour snack



As we were approaching Wellington, I could enjoy the views on the Cook's strait...


Cook's strait, view on the south island

We landed in sunny Wellington at 18:40 and reached our parking position a couple minutes later.


Disembarking in WLG


View on some regional aircrafts in WLG


WLG terminal


WLG terminal

By the time we disembarked and I was taking pictures of the terminal (this is the public space of the terminal, with some regional flight gates directly connected to it), my bag was on the belt.

I then took the skybus service to downtown Wellington where my hotel, the newly opened Doubletree by Hilton was located.
The building where this hotel is located in a former insurance building from the 1920's and it was renovated with taste. I was lucky to get upgraded to a very nice junior suite as a Diamond member. I don't think I ever did put 10/10 to a hotel, besides the Conrad Macau, but I did for this hotel. The rooms was very comfortable and clean, the staff very welcoming and friendly and the location could not be better and right across the street from Wellington's cable car. I partially paid this 2-night stay with points (20000 points) and added 170 Euros as a copay. Breakfast was included as part of HHDiamond privilege.


Doubletree by Hilton Wellington




My junior suite at the Doubletree by Hilton Wellington


The plastic duck got a free trip to Europe :-)