A LONG DAY
After a very busy day at work I headed off to AKL airport. Despite being after rush hour traffic was heavy and the trip took 50 minutes. As is usual for flights to US there was a security check of my bags before I get to the NZ premier check-in facility. That didnt take long - no queue as I had turned up rather early. Business, first and *Gold passengers can use a dedicated check-in facility at AKL for international flights. Sure beats the big queues at the main counters.
AKL-LHR on Air NZ by 744
I was pleased my upgrades had cleared. Not only would the flight be much more comfortable, but as Air NZ is doing away with First in June 2005, it will likely be my last chance to experience F on NZ.
I collected the BP for AKL-LHR and LHR-AMS but the onward flight was not yet opened so I would need to check-in at transit somewhere. For some odd reason my frequent flyer number wasnt already loaded so I got that added, but they were unable to add it for LHR-AMS. Quickly through immigration (bypasses the main queues) and security and off to the lounge. No stop at duty free this time as I really didnt want to be lugging too much more in my travels.
Had a refreshing shower and changed into something comfortable for the long flights ahead of me, quickly followed by a few drinks. Unless I am mistaken there has been a decline in quality and number of drink options at NZ international lounge in the past few months. I was disappointed there are no Macs Ales once again.
Eventually it is time to board. We make our way to the end of the pier, again security screening as with all US flights. Hopefully once the arrival/departure segregation is completed we wont have this extra rescreening.
Settle in to the first seat and have a pre-departure champagne and nibbles. There is a small delay due to a passenger originally scheduled for this flight changing to an earlier one. Once this is tracked down we push back. The airport is settling down for the night at this stage so very little activity. I had noticed on the departure boards that a Polynesian Airlines flight was delayed some hours and would be arriving and turning around in the small hours of the night - at a time when normally there are no arrivals or departures. I feel sorry for the pax and crew, as well as ground staff, in those situations.
Shortly after takeoff to the southwest we turn and fly over the city. It looked beautiful - lots of lights and some small low clouds were glowing in the reflected light. It was not long before we are in darkness over the ocean, as we would be for much of the long leg to LAX.
I nibbled at dinner but didnt really feel like eating, which is a shame as Air NZ has some fantastic food and great drinks. A fellow pax was incredulous when told how long the meal service would take (he wanted to get a long sleep) but I noticed he was still going strong when I went to sleep.
I watched a movie and then had a long sleep. I always seem to struggle with the best time to sleep on this long flight. After a long day it is easy to sleep long on the AKL-LAX leg, but this means not much sleep on the LAX-LHR leg which is then followed by most of the daylight hours, making me very tired. So I try to sleep only a little bit on the first leg, in order to sleep some more on the second and being reasonable fresh on arrival in Europe. Unfortunately I fail miserably.
The seat was showing signs of being near the end of its life - the small shelf between seats was loose, as was the consol, and the headphone socket was loose with a poor connection so that sound was intermittent. Its a good thing that the a/c will be refurbished soon.
We have a very nice breakfast about an hour and a half out from LAX. The fruit smoothie went down particularly well. For once we fly over the city before landing from the east, the only previous times I can recall that is on SQ and UA but never on NZ (unless my memory fails!).
When we pull up at the gate, a customs officer enters and announces over the PA that there are over 600 people in the immigration queue with an estimated 1 hour + delay. Not surprisingly, lots of groans.
Due to US regulatuions, pax continuing on to LHR on the same plane must clear immigration at a secure transit lounge. First and business pax (but not elites travelling in economy) are allowed to go landside and then back airside to visit the NZ lounge. I have done this before and taken near 2 hours to make the lounge (arriving just 5 minutes before need to board) - this with queues of maybe 100. Not wanting the hassle of long queues and the prospect of a missed flight so early in the trip, I reluctantly give up on the idea of visiting the lounge and resign myself to the transit area. I was surprised at the high proportion of pax continuing on to LHR. Only about 90 minutes were spent in the transit lounge, and it would have been much less for economy passengers seated in the back rows. Transit passengers boarded before those departing from LAX, and so there was plenty of time to enjoy another pre-departure drink.
As mentioned earlier, I did not sleep much on this flight. So I watched several movies, both on the main channels and the personal DVD. Thinking about it, the FAs on both legs neglected to mention the personal DVD which they had always done on my few previous NZ flights in F (and also the A320 flights in business). Of course this option is mentioned in the premier entertainment guide, but its not the same as being personally explained to you. Never mind. This too will be different soon, as part of the NZ refurbishment is to introduce AVOD in all classes - no more big screen down the back!
Eventually we arrive in LHR, some 24 hours after leaving Auckland. I make the long walk from NZ's gate at the end to the connection centre, where I was fortunate to catch a bus with no wait. However, it soon turned to despair as I catch sight of the huge queues for security - not only all the zigzags fill but stretching around the corner and into the main corridor
I see only 3 machines are manned, obviously the reason for the huge delays. Oh well - lucky my connection isnt too tight. After 30 minutes or so I am through and make my way to the BMI counter to get my FFP number entered in the system, and try to get onward BP from AMS. No luck on the BP.