Wellington to Auckland (WLG-AKL) Economy Class on NZ 737
As I headed to the Koru Club I noticed my next flight was delayed. I asked about the possibility of taking an earlier flight but bluntly told no, you aren't on a high enough fare (ok so I wasn't on full fare but not the cheapest fare either so I thought it was worth a shot).
This meant arriving later in Auckland at a time inconvenient for dinner, so after a shower to freshen up I had dinner in the lounge. They had a reasonably good variety of food. Gourmet pies, cold cuts, salads, fresh fruit and vegetables, some desert thingys, cheese, etc. I noticed they also still had some of the nice specialty beers which had gone from Auckland.
Eventually boarding was called. I headed through gate security to find an almost deserted departure gate. Did I have the right one? Yes. It turns out most pax on the flight had been attending a sports tournament, and with the delay had adjourned to the bar. Well they now were having some difficulty in getting everyone from the bar to the gate
So boarding is really slow, easily the slowest for a domestic flight in NZ that I've experienced. Great - so not only were we late due to earlier delays with the aircraft but made even later thanks to a lot of not so thoughtful passengers.
We had a short taxi and took off into the darkness, with views of the lights of Wellington wrapped around the hills and harbour before we climbed through some cloud. No further view until on final approach, when we see the lights of the sprawl that is Auckland.
Since it is a slightly longer flight we get tea and coffee or water, plus an apricot yoghurt coated shortbread biscuit (small). With being an evening mainline flight there is also a buy on board option.