ADELAIDE to AUCKLAND (ADL-AKL) on NZ 767-300

This was my first visit to Adelaide since the new integrated domestic and international terminal had opened, and so I was interested to see the changes. How it works is there are some gates in the middle that can be partitioned off for international flights with immigration processing. Depending on how many international flights there are in a given period of time is how many gates are fenced off. Adelaide doesn't have too many international flights and this set up provides maximum flexibility for a given space. It is a neat idea, but not necessarily the best for passengers. As a result of the set-up there could be very little space for international - potentially as small as one gate. This means there are few amenities airside - one duty free shop, which like other Australian airports you have to walk through on entering airside, one small kiosk to buy water, soft drink etc, a few seats, a couple of tvs and 1 Singapore Airlines lounge. The Qantas lounge is landside. It also gives a goldfish bowl feeling with floor to ceiling windows all around the fenced off area. Great for those wanting to wave goodbye to departing passengers. A bit unnerving for everyone else. As it happened, today was a busy period (for Adelaide) for international flights with Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand plus a Malaysian Airlines aircraft parked up on a long layover. So several gates were fenced off - at least allowing a bit of room to move around, albeit at the expense of being extremely overcrowded. The gate monitors showed that the international zone was going to collapse to the one gate required for Malaysian Airlines, with "next flight" information on the other gates showing afternoon Qantas domestic flights.

Before the flight I was deciding what to do with my 3 hours or so transit. I could stay airside. But likely there is no transit desk (later confirmed) and the sole lounge is the Singapore Airlines lounge which doesn't open for a couple of hours after I arrive. Or, I could clear immigration, with possibly some hassles about such a short time landside, visit the Qantas Club landside to freshen up and relax and then a couple hours before departure check in with Air NZ landside and back through immigration. Given my tiredness I decided I couldn't be bothered with immigration hassles and a couple more stamps in my passport and would wait out the time until the silver kris lounge opened and then hope to get a quick shower before boarding.

However on arrival things turned out to be pleasantly different. I was paged before deplaning and met by the station manager. Without any prompting from me they had worked out I had a rare international transit. With so few international flights, international transits at Adelaide are extremely rare, and indeed both the SQ and immigration staff I spoke to had not heard of anyone doing an international transit at Adelaide before (other than Cathay Pacific's triangle flight through Melbourne). She escorted me to security which was closed and then went to find someone to open it up for me. As the only transit passenger I was "randomly" selected for the explosives test that is tested continuously at Australian security checkpoints. Through that and I was advised they had opened the lounge early especially for me and even apologised for not yet having much food out! I thanked her profusely and said I only needed a shower and somewhere quiet.

The lounge is nice but not as good as some. It is reasonable size although on some flights with lots of elites I imagine it could get crowded. There is modest selection of food and drink, with changes in the items even in the short period it is open. There is wireless but no computers. A reasonable shower (ask for the towels at lounge reception). A good selection of newspapers and magazines. A couple of big tvs.

I leave the lounge early wanting to stretch my legs before the flight, and so head upstairs to the departure level. Given the small size fenced off this is harder than I expected, but I made several circuits trying to keep out of everyone's way.

Boarding starts later than I thought it would. The flight is full, at least in business class, which is surprising given they upgauged from the usual A320 - a huge proportionate increase in business class capacity. Economy also seems fairly full.

We depart only slightly late. After take off we have a few turns over the city then straight over the Adelaide Hills and a beeline for Sydney and beyond. After the first few minutes the scenery consists of flat very brown landscape, a result of years of drought in this already arid land and restrictions on irrigation. Then after a while the western slopes of the dividing range, the eastern cliffs and the sprawl of Sydney before us. Over the Tasman Sea the cloud cover built up and so no views of New Zealand until low over Hauraki Gulf as we turn back to the airport at low altitude.

I dozed on and off during the flight so can't comment too much on the service. It seemed good while I had lunch and was awake.