LHR-AKL
The FCC shuffle in reverse was painless. T1 dom bypasses FCC security. There was a minor delay while the BP checker tried to deny me on grounds I don't fly out until tomorrow. He just looked sheepish when I pointed out he was looking at the arrival date of my next (overnight) flight on the itinerary.
Bus to T3 and check in at transfer desk there. This went quickly and easily - got a row by myself and made sure
tht also did ^ The pax at the counter next to me wasn't having such a good time - yelling that he was sure he'd booked business, after all he is tall and wide and wouldn't be comfortable in economy
I didn't hang around to see the result but I bet he wasn't happy.
I ignored the RCC invite and headed instead to SQ F lounge, and left
tht's name at the entrance while I hopped in a shower to freshen up. Since an SQ flight had not long left the lounge was quiet and so I hopped on the computer while waiting for
tht, and then had some nice drinks. We dallied 10 minutes or so too long, but fortunately this time NZ had a close gate. We were the last ones on, about 10 minutes before departure. Oops.
Economy class was very lightly loaded. The elites section (at front of economy) had enough room so that everyone had 2-4 seats to themselves. Business and premium economy were full (or nearly full).
Managed to get some sleep before waking north of Tibet. Some great views of the desert and endless mountain ranges, peeked out of the lower portion of the window to try not to disturb others still sleeping. Our flight path tracked around the edge of the plateau. No view of Hong Kong on arrival, not only the flight path taken but dense haze/humidity kept visibility down to a mile or so. Thanks to strong tail winds we arrived quite early.
Through transit and to the SQ F lounge again, which as expected much less crowded than the RCC - although further to walk (which isnt a bad thing after all this flying). Grabbed a shower (there is only one so a bit of a wait). Kept an eye on the flight monitor since no boarding call and we'd need to head back to the other end of the terminal.
Priority boarding for business, premium economy, *G and koru club ^
For the 4th longhaul leg in a row I got some sleep, but not as much as I'd like. We arrived very early, so much so that the title could have been around the world in 59 hours. We had a wait at the gate which was announced as an APU problem, but I suspect it was that immigration/customs wasn't ready for us (there being no recent earlier flights arriving).
On the way to immigration we picked up our pre-order duty free. Thanks
tht for spotting the Havana Club for $12.90, which we further reduced thanks to the nice discounts and optimising our generous NZ allowances between us. The store threw in for free a sampler pack of vodka.
I got secondary, again. This gave
tht enough time to drop off and pick up gear for onward trip. I headed over to the domestic terminal (again the walk felt nice) for a quick shower in the lounge - yeah managed to get in even though strictly neither of us had access - before heading into work.
So ends the fastest round the world I've ever done, or ever likely to do I suppose. Thanks NZ for the sale and great service (on the ground and in the air) ^