AUCKLAND to LOS ANGELES (AKL-LAX) on Air NZ 747-400 in economy class

I headed out to the airport a bit early wanting to grab a shower before my evening flight. I'd noticed that my flight via NAN had gone from lots of 7s in availability to zeroed out on day of departure. Not coincidentally 1 of the 2 Air Pacific flights to Nadi today had been cancelled.

So when I arrived at check in I knew my odds of a row to myself or even empty middle seat were not good. There was an annotation on my record and the agent called someone and then told me I'd been bumped to the nonstop flight. Since that flight was also full (even oversold) my forward aisle seat was now a rear aisle seat. A good thing I didn't have a connection to make - being so many rows further back, and on a larger aircraft, will add at least 30 minutes to the time it will take me to clear immigration

Quickly through immigration and security to the lounge. After a shower I head to the computers. All 5 are occupied by kids playing games (despite the free playstations available in the lounge ). Fortunately the parent soon gets guilty at the queue of adults standing around waiting for a computer and moves her kids off the computers ^

After checking emails, FT, etc I grab some drink and head to the desk to enquire if anyone has failed to check in (thus could I improve on my seat). I'm told no - the flight is still full with just a couple of passengers still to check in.