going all out for booking a 737? I must be missing out coz I do everything I can to miss them

Likewise :P

Nostalgia
 

I worked for 6 weeks in 1969 (holiday job at Wellington Airport) pushing steps out and loading baggage onto the first 737-200's that Air NZ had.
I'm now about to retire but still fly weekly within NZ so I'm aiming to get on one of the last 737 flights. Will be nice to say I started my working life when the first 737's arrived in NZ and retired at about the same time as the last 737 also finished.
Silly really, but it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling!

What about NZ554 departing at 8:35pm? Given the NZ D-D MCT is only :20-:25 at CHC that should be enough time after the arrival of the 737 at 7:55pm? I have booked a flexi ticket on that flight so I guess I can always shift to the later flight if the 737 is late arriving in CHC. :)

High risk of being late being end of the day and also the last 737 flight. (The last QF and DJ domestic flights ran quite late.)

You won't be able to book on a single ticket so won't be protected if misconnect. You better hope there are seats available on the last flight - a flexi ticket does not help if there are no seats.

NZ website booked me on NZ557 AKL-CHC 6:35pm/7:55pm and NZ554 CHC-AKL 8:35pm/9:55pm for the same day on the same ticket so I guess I'm protected if I misconnect. There is 0:40 between those flights which is above the MCT of 0:25 so I'm not sure why it would not be possible to book those -- or does NZ's website usually enforce a higher MCT?

Interesting. Usually NZ website forces longer transfers for same day return flights or multicity compared with natural connections

I'm booked the last two flights NZ532 & NZ557. Are there any others doing these flights? Will Air New Zealand plan anything special for the last flight (apart from landing ;)

Also I recall the Air Museum in Wanaka were trying to get a former Air New Zealand 737? Does anyone know if this is still occurring? http://www.odt.co.nz/news/queenstown-lakes/292448/no-737-museum-yet

Yeah, I'm doing 557, unless there's an equipment change. I was on an UnTied flight LAX-AKL that got a firetruck welcome due to the captain retiring, so I'd hope for that at the least :p

justakiwi

Last 733 service next Sunday?
 

Does anyone know if NZ557 AKL-CHC is still planned to be the last 733 service next Sunday Night?

Yes.

But I did hear some talk from cabin crew last week while discussing it that there has been some tentative plans for some scenic flights. Seemed a strange thing to do, and I certainly haven't heard about this anywhere else.

Maybe the scenic flights we're just for staff?, in saying that surely they must be going to do something to mark the 40ish years of operating 737s

100% off-topic, but whatever my settings are for google news (maybe I increased priority for travel news or something), it dug up one of your blog posts recently. Musta been a slow news day... :)

110% off topic but my blog posts get great Google rankings and lots of traffic - most of my flight reviews see way more traffic than MSM sites like the NZ Herald, and have better rankings. Google quite a few Air NZ flight numbers where I've written reviews and I'll be in the top few listings. :)

It shows how flawed Air NZ marketing is when they rely on MSM so much.

An urgent commitment has meant I now won't be able to make the finals :-( From what O understand this is a really big deal for Air NZ and there will be appearances of the Boeing 737 at regional and major airports well into September for special open days. I don't know any further details of that final day of operations though but if you pay careful attention to the schedule that final 737 seems to have VERY long layovers throughout its last day so I'm guessing there will be special stuff as the day progresses. NGJ will commence her day in AKL doing the 0700 flight to WLG then back as the 0835 to AKL. After that she starts to have a leisurely day with a 1050 flight to WLG then back to AKL at 1230 then onto CHC at 1410 before back to AKL at 1635 then back to CHC at 1835. The very final flight OUT of CHC at 1635 is nearly fully booked with a decent amount of seats on the very last one however. Fares are in the high 300s-low 400s one way for some of these final 733 sectors.