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AUCKLAND to CHRISTCHURCH (AKL-CHC) on NZ A320 with business seats
I headed out to the airport in rush hour traffic to take my third different domestic airline within a week. Since I'd originally booked I saw the aircraft had changed from 737-300 to A320 - great a chance at a rare business seat on a domestic flight ^ When I noticed this a few days ago I popped online to see if I could change seats but I had already been allocated a business seat and OLCI (yes can do this well before the departure date) would not let me change from the preallocated seats. At least my status got me good seats on each flight. Since I already had printed out my boarding passes I proceeded directly to security. There was a long queue with only 2 stations open. Once through up the escalator and into the lounge. Disappointingly there was only 19 different beers on offer (as well as more than half a dozen different wines), but some new ones I hadn't tried before (rectified by the time I left the lounge :D ). Food was snacks, lots of different sandwich, slice, cookies, muffins, some salad food and cheese and crackers. Nothing hot though. oops - time to go for my flight, more later |
Originally Posted by B-HXB
(Post 8727140)
You managed to get on to the DJ inaugural then after all? ^ I thought I caught a glimpse of you on the One News clip they were showing on Monday - the briefest of closeup shots it was, so I wasn't sure.
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continued ...
On the way to the gate I noticed the leased a/c in Thompsonfly colours, and looking back towards international the colourful mix of tails - NZ, QF, DJ, an all white widebody (I assume a private jet), LA and EK. All in one shot if I'd cared to take a picture. Boarding was completed and we pushed back on time. The taxi however was slow and a long wait for a bank of arriving aircraft, which meant we were late getting off the ground. Headwinds en route ensured we'd arrive late at Christchurch. The view was almost non-existant. A solid cloud bank with just a few peeks through by the Marlborough Sounds and Nelson, and otherwise no sign of land until just before landing. The usual drink service of water, tea, coffee. If you wanted a sweet you needed to ask for a hot drink - which seems dumb to me. Surprisingly no buy on board service (which is offered on 737 flights). We land from the south with views across the plains in poor light - a combination of few gaps in the clouds, the low evening sun angle and a thick haze. |
CHRISTCHURCH to INVERCARGILL (CHC-IVC) on NZ ATR 72-500
A quick check of the monitor to confirm my onward flight hadn't yet started boarding and in to the nice koru club. Barely enough time to check email and have a quick drink before my flight is called. We board across the tarmac slightly early. I like how the call in the lounge is made when boarding is nearly complete. There is a short delay in closing doors - someone with no status (sitting up the front on this a/c for status pax sit at the back) was delayed on inbound flight/lost/deaf/otherwise didn't make it to the gate on time. The flight isn't quite full and so I have an empty seat beside. I look out towards the mountains but they are hidden behind the darkening haze and low cloud. We have a short taxi and head south above thick cloud. Further south the cloud begins to break up and we have glimpses of a sun drenched landscape below - glowing in the evening sun. Service is tea, coffee and water. A mini biscuit comes with the coffee/tea cups. A separate round handing out sweets to all on descent. We arrive slightly late. Edited to add aside. Last year (?) the rear toilet was repositioned to add in 2 more seats (on the right hand side). The new location is very cramped (wide enough but not very deep). Anyway I noticed the liquid soap dispenser had an old Mount Cook Airlines label, complete with the Mount Cook Lily on the tail of the pictured aircraft. It must be well over a decade old! |
INVERCARGILL to WELLINGTON (IVC-WLG) on NZ Q300
This is the main reason for this trip - to take this new route (started only last month), which with a 2 hour scheduled duration is the longest domestic flight in New Zealand by time although not by distance. The day dawned clear and it promised to be a great flight along the length of the South Island. I was a bit too excited and arrived at the airport just before the terminal opened :o There was a slight chill in the air thanks to the continuing southerly, but no sign of fog - yay, I'll get some good views. Although I was already checked in with PYOBP, I stopped by the check in desk to get the lounge access code. I had enough time for a much needed coffee and check my emails before the flight was called. We leave slightly early. The flight is only half full so again an empty seat beside me. The usual tea, coffee, water, biscuit service with refills offered ^ The views are stunning and I'm glued to the window much of the flight. In the week since visiting Queenstown the snowline has lowered considerably. The sun is reflected brightly off the fresh snow, except for a few pockets of fog. We have a brief view of Stewart Island before heading north across the Southland plains, central Otago hill country (flying right beside the Clutha Gorge which I'd driven along a few days earlier), and over the Canterbury plains. We were roughly midway between coast and mountains so got great views out both sides. Then later in the flight directly over the Kaikoura mountain ranges, over the salt works at Lake Grasmere and across Cook Strait. We fly over the Karori and Ngaio hills before turning, crossing the inner harbour and landing to the south. |
WELLINGTON to AUCKLAND (WLG-AKL) on NZ 737-300
With the flight up from Invercargill landing early I have enough time for a visit to the lounge. I forgot to check the beer count but 3 different fruit juices, several different sandwiches, lots of different biscuits, cold cuts, etc on offer. Nothing hot - too early I guess. The flight was not called in the lounge! I, and a few other pax, realised about 10 minutes before departure that the flight was on time and indeed on final call - so we hurried down to the nearby gate and were the last passengers to board. The flight was also not quite full and so I had a blocked middle seat. Nice views with again little cloud. I was on the left so got good views of the Marlborough Sounds, Mt Taranaki and the ironsand beaches along the west coast. We arrived early due to tail winds. |
FLYING TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND
All the current domestic routes are listed below, with links to reports on a selection of a proportion of those flights. I've flown all of these, including all NZ and all QF routes. DJ (Pacific Blue aka Virgin Blue) has just started services on 3 routes - AKL-CHC, AKL-WLG and WLG-CHC. From/To Auckland
From/To Hamilton
From/To Wellington
From/To Nelson
From/To Christchurch
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On arrival back at AKL I headed across to the Qantas Club to check in for my next flights. The green holidays liveried NZ 737 and the thompsonfly NZ 737 were both parked up against the terminal. If I wasn't awake might have wondered if I'd come to the right place!
Due to delays there were 2 DJ aircraft parked up at domestic. No bus required but both jammed in tight so not sure if the closer of the 2 is stuck there until the second moves off. As an aside the few days I've checked, DJ domestic on time performance deteriorates during the day to an hour or so late by mid afternoon :( Hopefully that is just while they are learning the ropes and not a permanent feature. |
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From another trip report - Christchurch to Auckland (CHC-AKL) on Air NZ 737-300 in economy class
Coming soon - a domestic route which I've previously flown but haven't reported on here, the last of the Air NZ unflown-by-me domestic routes, and a suprise domestic route on another airline. |
FLYING TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND
All the current domestic routes are listed below, with links to reports on a selection of a proportion of those flights. I've flown all of these, including all NZ and all QF routes. DJ (Pacific Blue aka Virgin Blue) has just started services on 3 routes - AKL-CHC, AKL-WLG and WLG-CHC. From/To Auckland
From/To Hamilton
From/To Wellington
From/To Nelson
From/To Christchurch
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AUCKLAND to KERIKERI Bay of Islands (AKL-KKE) on Air New Zealand Q300
As one of the couple of domestic routes which I've flown but not written up previously I thought I'd post about this little jaunt. I booked as two separate tickets to get around NZ website limitation of 1 hour turnaround minimum, secure in the knowledge that I was on the same aircraft each way and thanks to OLCI and PYOBP I would not miss the check in deadline. I made my way to the airport half asleep. It seems subconciously I keep track of our progress of inclines and downhills, turns and fast sweeps, for I awoke at the last roundabout on the edge of the airport. I popped by the kiosks to check in for my later flights. The first kiosk didn't work but I was able to check in at the second. I fell victim to NZ's odd domestic policy of allowing OLCI and PYOBP any time after booking, and got a middle seat for one flight. (I was unable to OLCI myself as it was part of an international itinerary.) :td: Further, I could only move myself many rows back - no decent options despite checking in several hours before departure. (The other problem with this policy is NZ has no way of knowing if a pax is a no show until they fail to board - cue lots of pages for passengers and minor delays to most flights. For more on this topic see this thread.) Then off to security. There was a brief wait while the 10 (yes ten) officers stood around talking before they would open up. Then through and up to the lounge. The lounge agent had to squint to check my entry eligibility for the PYOBP has status in such tiny font it is ridiculous. Onto the computer to check messages and try to make some bookings on Air NZ. I say try because it seems that NZ still hasn't fixed the setup of their lounge computers to enable proper use of the Air NZ website. Oh well - NZ doesn't want my money so I book on QF instead. |
There was a delay with our flight "due to late arrival of the aircraft". Hmmm no Q300 arriving within about 2 hours of our departure and certainly none running so late to affect our flight. Later the pilot explained the aircraft had been parked overnight on a remote stand near the international terminal. Despite the flight not being particularly early, the towing of the a/c to domestic prop gates was significantly late, thus our late departure.
Our flight was full except for the first row. In flight service consisted of just a water pottle on this short flight. Views were mixed - some cloud buildups partially obscured the views of the many inlets on both sides of the peninsula, and rolling farmland in between. On approach we had great views of the Bay of Islands with it's many beaches and islands, and of the orchards around Kerikeri. |
KERIKERI Bay of Islands to AUCKLAND (KKE-AKL) on Air New Zealand Q300
The turnaround was quick as they attempted to get back on schedule. The flight was almost full once again. Basically the same flight in reverse except the views were a bit better with some disappation of the cloud cover. We got good views of Auckland and the twin harbours, with our path taking us over the Waitakere Ranges before turning towards the city with Waitemata Harbour and Hauraki Gulf in the background framed by the distant Coromandel Ranges, crossing the Manukau Harbour and turning again to land. |
The last 2 remaining domestic Air NZ routes have been flown (both were new routes from October 2007) - I'll write up shortly.
Another new route from May 2008 (Wellington to Whakatane vv) ... and so the challenge continues. |
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