Plane: An Airbus A320. It was so nice to be flying with Air New Zealand — there is actual leg and elbow room.
My seat: Thankfully a window seat, 25F to be precise. Nothing nicer than having a spectacular view of the South Island from the sky.
How full: Packed to the rafters. It was winter and the middle of the school holidays. What better destination to travel to than Queenstown at this time of year?
Fellow passengers: Families and tourists. I was one of the few lone travellers.
Flight time: Just under two hours.
Check-in: Easy. I used the app.
On time: Delayed by a couple of minutes. There were two travellers who couldn’t tell the time.
Entertainment: The pop-down screens offer a variety of entertainment — or you can use your own. I was grateful for Spotify at this point in time to block out the constant chatter.
The lovely mum sitting in the next aisle had to constantly talk to her son and husband, sitting next to me. There was also ancient All Blacks footage for the tourists.
Departure time: 12.12pm — seven minutes after it should have taken off, arriving at 1.53pm and to a temp of 13C. Brr though Auckland had been only slightly warmer.
The service: Friendly and professional. The staff greeted everyone with a well pronounced “kia ora” and bought light refreshments out not long after take-off.
Food: A light snack (chips or a mini cookie time) accompanying water, tea or coffee.
The flight: Quite bumpy ascending but reasonably smooth the rest of the way.
Luggage: Carry on, however there was a bit of a struggle to find space.
Toilet: Didn’t go as the boy next to me was asleep and I didn’t want to disturb him.
Airport experience: As expected you exit the plane and enter an airport full of people. Tourists, backpackers, kids, locals and taxi drivers waiting for their passengers.
Would you fly this again: Yes! It offers a pleasant service.
-NZ Herald
