Hilary Barry's extreme flight

Hillary Barry updated her Instagram followers from her trip. One showed her standing on top of a concrete fence in front of the sea (pictured). Photo: hilary.barry/Instagram

Hilary Barry went to great lengths this week to retain her frequent flyer membership status - flying to Wellington for lunch before returning in time to host the 6pm news.

The news presenter left Auckland after her stint on The Paul Henry Show on Monday morning and stayed just a few hours in the capital. She was back for hair and make-up ahead of the 6pm Newshub bulletin with Mike McRoberts.

Henry told viewers that Barry was just 34 points away from retaining Gold Elite status with Air New Zealand, so she needed to catch the flight.

Barry updated her Instagram followers from her trip. One showed her standing on top of a concrete fence in front of the sea.

She wrote: "Wellington for lunch! #wellywood #lovewellington."

View this post on Instagram

Wellington for lunch! #wellywood #lovewellington

A post shared by Hilary Barry (@hilary.barry) on Apr 17, 2016 at 5:53pm PDT

Her followers chimed in congratulating her on chalking up the miles.

One wrote: "Gold elite - you did it! Just hope no cancellations or postponements on return or may be there could be a live X from the capital for some event."

She then bumped into Radiolive host and former TVNZ Close Up host Mark Sainsbury, writing: "Found myself some company for the flight home #lovewellington #sainso."

View this post on Instagram

Found myself some company for the flight home #lovewellington #sainso

A post shared by Hilary Barry (@hilary.barry) on Apr 17, 2016 at 6:34pm PDT

According to Air NZ's website, gold status gives passengers access to the Koru Lounge, additional baggage, seating near the front of the plane, priority check-in, priority boarding, priority baggage claim and hotel and rental car upgrades.