Flight check: Auckland to Apia on Air New Zealand

Apia in Samoa. Photo / 123RF

Helen van Berkel flies Air New Zealand NZ996 from Auckland to Apia.

Plane: An A320.

Airport experience: We were late. It was a mad, mad rush to get from the carparking place to the check-in counter and we were among the last to check in. Finally, we relaxed and meandered through the duty-free to the boarding gate, wafting at least four different duty-free perfume testers, only to find we were late here too.

Seat: 19E and F. The window, and the middle seat of three.

Entertainment: TV shows and paid movies. I watched reruns of Big Bang Theory and discovered Chuck Lorre discussions at the end of the episodes about such topics as the bifurcation of self. Fascinating.

Fellow passengers: The plane was full.

Food: Scrambled eggs or fruit.

Toilets: Clean but busy. Turbulence kept us in our seats for much of the flight, meaning bathroom visits had to be carefully timed to avoid annoying the grumpy bloke in the third of our row of three.

On time: We left on time and arrived about five minutes late. No worries.

Would I fly again: Absolutely.