An Air New Zealand Boeing 767-300. Photo / File
Katie Shepherd flies NZ245 direct from New Zealand to Indonesia.
The plane: Boeing 767-300.
Class: Economy.
Price: $749 for The Works, booked in March during a sale.
My seat: 32F. Down the back in the middle. The passenger in the seat next to me was a toddler, so no armrest wars. The seat in front of me was empty for most of the flight so, thankfully, no one reclined on to me.
On time: A slight delay leaving. We hadn't been seated long when we were told there was a "cabin issue". A few minutes later we were informed it was a seat issue and engineers were on board fixing it. We finally pushed off 30 minutes after our scheduled departure time.
Fellow passengers: Holidaymakers. Some families dashing away before the school holidays start, one tour group and many couples. Lots of surfers, judging by the number of board bags I saw at check-in.
How full: I think I saw about three spare seats in the whole of Economy and about a dozen spare between Premium Economy and Business class.
Entertainment: A touch-screen seat-back system. The touch screen was a bit resistant to use - I had to touch things multiple times to get a response. A large selection of movies and television shows. New releases as well as oldies such as The Sound of Music. One of my travel companions was a child and I noticed there was a great selection for her including the extremely popular Frozen.
Service: Great. Staff were friendly and attentive. Water was offered frequently throughout the flight and they were only too happy to help with whatever you required. Trips down the back to request drinks were always met with a smile.
Food and drink: Chicken curry or beef tagine with a warm bun, pumpkin salad, cheese and crackers, and a pineapple cake to finish. The usual drinks trolley. About an hour out from Denpasar we were served snacks. A warm ham and cheese sandwich with fruit salad and (according to the PA) a chocolate brownie. I must admit I was rather disappointed when my meal was served and it had a raspberry coconut slice. A quick look around and no one else seemed to have a brownie.
Toilets: Clean and tidy with nice smelling soap.
Luggage: Pretty standard. 23kg plus 7kg carry-on.
Airport experience: With a frightening jolt to the left we landed and unloaded fairly fast. Getting our visa through Bali's visa-on-arrival system was easy enough. No queue and all you need to do is hand over your passport and US$35 and you get a stamp and piece of paper. We then had a long, hot wait winding back and forth with many others. It had to be close to two hours by the time we got through immigration. With a quick scan of our bags we were in the main part of the airport where what looked like hundreds of drivers were waiting with signs with passengers' names on them.
Fly again? Definitely. Flying Air New Zealand is always a pleasant experience.
Vail combines luxury with festive charm better than anywhere else.