Flight check: Christchurch to Auckland with Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand cabin crew.

Lauren Jones flies from the Garden City to the City of Sails.

The plane: An A320D. There are 17 of these aircraft in the national carrier's fleet.

Class: Economy. There's only one on these A320s.

Price: $79 one way with a checked bag. You can usually get them a bit cheaper, but I booked late.

Flight time: Our 8am departure was slightly delayed with a small problem starting the engine.

My fellow passengers: No loud people.

How full: Only a couple of spare seats.

Entertainment: Same as usual with Kia Ora, the Air New Zealand magazine, and a quiz. To their credit, I fly pretty frequently and I've not seen the same question twice in the quiz.

The service: Everything with a smile on Air New Zealand, as per usual.

Food and drink: A tough choice between a cookie and pretzels. The cookie ended up winning.

The toilets: Perfectly clean, though you'd think after all these years they would have found a way to make the flush quieter.

Luggage: I had one bag and a backpack for carry on, all went smoothly.

The airport experience: For the first time ever, there was no one in the security line at Christchurch, which was great! Other than that both airports were pretty standard.

The bottom line: This was an enjoyable and easy, as per usual on domestic flights with Air New Zealand.