Flight check: Flying from Sydney, Australia to Wellington with Qantas

The Qantas flight from Sydney to Wellington took a little over three hours. Photo / File

Melissa Nightingale flies Sydney to Wellington on Qantas

The plane: Boeing 737 800

Class: Economy

Flight time: Three hours and 15 minutes, arriving in Wellington just before midnight.

My seat: I had 18D, an aisle seat – my favourite.

Fellow passengers: Most appeared to be other holiday travellers.

How full: Thankfully not too full, allowing my row mate and I to have a space between us. There were several fully empty rows at the back of the plane as well.

Entertainment: Uninterested in the movie selection, I decided to check out the box set offerings and cracked into some episodes of Big Little Lies, which I hadn't got around to watching previously.

The service: Warm and helpful, as usual. The crew were also fast to run to my aid when I accidentally bumped the assistance button in the bathroom. Thankfully they didn't mind when I sheepishly explained I was fine and had just bumbled my way into it.

The toilets: As usual very cramped, as demonstrated by the aforementioned button-bumping. The floor was uncomfortably sticky on the bottom of my shoes, a good reminder to never go in an airport bathroom in just your socks.

Food and drink: I opted for a spicy chicken curry for dinner. As it turns out, it wasn't particularly spicy, but that suited me fine. Dessert was a mango yoghurt icecream-style snack.

Luggage: I travelled with a carry on, hoping it would save me time on the other end. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case.

Airport experience: My flight was in early January, wellbefore the Coronavirus travel restrictions and health advisories, so I was surprised to get off the plane and see a huge line for Customs. I hoped once I made it through it would be smooth sailing to get through border security, but the line there was even longer. In total, I spent about 45 minutes standing around waiting to go home, which is not what you want to be doing when your flight arrives at midnight and you have a sleepy husband waiting for you in the car. I've come through Wellington Airport quite a few times now, and this was the first time I had to wait so long.

The bottomline: The flight was comfortable and quick, but the delays at the airport left a sour note.