Flying from Auckland to Palmerston North with Air New Zealand

Mt Ruapehu. Photo / Supplied

Kim Jansen flies Air NZ's NZ8109 from Auckland to Palmerston North.

The plane: Bombardier Q300.

Class: The same as everyone else; the plane only has the one, and that's Economy.

Price: $208 return.

Flight time: Fifty-five minutes with a tail wind.

My seat: 11B

Fellow passengers: Besides me and my partner, directly around us there were a couple of friends heading home from Thailand and a lovely lady from Whangaparaoa heading to Palmerston North to visit family. Along with a very well-behaved group of unaccompanied children returning home.

How full: The plane has 50 seats. This flight was near capacity, with only one or two empty seats.

Entertainment: All entertainment on the Q300 is self-acquired. It was BYO media player on this flight or a wonderful chat with your seat buddy.

The service: Outstanding, Air New Zealand has always been our preferred carrier due to their ongoing level of high service. Our single flight attendant was very efficient and a pleasure to talk to.

Food and drink: Water, tea and coffee along with a cookie was served mid-flight.

The toilets: The plane had one, but with such a short flight I had no need to employ its services.

Luggage: Allocated two checked bags up to 23kg each along with carry-on of 7kg as part of our airfare, we utilised that allocation to its fullest.

The airport experience: Arriving at Auckland Airport with plenty of time to spare. Check in was quick and painless. We found somewhere to chill until our flight boarded.

The bottomline: Due to the constant high level of service we get from Air New Zealand we will continue to use their services in the future. On this flight we were lucky that flying across the Central Plateau was stunning, we were treated to spectacular views of Mount Ruapehu.