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Home / Travel

Flying from Auckland to Sydney aboard Air New Zealand

Nicholas Jones
By Nicholas Jones
Investigative Reporter·NZ Herald·
18 Mar, 2019 06:00 PM2 mins to read

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Photo / Grant Bradley

Photo / Grant Bradley

Nicholas Jones flies aboard NZ105 from Auckland to Sydney.

Check-in: Busy but very quick thanks to automated kiosks and bag drop. There were enough staff around to help the mostly-older customers who can't navigate the technology. Automation continues through Customs.

The plane: A B787-9 Dreamliner.

Class: The "seat + bag" option for Economy.

Price: It was more than $500 for the one flight, booked a couple of days beforehand.

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On time: Take-off delayed but we made up the time and land as scheduled.

My seat: 40K, by the window overlooking the right wing.

Fellow passengers: Wednesday afternoon provides a mix of business travellers, Kiwis with sleeve tatts and tourists with American accents starting the next leg of their trip Downunder.

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How full: There were a few spare seats down the back.

Entertainment: Television is free but, disappointingly, movies are not included in some fares — including mine. I could have used some of my Airpoints dollars to pay $10 and watch Blade Runner II.

The service: Apart from a cup of water at the start, I didn't really have any interaction with the cabin crew.

Food and drink: My ticket only entitles me to tea, coffee and water. Only the latter is offered — which really brought home to me how crucial meals are to mentally break-up a flight.

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The toilets: Clean and no queues throughout the flight.

Luggage: The "seat + bag" gets you a carry-on bag up to 7kg and checked luggage up to 23kg in the hold. Which is probably about right for a short work trip.

Would I fly this again? Air New Zealand has lost some of its lustre as it seeks to extract more dollars for add-ons like meals and entertainment.