Flying from Perth to Auckland aboard Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand planes in Auckland International Airport. Photo / Rafael Ben-Ari

Stephanie Holmes flies NZ176 Perth to Auckland.

Plane: Air New Zealand Boeing 787-9, a fancy Dreamliner.

Class: Economy, on a Works ticket.

Price: From $529 one way.

Luggage: Up to 23kg of checked baggage and 7kg of hand luggage.

Check-in: Easy, all done the day before using the Air NZ app and online service. I had to get my boarding pass from the service desk where I dropped my bags, but this was fuss-free too.

Airport experience: Perth International Airport is undergoing a $1 billion redevelopment project, which, when finished, will see it greatly improved. That's all well and good for future flyers, but for those of us travelling through in the meantime, it's really and truly the pits. The check-in hall is great - lots of space, and plenty of shops and restaurants.

But I wish someone had advised me that this is as good as it gets. They didn't, so I went straight through security after check-in and found two duty free shops, one average cafe and nothing else. I had three hours to kill due to an early transfer. I wanted to get dinner before I flew so I could go straight to sleep on my red-eye flight, but the cafe options were unappealing. The saving grace is free, fast, unlimited Wi-Fi so I could make a few Skype calls and get some work done. I really hope the work is completed by the time Qantas launches its Perth to London direct service in March next year, otherwise there will be a lot of unhappy travellers.

Flight time: 6 hours, 5 minutes. It's a bit of a killer this one, though. You leave Perth at 7.35pm, but arrive in Auckland at 5.45am. Which is 1.45am Perth time. Be prepared to not know who or where you are the day you get back.

On time: We took off on time and landed five minutes early.

Seat: 54A, in the second half of the Economy Class cabin. Whoever sat in this seat on the Auckland to Perth leg, please stand up. Yes, you. What were you doing on your flight?

There were crumbs all over the floor, the tray table and wall had coffee stains on them, and the touch screen TV was sticky. Eww.

How full: There were plenty of spare seats, and spare rows in the Economy Cabin so passengers could spread out a bit. I was lucky enough to have three seats to myself, so I could lie down and sleep for a few hours.

Entertainment: The in-flight entertainment was excellent, with many new release movies and TV shows. I watched a couple of episodes of Sir David Attenborough's epic Planet Earth II, which screened in the UK last year but still hadn't played in New Zealand.

Service: Excellent. The young, attractive crew were friendly and helpful.

Food and drink: Dinner was served about 90 minutes after take-off, with a choice of Italian-style chicken and creamy pesto penne pasta, or beef and spinach curry on jasmine rice. I had the chicken and it was warm, comforting and delicious. Dessert was a creamy strawberry and vanilla cheesecake. Calories don't count at 40,000 feet, right?

Fellow passengers: Seemed to be mostly Kiwis flying home.

Toilets: Clean and tidy. The automatic sensor controlling the flush was quite oversensitive - I managed to set it off while I was still going about my business, which gave quite a draught, ahem, down below.

Would I fly again: Yes. But I'd make sure I ate dinner first so I didn't have to rely on Perth's average offerings and could get more than three hours' sleep on the flight.