An Air New Zealand Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Photo / 123RF
Sophie Ryan flies aboard Air NZ's flight NZ102 from Sydney to Auckland.
The plane: A pretty much brand new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. This was the aircraft's second flight for Air New Zealand: it had been delivered to Auckland from the Boeing factory in Seattle just five days earlier.
Class: Economy.
Seat: 37K.
How full: Mostly full.
Time: We departed Sydney 50 minutes later than scheduled due to a software outage at Australian immigration services, but the flight was a quick 2h 20m journey to Auckland.
Fellow passengers: A mixed bag of families and couples returning from holidays around the world, as well as business travellers.
Food and drink: Very nice lunch options of chicken pasta or a cold beef noodle salad. Both served with a delicious cake and warm roll.
Entertainment: The flight time was perfect to watch one movie, and there were loads of good options to choose from.
Service: A great Air New Zealand crew on board, all of whom seemed to be very proud of the new aircraft and were helpfully pointing out the nice features of the new plane.
Toilets: Spotlessly clean.
Airport experience: Sydney Airport is one of the best airports I've experienced. It's a pleasure to kill time there between flights with so many duty-free shops to look at and plenty of well-lit spots to just sit and read a book or watch the planes coming and going.
Would I fly it again? Yes, it's a great service to cross the Tasman and it's always a welcoming feeling to have a New Zealand crew greet you on to the plane.
The perfect destination for both a one-stop holiday, or a much-needed stopover.