So I left you while pretty much trapped onboard our aircraft after landing in Auckland. We all waited and waited and for a good 25 mins we were trapped onboard. It was good to chat to some fellow travellers. We all had a good chat and everyone mentioned just how quick the flight went. Eventually we were released with the Air Bridge finally attached, it was like releasing a flock of birds into the wild. People just fled out of the aircraft either towards either the Transfer area or towards duty free and immigration.

The first thing that puzzled me was that the International Transfer section was downstairs. Part of me had to take a double take. Wasn’t sure exactly what to do as I could swear last time I went through that transfer section it was towards immigration more and it was on the same floor. But you do what you gotta do, so I followed the signs down to International Transfers. I was able to get through to security pretty quickly but unfortunately there was only one scanning machine (not just open, one only!) and I was unfortunately behind a queue of at least 7 or 8 people.

It was here that I had a brain fart. I pulled my laptop, tablet and liquids out, but never took anything out of my pockets. Rookie move Mal, Rookie Move. I had remembered that you didn’t have to remove your belt, they just did a secondary wand over you so with belt still on, I went through the WTMD (Walk Through Metal Detector) got the beep I was expecting, and out came the body wand. Except this is where I got told off, because I had forgotten everything in my pockets. So it was back through, drop everything out and to the back of the line. Dammit!

Through the metal detector for the second time, another body wand and this time, the all clear. I quickly grab my stuff and flee so as not to get explosive tested as well, just to make me feel like I have totally bad luck. I went through the doors to an empty room. What the hell. I just kept on walking, till I found some steps and headed up figuring that was the best way to go, then finally a sign. Now things are looking good. Up I went, up into the Terminal. YAY!

Now that I was in familiar surroundings I hightailed it for the lounge quick smart. I had read online on Jaunted that the Koru Club in Auckland offers a free 15 min massage to all Business passengers on the long haul flights. But as the spaces are on first come first served and with 2 LAX flights and a Hong Kong/London Flight all in the lounge around the time I was there, I figured I needed to get their quickly. Turns out I got their first. There was not a single person at the “Bliss” treatment area. So rather than have to book in and come back, I was given my 15 min massage straight away.

I chose the “Shoulder” massage over feet figuring it would get rid of the slight pain in my back from the flight over (probably from lugging around a 10kg camera bag on one shoulder). Into the small treatment room and it was a good massage. Although more body than shoulders, even though I was in quite a bit of pain during the massage (haven’t actually had a proper massage in about 14 months and back then I had lots more body fat) it felt good at the end of it. I was totally relaxed.
With massage over, I found a power port, plugged in, grabbed a drink and settled in.

I was able to log on to the wireless quickly and download my emails and get some updates on the world (while also writing the first stage of the trip report). It was here that I started getting messages from my friend Brad who was flying from Melbourne to LA with V Australia. It seemed his flight was delayed. When I got his first message I was just leaving Brisbane and he was delayed about 4 hours. Next message comes through, delayed till 8pm. That’s ok I guess, we will race to LA to see who gets their first.

Eventually some bad news. Brad is not going to be leaving Melbourne tonight as his flight is cancelled. This news came in just before I switched off my laptop and was headed towards the gate as the screen was showing “Go to Gate” but yet nothing had been said in the lounge, figuring I missed it I packed up and moved on out.

Now lets discuss the lounge at this point. Just WOW. The Koru Club at Auckland Airport was phenomenal. This lounge had lots of different areas, plenty of comfy looking seats, great work areas. Lots of hot food (especially considering the long haul flights head out fairly late from Auckland so they obviously encourage people to eat before hand) and the kicker for me. Fresh Barista Coffee. Hello Coffee heaven!
The only disappointing thing I found was that other than water and diet coke, there was no mineral water or bottled water at all. Just something I would of preffered, but I guess its not across the NZ lounge network at all. Definitely could get used to this and at least I now have a good ball park figure for what a Good lounge and an Average lounge are like. Something to compare for the rest of the trip.
Back to reality. I made my way through all the shops and restaurants (check out my april trip for more pics on Auckland Airport) and headed towards the pier that NZ use for their long hauls. I had forgotten they do a passport check before the gates, so quickly stopped and pulled out my passport and boarding pass before being cleared through the gate.

Son of a bitch. Lying monitors! The gate area was PACKED! But then all of a sudden as I got there, my name was paged. O god what now! Already at Hiccup #4 please don’t make it 5. I approached the counter and gave my name, and a plead of “Please don’t take my lovely seat from me”, to which I got the response “O I wouldn’t do that to you, however here is your boarding pass from LA to Vancouver”. PHEW!
I found a seat and settled in for a bit of a wait, it wasn’t that long, maybe 10 minutes. More of my book read and soon they started to board Children with families, but no elite boarding yet. What! I mean seriously DYKWIA! The boarding area turned into a scrum, seriously it was like a rugby game. I know the kiwis like their rugby and all but this was a joke. Managed to get my way towards the front of the line and soon they called the words I wanted to hear. “We invite all our Business Premier Guests to board”

Air New Zealand
NZ2
Auckland to Los Angeles
2130-1445
Boeing 777-300ER (ZK-OKO)
Business Premier – Seat 1K

Boarding: 2100 (Gate 6)
Push Back 2145
Take Off Roll: 2200 (Runway 23L)
Top of Descent: 1353
Touch Down: 1425 (24R)
Shut Down: 1434/1439 (Gate 21)

With the scrum fully underway it was a mad house to make it onboard. Again boarding was one bridge to Door 2L however this made for again those words you just love to hear. “To your left Mr Muir”. But what blew me away first off was just how great this new 77W looked. She was bright, she was shiny and she looked sexy!
I quickly moved forward to my seat, dropped my stuff then figured it was time to explore while the lights were on. I got plenty of photos of the different cabins, all the mood lights, even the lovely new seats. When I returned to my seat I was offered a beverage and again I decided to just stick with water (for the moment). Nicely laid out on the ottoman was the menu, wine guide and amenity kit. Menu and Wine guide into the seat pocket, amenity kit straight into bag you go. The pilfering begins! I quickly perused the menu and it looked good, I then found out that the same menu is actually stored in the IFE system. Sweet.

While I was playing with the IFE some more and setting up a bit of a playlist of some movies (chose Minority Report, Lost in Translation, Wall E and Social Network) the crew came around the cabin to take “supper” orders while still on the ground. Again this would probably be to allow things to progress quicker due to most people wanting to get some shut eye (or so I thought). Captain came on and gave his quick brief letting us know we would be a bit delayed while we waited on a late arriving Sydney flight to send us some passengers.

Pretty soon we were buttoned up, pushing back from the gate and the IFE was playing more Richard Simmons again (thankfully only have to see that safety video twice on this trip). We headed back to the active runway and soon I was looking forward to what I considered the real start of this journey. My first long haul in quite some time! As we turned onto the active, the Captain put some power in those nice hefty GE90s, we were off into the Air. A few little lumpy bits as we climbed out. The seat belt sign came off quickly and I was up and about again to take a few more pictures.

So lets take this opportunity to talk about the new Air New Zealand offering. It has been much talked about in the Travel Press. But the thing I looked forward to on this trip was being able to compare the old Long Haul vs the New Long Haul. Now the seats themselves are mighty similar. Pretty much the same design but subtle differences. For one the colour. Old is brown, new is white. Good start here. The IFE was touch screen on the new with a better screen and a little bigger it seems to. Life vest has been moved out of the ottoman and a few extra ports/plugs added. Other than that, she looks pretty much the same. It’s the cabins up the back that look different.

I had read some reviews that a lot of people just don’t like the new premium economy because it was pretty damn tight, but one thing you notice on this aircraft, no matter what cabin your in, the aisles feel smaller. They were right about the premium economy, the spacing just does not look right (and apparently as of September they are going to remove a few seats to add a bit more space).

The other thing you notice is that everything is shiny and new (but you expect that from a new aircraft) but the colour scheme just stands out more in my opinion compared to the old. One thing that I did remember from what I had seen online was that the Toilets all had some sort of pictures in them of some sort, the two in the business cabin both had pictures like someone was looking in a window (along with a real window) but the ones at the back of the PE cabin had the great designs. I did something I swore I would never, ever do in my life as an Avgeek. I became a Laviator. I took photos of the toilets (I swear it was for the photos).

Back to the flight. As we climbed to our cruise altitude of 31000 ft (thank you Captain for that bit of information) the crew just seemed to be running back and forth constantly but not really doing much. There was no pre dinner beverage service at all, and for the first 30 minutes of the flight, all we got was a hot towel. It was then a good hour into the flight that the service even looked like it was going to start. Eventually I got my starter before everyone else and that was a almost 1h 15 mins into the flight and before I was even offered a drink!

I had decided to be a bit complicated and try and have the soup they offered as the Express Dine option as a Starter (or at least a small bowl of it). This was brought out to me on a tray well before everyone else. I felt a little bad. But it seemed that’s how this service was going to progress. Eventually everyone else got their starters and a drink but I was skipped on the drink service for some reason. This was going to be the story of my dinner service pretty much. I felt like I had to ask for things several times over. I did however finally get my drink and it was time to tick off the first thing on my list.

Trip List Item #2 – Drink a glass of Champagne on a Long Haul Flight.

The champagne was Piper Heidsick and the small weird looking flute glass they used was perfect for what I wanted. A small glass to really start this trip off (all the rest of the food was going to be enough of an indulgence). Just as my mains was being served I was offered a refill and went back to a trusty companion, sparkling water. But unfortunately as usual, it was forgotten. I finished my main and was offered dessert before I asked for the water again. The self service on the IFE was not even working either so that was not a good sign.
The food was great, the soup was to die for, the Steak main was great. The ice cream sundae dessert. O god yes! Mal is going to have to work off this flight when he gets to Vancouver. But to be honest, who cares, Ive earned it all right. With dinner in my belly, It was time to get comfy and good time to as minority report was winding up.

I put the seat into bed mode and got comfy. The full flat seat was great and the double thick mattress pad that was so raved about in reviews certainly does help, but the blanket is thin and the cabin felt super cold so that didn’t help. Unfortunately I was just to amped to even get any sleep, so figured I may as well just watch some tv. I decided to try out one of new features of the IFE and that is the ipod connectivity. Thankfully the cables are free to all premium class guests. The in seat ordering worked for this, well, it allowed me to order. The cable however, failed to arrive. So I got off my butt and got it myself the old fashioned way.

This seemed to be the story of the service. Really haphazard. Some crew just could not do enough to please you, yet others seemed like it was to much trouble and really hard to get started on a conversation. But at this point it was to early to make a judgement as it was only 3 hours into a 12 hour flight. I settled in and watched some tv and then with an episode of tv that I had brought with me done, I moved onto writing up this trip report with a fresh cup of hot coffee in hand. The seat belt sign came on around this time due to some lumpy action and outside the window a lovely sunrise was beginning as we progressed further north. The seatbelt sign stayed on about an hour or so. I tossed and turned on the seat/bed for several hours watching movies and trying to make myself comfortable and or sleepy.

About the 5 hour mark I think I shut my eyes for a little bit and may have gotten a light sleep for about an hour… maybe. I am not quite sure. Eventually I just started to come alive around about the 3 hours to go mark, I was planning on getting some breakfast about this point to try and resync my body clock but it seemed that the crew decided it was time for everyone to start stirring. The mood lighting came on and started to go through its morning wake up routine. This meant people were getting up and it meant for me, time to make myself feel a touch human (one of those things you need to do on a flight), so I waited in line for a bathroom so I could clean my teeth.

Eventually I started to watch some more TV episodes as breakfast started. By now I was a good 10 or 12 cups of coffee down, time for some food. I figured if I resynced my body to local time I could fool it into avoiding jetlag. Hopefully. So I kept it pretty light for breakfast with just fruit and toast, o and more coffee of course, so unfortunately unable to comment on the hot breakfast. The toast was ok though. Again service was a bit haphazard. I was really starting to begin to think that it was just the crew member working my section.

Eventually we were about 40 minutes out and the captain came on with his pre top of descent talk. It was good to know that we would shortly be on the ground. If things were going to go well, it meant that we would be coming in from the west, and the captain confirmed this. He also advised of sunny conditions. This meant an In n Out run for some spotting and that meant an afternoon of fun & frivolity!

As we descended we came in over orange county and Disneyland/Knotts Berry Farm before turning onto the approach from the west. We flew right infront of the In n Out and I was snapping madly out the window as soon as we hit the taxi ways with heaps of good spotting going on out the window. We pulled alongside our gate at Terminal 2 and then we shut down… in the middle of the taxi way. Ah crap… a Tow IN gate. Even though we were early, this obviously just ended that little bit of an early arrival as we had to wait for the tractor to tow us in. O well.

Pretty soon we were attached to the gate, and then soon enough we were deplaning and heading to LAX immigration, right behind a plane load of british tourists. God damn, this did not look good.
And with that, I leave you for part 3 later!