2018 – Part 45 – Hopping across the Tasman

2018 – Part 45 – Flight report Air New Zealand Auckland to Brisbane

Boarding at the end of the international terminal required us to shuffle past other passengers as we were able to board with the frequent flyers and fellow business class passengers.  It felt like this was going to be a full flight.

Trip Plan

Flight

Auckland to Brisbane
NZ 135
Scheduled departure 9:20 am
Scheduled arrival 11:05am
Seats: 3A & 3B

Even though it appeared that both jetways were operating we boarded using L2, where we were greeted, and directed to the left where our seats waited for us in the business class section.  Our seats were across the aisle this time, and we quickly found our seats where a bottle of water, pillow and noise cancelling headphones were already placed at the seats.

As you can tell by the picture above, the flight attendants were quick.  Peter, the flight attendant working on our side of business class, offered us a selection of juice, water or champagne, we both gladly accepted champagne.  It appeared that not every passenger in business class wanted to start drinking at 9am on a Friday, as Peter returned, glanced at my near empty glass and offered a refill.  Sure!  Twist my rubber arm to have a second drink before take-off.

The Captain, Ian, did his welcome announcement informing us that the planned flight would have us arriving on time, if not early in Brisbane.  Shortly after the announcement the doors were closed, followed by push back from the gate.  While we taxied to the end of the runway the safety video, an Antarctic theme video played.

Food

Take-off was immediate and within 5 minutes the seatbelt signed was turned off.  As I didn’t have a window seat I flipped through the menu, that was serving double duty for both legs of the New Zealand-Australia flights.

After setting the table, the flight attendants offered drinks.  Peter recommended a smoothie, and my rubber arm was twisted again — it was nice touch to start the meal.

The breakfast meal service was quick with the cereal and fruit arriving first and quickly followed by the hot breakfast, I selected the Panini.

Cereal, Fruit & Tea to start

Egg and bacon Panini

Meal service was quick as it began 45 minutes after take-off and was completed in under 30 minutes.  That meant for a scheduled 3 hour flight, meal service was completed just before the halfway point of the flight.  I continued to enjoy watching a movie while enjoying a cup of tea.

I enjoyed my breakfast, and although I initially thought the Panini was small, it was filling.  I didn’t try either the chutney nor the sauce as I would imagine it would have gladly joined the shirt I was wearing.

Seats

Unlike our flight to Auckland, we sat across from each other and didn’t need to use the in flight messaging system to talk to each other.  It didn’t matter as both of us enjoyed the solitude of watching a movie or two.  For my views on the business class seat, click here to read about them from my post that covered our flight to Auckland.

Arrival

Approach to, and landing at, Brisbane was smooth and flawless.  We arrived early, and we were in the terminal headed to customs and baggage claim before the flight’s scheduled arrival time.

The flight was just as enjoyable as our flight to Auckland.  The crew was friendly, professional and personable.  We quickly cleared customs, collected our bags and headed to pick up our rental car.

Read more about our trip by clicking here.