Check In: 10 out of 10
Air NZ have a dedicated Check in for Business and Gold passengers at Auckland Airport with a lift (elevator) straight into customs, immigration and security saving much time walking around the long way. Worth staying gold for just for this feature! I checked in early, was the only one using the check in area and was through the whole process in just under 10 minutes!
Lounge: 10 out of 10
Boarding 9 out of 10
On Board: 10 out of 10
The Air NZ 777-300 has three cabins (as does V Australia). NB V dedicates more of their plane to Economy.
Air NZ
|
V Australia
|
|
Economy
|
244
|
288
|
Premium Economy
|
50
|
40
|
Business
|
44
|
35
|
Air NZ |
t |
You will see from the diagram that Air NZ have opted for the herringbone design resulting in four seats across the Business cabin.
Auckland Newspapers and international magazines were distributed. There was some disquiet from some passengers that there were no Wellington or international newspapers.
Safety: 10 out of 10
The safety briefing video was the humorous Air NZ rugby one. I always feel that Air NZ take safety seriously without officiousness and try to engage their passengers in the safety process. I did wonder what non-Kiwis would make of some of the “in-jokes” in the video briefing.
Takeoff: 9 out of 10
2130 (930pm) Takeoff out of Auckland was pretty with the city lights spread out below. There were a few minor bumps out of Auckland but nothing dramatic. The seat-belt sign soon went off but came back on very quickly, however as we hit some turbulence. This seemed to be the pattern for the first half of the flight. The sensation of sitting at an angle to the direction of takeoff and landing is one I have not got used to. It does feel quite odd.
Dinner: 10 out of 10
There were three choices with Business Premier for dinner:
- Express option which gets a meal out very quickly
- Full meal option at the Crew’s timing
- Meals when you wanted them
- Entree (starter for the Americans) was a cold mixed seafood dish with a choice of breads. Superb. I combined it with a Bird Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough.
- I chose a streak for the main course. This was accompanied by a Syrah wine which was a little drier than I wanted.
- For dessert, I chose an ice cream sundae which was delicious if not unusual. Vanilla ice-cream with popcorn and a yummy sauce. This was followed by a cheese platter. I accompanied these dishes with a lovely dessert wine which I forgot to note down.
Lavatories
I must tell you about the lavatories on board (I ended up inspecting almost all of them!). Two of the three business class ones have real windows in them so you can look out at the clouds while using the facilities. The lavatory for people with a disability has a mural of a bookcase in it. All were clean and sparkling when I saw them
Breakfast
I was more restrained with Breakfast having fruit, muesli and yogurt and a croissant This is where the 777 fun really started. The crew really went out of their way to celebrate the fact it was my 777th flight.Using ingredients on board they had made Little decorative plaques celebrating with me. Thank you.
Landing
The amazing Air NZ team |
My Overall Rating: 98%
My average rating for all Air New Zealand flights is 4.9 over twenty years-so brilliant as usual. It was hard to fault this flight. It confirmed to me that on this sector V Australia (5.0) and Air NZ lead business class with Qantas (4.7) narrowly behind. Way at the bottom on this sector is the woeful United offering (2.8 out of 5) . I haven’t tried Delta’s Business Class on this sector yet. That’s for 2012!
Positives: Where do I start?
Negatives: the seat’s angle
Would I fly them again? Absolutely. Thank you to the Captain and the whole crew of NZ2 for a superb flight.
Next big flights?
Below is a summary of my 777 flights and a world map showing where they have taken me. Some other Flightmemoryfacts: I have flown Air New Zealand 39 times traveling twice around the world. I have only flown the 777 17 times including this flight.
Congrats on flight 777
Well done sir!
NIce read – thank you for sharing MArtin. 🙂
Thanks guys for reading and your comments
Nice article.Detailed description about 777 is posted.Looks like a comfortable flight.
Loved the trip report! Makes me want to hop on an Air New Zealand flight.