Review of Air New Zealand flight Auckland → Queenstown in Economy

Previous Flight Reports:
First year anniversary RTW trip

Refer to links below for previous legs of the journey:
1st leg – ORD - HKG
2nd leg - HKG - AKL




We collected our bags from the belt and went through customs and bag security. New Zealand is pretty strict on what you bring into the country i.e. if you have an apple and dont declare it, you are screwed.

Once we were through, we turned right out the doors and went to the domestic check-in area. Self check in completed, self tagged our bags and dropped the bags off.

We then had to walk over to the domestic terminal which was a good 10 minutes. We did not wait for shuttle as it just left. The walk itself was not bad but it sucks when you have to walk in the doom and gloom rain. Just follow the green line between each terminal. :)



Its not the yellow brick road. Its the tarmac road with the green line.


Made it to the terminal and went straight into the security line which was quite long but moved pretty quickly. Its amazing how I can keep my shoes and belt on in one part of the world, yet take everything off in another part.

Our bird taking us to Queenstown:


The wonderful interior of our plane. Its an all Y seat plane.


Our comfy seats for the next 1.5 hours.


Push back was slightly delayed but didnt affect our arrival time in Queenstown. The delightful safety video was played while taxi-ing and it was very intersting to watch compared to other airlines - too bad they didnt play the LOTR or Hobbit versions. Once the seat belt signs were off, the cabin crew went into action and provided a basic drink/snack service. The rear section of the plane was filled with a tour group of Chinese mainland nationals who barely spoke english other than the basics. The crew working the rear started from the back and asked them what they wanted. Most of the interactions went like this:

Crew - "TEA, COFFEE, WATER?"
Passenger - "…"
Crew - "TEA, COFFEE OR WATER?" *points at the items*
Passenger - "Coffee"
Crew - "COOKIE OR PRETZEL?"
Passenger - *silence*
CREW - "COOKIE or PRETZEL?" *points at the items*
Passenger - *points at the cookie*

Crew - "TEA, COFFEE, WATER?"
Passenger - "Juice"
Crew - "NO, I ONLY HAVE TEA, COFFEE OR WATER?" *points at the items*
Passenger - "Tea"

The crew handled it pretty efficiently despite the language barrier, so I assumed tour groups like this are normal on flights to Queenstown. When they got to us, they asked my wife first:
Crew - "Tea, Coffee or Water?"
Wife - "Coffee and a cookie please"
Crew - "Certainly love." *big smile*

Crew - "Tea, Coffee or Water?"
Me - "I will have the same as her."
Crew - "Excellent!" *big smile*

People next to me are Chinese nationals …
Crew - "TEA, COFFEE, WATER?"
…

The mood of the crew changed once they were done with the tour group. After the service was done, I went back to the loo and waited for the person inside to finish. While waiting, I watched the two crew members quickly stock up the food carts for the turnaround service from Queenstown back to Auckland. One of them asked me if I wanted an extra cookie and I said no but my wife would like one because "Happy Wife …". She laughed and happily obliged and Mrs.I was a happy camper.



Landed without any issues, collected our bags and took the Super Shuttle into town.