Review of Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to Sydney in Economy

Introduction

This trip report is from March-April 2004. I had booked a flight to New Zealand on Emirates. I did not take interior photos as I never thought I would be writing a trip report.

I had booked with Emirates for fly the Airbus A340-500. In this post, I'm writing both the outbound and inbound flights.

This was my 1st trip to New Zealand. As visa was not required, I decided to fly to NZ.

Emirates EK419 Sydney - Auckland

Flight details:
Airlines: Emirates
Flight :EK419 SYD-AKL
Reg : A6-ERC
Aircraft: Airbus A340-541
Dep - SYD: 10.30 am
Arr - SYD: 2:45 pm
Flight time: 2 hours, 35 minutes
Distance : 2163 Km.

Check-in

Check-in was at the airport. I was travelling light, bag was underweight. Ground crew printed boarding pass and handed departure card.

Immigration and security

At immigration, officer used to check the departure card and stamp the passport. Security used to check bags for LGA's and confiscate bottles over 100ml.

Departure area

View of departure area after security check.

Boarding for this flight was from gate 57

Food court in departure area

Bridge connecting the two sides of departure area, arrival visible below.

Departure

I didn't take aircraft photo as the aircraft was not visible. Departure for this flight was from runway 34L. View of Central station as the aircraft climbed after departure.

View of Sydney city as the aircraft turned East

Sydney Airport at the top center as aircraft flew over Northern Suburbs, heading East.

Inflight

Meal was served after takeoff, I had chosen chicken. I didn't take photo of the meal nor the interior of the aircraft. In those days, I had 16MB memory card and didn't want to fill it.

Approaching Auckland

Captain announced descend would be commencing.

Descending

Window view on approach

Arriving in Auckland

Landed smoothly and taxied to gate. View of Air New Zealand Boeing 737-3U3.

Upon arrival, while deboarding saw two Emirates Airbus A340-500, from Sydney and Melbourne parked next to each other. Filled the immigration form on the aircraft.

Immigration and Quarantine

Didn't take long to clear immigration as aircraft arrived at non-peak hour. Passed Quarantine and was in the arrival area.

Exiting airport

I booked a car, I went to counter to collect key. Got the key and went to the car park.

Auckland airport in 2004.

I had got a red Holden sedan for the trip.

I drove to Puhinui Rd Viewing Area and spotted a Qantas Boeing 747 arriving from Los Angeles.

Return trip: Emirates [Air New Zealand] EK8413 Auckland - Sydney

Flight details:

Airlines: Air New Zealand (Emirates)
Flight :EK8413 AKL-SYD
Reg : ZK-OJC
Aircraft: Airbus A320-232
Departure Auckland : 17.20 pm
Arrival Sydney : 18:30 pm
Flight time : 2 hours, 35 minutes
Distance : 2163 Km.

Arriving at airport

I had booked motel close to airport. I arrived at the airport on time as there was no online check-in facility.  I parked the car in rentals parking bay and to the terminal.

Airlines serving Auckland.

Departure flight schedule

Walking towards check-in area

Arrival area

Greeters waiting outside arrivals

Check-in

Emirates check-in counters for Melbourne and Brisbane flights. Every flight to Oz is EK.

Check-in

Check-in counter 78-79 for Sydney flight, I got the bag checked and received boarding pass.

Immigration and security

Completed immigration and security without any issues.

Departure area

To enter departure area had to pass through corridor of duty free shops

Boarding area for US bound flights with extra security check.

Planespotting

I had time and did some planespotting.

Air Pacific Boeing 737-800 to Suva, Fiji

Qantas Boeing 747-400 to Los Angeles

Air New Zealand Airbus A320-200

Emirates EK 432 AKL-BNE-SIN-DBX taxies past the terminal.

Waiting area

Boarding for the flight was from gate 1.

Air New Zealand Airbus A320 at gate 1.

Boarding

I was expecting a Emirates A340-500 as had purchased a EK ticket but they didn't operate the flight. Boarding call was made and the aircraft was Air New Zealand Airbus A320-232 ZK-OJC operating EK8413 AKL-SYD.

I was disappointed as this was the last chance to fly a Emirates A340-500 on a short route as service was replaced by Boeing 777 after few months.

Onboard

Didn't take any inflight photos. Interior was plain, black leather seats with PTV. Remember getting a chicken pie for snack. Passengers were provided incoming passenger card.

Arriving in Sydney

Aircraft landed on runway 34L in Sydney at 18.30. Being autumn, it was dark. Camera could not capture in dark and had enjoy the scenery visually.

Immigration and Quarantine

Immigration queue wasn't long, picked bag and walked towards Quarantine. Officer asked where I was coming from, On hearing New Zealand, asked me to take the exit door.

Exiting airport

I exited airport and went to the train station. I bought a single ticket.

Waited for train to Central station.

End of trip

Hope you enjoyed this trip report.

Thanks for reading and watching the video.

:)