WindFlyer

I recently flew trans-Tasman and got a chance to sample two different premium products, so I figured I'd share my observations.

I first flew NZ shorthaul C SYD-CHC on the morning (lunchtime) flight.


Lounge:
The Koru Club in SYD is regularly on my list of favourite lounges, and during this visit it proved to be, again, everything I expected from it. It is a roomy and spacious lounge with expansive views of the aprons and runways in the distance; it has great amenities like showers, WiFi, and a business centre; has an excellent selection of beverages, wines and spirits, as well as time-appropriate food and snacks. Most importantly, it is staffed by some of the friendliest and most helpful agents to be encountered.

It is no wonder then that between my shower, some snacking, b-mailing, and :-: chatting, I lost track of time and my senses—missing my boarding call altogether—only to realize some fifteen minutes before my flight's departure that I should be on-board. I gathered my stuff quickly as I heard my name being paged. While leaving the lounge I thanked the staff again, who kindly offered to call the gate to let them know I'd be there momentarily... so not surprisingly as I approached the gate a few minutes later the agent said to me "you must be Mr. WindFlyer"


Flight:
Boarded last :NRSA-style: ^. On boarding I was greeted by name at the door and shown to my seat by a FA, who also offered me a choice of predeparture beverage—I opted for the Sparkling Wine (Lindauer, IIRC). No sooner was I settled into my seat that the purser came to deliver my drink, introduce herself, provide me with a copy of the printed menu and walk me thru it. Prior to departure, she came around again to take the meal orders while another FA took orders for movie selections during flight.

As soon as we turned left toward the Tasman after takeoff the seat belt sign went off, and shortly thereafter, the crew was up passing out the portable DVD players and movies that pax had ordered and passing out chips and the first beverage service. Meal service followed promptly (lunch menu).

As I had to drive upon arrival, I did not fully engage in my customary wine-tasting session onboard NZ flights (sorry, mad_atta ), but did sample a Saint Clair Sauvignon Blanc (Marlborough), Craggy Range Pinot Noir (Martinborough), and Forrest Estate Late Harvest Riesling (Marlborough). I liked them all. I was also pleased with the quality of the catering and the breads offered with the meal. The service was attentive, friendly, and professional. I was surprised, though, by the presence of plastic knives—even if of a tasteful design—at a time when some U.S. carriers are reintroducing metal cutlery

NZ shorthaul C is primarily found on A320 aircraft configured with 8 seats. The seats are similar to UA domestic F seats, except that they are leather and have legrests. They also have standard powerports. IFE consists of several channels of audio, a main movie on the general overhead screens, or individual movie choices on hand-held DVD players. While I generally opt for row 2, this time it was not available for me. Nonetheless, I did not feel cramped for legroom by the bulkhead and was able to use the seat's legrest to its full extension. There aren't many places for one's things, though...

Without much to see out the window, I spent most of the flight well cared-for by the attentive crew, listening to Bach and drowned in thoughts that found their way to a napkin of sorts :-:. We made landfall on the South Island somewhere near Hokitika. Low cloud cover was pervasive both east and west of the Southern Alps, yet many of the snow-covered alpine peaks stood above the clouds, providing those of us on starboard expansive views of the Mount Cook and Mount Tasman area in the distance. Occasional breaks in the clouds allowed quick peeks at glacial lakes and braided rivers as we started the bumpy descent into CHC.


Arrival:
This flight tends to arrive shortly after three international widebodies, putting us at the end of long queues for Customs & Immigration. At least the bags marked as 'Priority' appeared to come out first. On the exit from such formalities there are duty free shops for those last purchases of incoming pax. The international arrivals area of the airport is roomy and has the necessary conveniences readily available (an 'i', ATM, car company counters, etc.) and easy exit to transportation options.


All in all, a very pleasant experience on a flight the length of a short midcon in the U.S ^ ^


See also the return on Emirates F

lucky9876coins

Thanks very much for the report!^ I will be on the A320 from SYD-AKL in May, so this seems like a good idea of what I can expect. I look forward to seeing the return.

bobgold

very nice report. This April my wife and i will be headed LAX-AKL-SYD and the return all in NZ Biz. Can't wait. Thanks for the links to the wineries. We had planned to drive a rental car from Auckland up to the Bay Of Islands for a few days but after seeing your pics of Cape Kidnappers I'm considering heading there instead. We only have a week so to do both would be too much.

How did you take the panoramic pics? There is a panoramic option on our older Canon digital cmaera. I've used it and it's hit or miss. You have to take a bunch of pics and piece them together. Your are great.

thanks again
bob

BenjaminNYC

That is a *banker* TR! ^

l etoile

No, it's a :-: TR!

WindFlyer

Thanks, lucky, bobgold, BJ and l'etoile

WindFlyer

Ah, such are the types of compromises that can drive a short-time visitor crazy

Thanks ^. My camera has a 'panoramic' feature that consists of two parts. The first part acts on the camera and what it does once activated is lock the settings (zoom, aperture, speed, etc.) of the first frame until you deactivate the feature after capturing the last frame. So what you do is shoot slightly overlapping frames in any direction of your choosing, and then 'stitch' together the frames.

This second task is accomplished on a computer. And while the camera provides a software program to do such stitching, I did not find it satisfactory. I use Photoshop Elements instead.

The main problem I have is that oftentimes I forget to activate the 'panoramic' feature of the camera and end up with a string of photos taken with different settings that don't blend too well colour-wise

mad_atta

Thanks for a great trip report WindFlyer, and for thinking of me I'm not sure why it is that so many people seem to think of me when quaffing wines onboard NZ flights... but then again, there are few things more pleasant than drinking a nice drop at 35000 feet in a comfy business class seat while either anticipating or digesting an indulgent meal. I hope to be doing the very same thing SYD-WLG 2 weeks from today, upgrade gods permitting. It will mark the end of a *very* intense couple of months at work, so I shall be partaking fully of the entire drinks selection

Looking forward to reading about the return trip. EK F undoubtedly has the superior hardware, but I'm intrigued to hear how the service compares, especially now that NZ seems to have refined its service levels again on the Tasman after initial hiccups with the ZEAL320 crews...

WindFlyer

...why, oh why would that be?

Yes, I was pleased that there were no noticeable degradations in service from the last time I flew NZ shorthaul C Trans-Tasman

WindFlyer

For my return, circumstances turned in such manner that travel on EK became an attractive option. As I was curious to try the fabled M-fare suite and wondered how the much-vaunted EK service would be on a short tag flight, I flew CHC-SYD in super-longhaul F on the evening (dinner) flight.


Check-in and Lounge (or lack thereof):
Check-in was quick and efficient at the dedicated F counter. Premium pax are given the option of paying the departure tax at check-in, however, only cash is accepted. Along with my boarding card I was handed an envelope containing a letter with information about our flight crew and details about the lounge. The short of it is, there is no lounge access of EK premium pax.

Out of curiosity, I spoke with the station manager about it, who explained that both QF and NZ rejected EK's attempts to enter into a lounge use agreement ( : protectionists: ), and that given the light EK schedule into CHC, it was unlikely that a lounge would be built soon. As it currently stands, EK gives its premium pax a voucher for food and beverages (worth NZD 30 to F pax, not sure about C or J). Fortunately, the international departures area has a section far away from the EK gates that is lounge-like in the sense that (at that time anyway) is quiet, spacious, and with comfortable seating. Still, the amenities one would expect from a world-class lounge are missing.


Flight:
Under the circumstances, I eschewed my practice of boarding :NRSA-style: and was in fact first on the jetbridge . Upon presentation of my BP at the airplane door, I was promptly escorted to my seat and my jacket taken and hung. Before I had finished settled down, my FA came to introduce herself and offer a beverage while strongly suggesting a flute of Dom ^. Shortly thereafter, the purser came to introduce himself, provide me the wine list and menu, explain the à-la-carte service and offer a quick tour of the suite (more comments on the suite, menu and wine list later). He came back shortly before pushback to offer arabian coffee and dates and to advise us that the seats would be locked for takeoff and climbout.

Before takeoff, the captain asked the crew to remain seated until further notice due to expected turbulence on climbout while crossing the Southern Alps. We took off to the east and then looped left, giving those of us on starboard excellent views of Christchurch, the Banks Peninsula, Pegasus Bay and the Waipara Valley. The anticipated turbulence turned out to be nothing more than a couple of short patches of very light chop . At last, once we had cleared the West Coast, the captain released the FAs who promptly unlocked our seats and sprang into action.

Meal orders were taken and service commenced accordingly. I was quite impressed than on a such a short tag flight EK offered a full multi-course dinner menu with completely different selections than the continuing long SYD-DXB sector. I was also positively impressed that the wine list had been selected with thought and, at least where the French wines are concerned, attention to vintages that are currently drinking well. I was surprised, however, to also find plastic knives onboard.

Service was attentive and very, very good. The crew had a good sense of the timing of each pax and was able to individually pace the service accordingly. All wines, including refills, were poured in front of me after presentation of the bottle—as it should be. The couple of times I needed to use the call button, FAs appeared instantly and attended to my requests satisfactorily. The crews, however, lacked some of the polish and attention to detail found in the likes of LH or SQ F crews. For example, some of the dishes were plated or served with the logo in varying positions, and one of my dishes was presented with a fair amount of splatter. A friend of mine suggested that perhaps young FAs that are still in training are staffed on these short tag flights @:-)

As for the suite, it was certainly designed with convenience and privacy in mind. And while I liked the quiet ambiance and feel of the cabin (and definitely enjoyed the cabin 'mood' lighting), I found the suites themselves a tad on the gaudy side for my æsthetic. The ICE system hiccuped on me once, the touch-sensitive controller for the seat was unresponsive a couple of times, and the airshow channel was either off or inoperative. In fully flat mode, I found that the legrest doesn't go completely horizontal but slopes down a bit, which I would find annoying on a long flight—though I suspect a pillow to raise the ankles and feet on might do the trick.

Cruising at FL400 and into the sunset, my view out the window was one of a pleasant and endless blanket of cloud with golden flecks, a deep and darkening blue sky, and a half-moon half-way up the horizon. The EK logo on the engines and winglets sparkled amidst the glow the setting sun gave to the engines and wings of the A345.


Arrival:
There was a half-hearted if unsuccessful attempt to hold the C pax to allow F to deplane first. Pax continuing on to DXB were invited meet an escort to the visit the lounge—and alas, I wasn't one of them . At least the first class bags were the first ones out on the carousel ^


Overall, I would say this is certainly a banker option for premium trans-Tasman travel, particularly given EK's competitive pricing of the product.

WindFlyer

WindFlyer

Kiwi Flyer

Brings me back to my EK F trans-tasman experiences - thanks.

If you really wanted a lounge you could have done AKL-MEL.

WindFlyer

The :schedule: was more important than the lounge

...of course, had I been able to make it to AKL, I might have seen you again