Just flew AKL-MEL on NZ125 in upper deck business. As mentioned in the Lounge thread, AKL in general was a zoo with it taking about 20 minutes to get checked in. Non-elite customs/security lines were fully snaked taking 30 minutes to process. Koru Club was very full and it took quite a while to find a seat.
The flight was late from it's earlier turn (probably due to late inbounds from LAX, I noticed QF26 and NZ5 were running late before I headed to the airport). NZ81 to HKG was also delayed and the flight to NLK was rescheduled for Monday.
Boarding started at 13:30, with departure delayed til 13:50 or so. This was my first time in upper deck business class in the new config, having flown it in the old config and premium economy. I think in the future I will stick to the main deck in Zone A as the noise from the PE pax really did detract from the atmosphere, and the crew were more busy having to serve both classes. Also some lines for having to use the lavatories.
Food & beverage services were great; although catering had loaded the MEL-AKL menus rather than AKL-MEL. No 42 Below cocktails available on the Tasman runs which really annoys me - I wish NZ would fix this.
Now the more dramatic part of the trip: On descent, I was switching SIMs in my cell handset (from VFNZ to Telstra-AU) and managed to drop my VFNZ SIM down the side of the seat, where it wedged between the metal framework, the floor, and the plastic facade that separates the seats. I could
just see it, but couldn't reach it.
After landing, and the subsequent push-back and re-parking as the aircraft had overshot the parking mark by 600mm, I asked the crew if there were any ways to get to the floor area to recover the SIM. I was expecting to be told either "no, you're an asshat for dropping it", or "yes, here's how and here's your SIM".
It turned into quite an adventure that had at it's peak 3 cabin crew members and 3 engineers helping to disassemble my seat (18A) and part of the seat next to it. We managed to recover all sorts of junk that was down the side of it but not the SIM - it was just too small to grab. I was incredibly appreciative of the effort the cabin crew put in, as well as the two QF engineers they enlisted to help as well.
When I finally disembarked the aircraft, they had switched the airbridge to departures so I found myself in the wrong part of the airport. I had to get someone to escort me down to arrivals and to immigration... where there were no agents. After finally getting someone to let me into the country, I picked up my lonely bag and found myself at the end of an
incredibly long line for customs/quarantine. I was behind about a million Scouts returning from the jamboree in New Zealand, all of whom had something to declare (that they had visited agricultural sites) so there was a lot of bag examination going on, with dirt and other stuff being removed from equipment. It took 40-ish minutes to get through.
The only problem I have with this is that (again for me) there were no express cards handed out on the flight, although I didn't ask for one as I was more concerned about my SIM card.
I am writing a note to NZ now about how awesome the crew were in trying to recover my SIM.
To top it all off though I ended up with a taxi driver who didn't know the difference between left and right!
Kiwi Flyer flew the return sector on the same aircraft with the same crew; and just mentioned in SMS to me that they have had some significant problems in AKL and have been on the ground for 40+ mins now but unable to leave the aircraft. I'll let him fill in the rest of the story.
