I re-routed my trip home to bypass the USA and route via Canada in the wake of the ridiculous security theatre that was being imposed on flights to the USA following the 'crotch-bomber' attempt on Xmas Day.
This put me on Air NZ's flight to Vancouver.
Arriving at the International Terminal in Auckland, I found an enormous and slow-moving check-in line tailed back outside the Premier Check-In lobby.
I wondered if this was because of that evening's NZ8 flight to SFO being delayed 12 hours until the next morning - this was a knock-on effect of the weather in Europe - the 777 due to operate NZ8 was still en-route from the UK, around 16 hours late!
It turns out that the delayed NZ8 wasn't the reason for the queue, as staff were performing queue triage and creaming off NZ8 pax to deal with them elsewhere.
So, it was just taking ages to get people checked in - mostly being slowed up by pax who hadn't submitted APIS/ESTA info for travelling to the US, by families with enormous amounts of checked luggage, or people with a lot of sporting gear, mostly surfboards, etc. We must have been in that queue for about half an hour.
It seems odd that it appears quicker to process a lone traveller than four family members travelling as a group, but this seems to be the case!
It was disappointing that a number of the check-in desks in the Premium area weren't open despite the queue. I'd say only 50% of the desks were staffed. Once we got to see an agent, our check-in was processed very quickly, and I just had to take the polystyrene box of wines around to the 'special items' belt to be x-rayed and accepted.
That said, this was the first time I'd had to wait to check-in at Auckland. Maybe it's just the effect of the holiday traffic?
There's also been what I perceive as a negative change in the Premier service at Auckland, which is a change to the private security channel arrangements that used to exist.
Basically, the escalator upstairs to security has been removed, and there's now a trip in a lift upstairs to a dedicated border-control 'exit' post, and then you are mixed into the main departure security screening area, but after the huge zig-zag tensabarrier affair for 'everyone else'
That said, security was very quick to get through, with only one other person in front of the lane I chose.
So, I wouldn't say the private security channel there has gone completely, it's just had a slightly negative change made to it.
Sadly, Auckland Airport seems to be taking lessons from BAA, and a gigantic Duty Free shop is under construction on the exit from the security search area, presumably at the cost of the private security lane being lost, and to go with the gigantic inbound duty free shops you get on the way to immigration on the way into New Zealand.
The Air NZ international lounge is in the same place it used to be, but has received a contemporary makeover to bring it more in line with the rest of the Air NZ lounges on the network - especially the domestic Koru Club lounges in AKL and WLG. It was much needed, as it seemed comfy but a bit stuck in the 90s beforehand! Sadly, the refresh didn't extend to the toilets, which still seemed a bit 1990s, especially when compared to the standard in the refitted domestic lounges.
While in the lounge, there was a call for 'Michael Palin', but not a Python in sight. Maybe they wondered if it really was the ex-Python that had managed to slip under the VIP radar, and wanted to make sure they hadn't missed him? Either that or he was wearing a good disguise!
Reasonable selection of buffet food provided, along with self-service bar and NZ wines, free massages available to long-haul international pax (others could pay), free wifi access, and a seemingly well equipped and popular kids play area so any little darlings can burn off that excess energy before their 12 hour flight. It's these sort of attentions to detail that ANZ seem to be pretty good at.
Sadly, there isn't a great view of the tarmac from this lounge, except for one corner, furthest from the door, quite restricted at that, and rather wonky wifi reception in that area.
Still, from there one could see planes coming and going, including an Emirates A380, and some ANZ Engineering folks at work inside the #4 engine of 747 ZK-SUH - seemingly much sucking of air through teeth and scratching of chins involved.
Eventually, we were called down to gate 3 for boarding, to find ZK-NBW 'Wellington' waiting to operate NZ84, while there was a bit of a scrum going on, with a queue back to the bottom of the escalator, and dozy muppet people not moving the tail of the queue away from the bottom of the escalator. It threatened to tail back up the escalator like something in Candid Camera.
There was no priority boarding signed or in evidence, so we just chose to sit down and wait for the queue to go down. This despite the inflight concierge being in the boarding area, and having performed a lounge walkaround, hopefully seeking out her YVR pax so she could recognise them and expedite them through the boarding process. I think this is something really useful that the inflight concierges could do.
Eventually we were onboard and settling into our 4A and 5A, a friendly (and rather camp!) crew member very quickly approaching to offer water, juice or fizz.
Sadly, further cracks in the experience started to appear.
It seems that ANZ are not cleaning their planes to the same good standard as they used to, because on popping the drinks tray open to take the glass of fizz, some 'gunge' was visible in the dirt trap underneath the cocktail tray. On closer inspection, it looked a lot like grated cheese! Yuck!
I know the Suites are hideously designed in terms of ease of cleaning and are loaded with dust and dirt traps, but I thought ANZ used to do a better job of dealing with these? (Or maybe they used to attract a much better class of less dirty pax?)
I also noticed that the loos didn't seem quite as well cleaned as they used to be too on this trip.
Eventually, we were off, departing to the South West with a big sweeping left turn to take us back over the Hauraki Gulf, a touch late, but with a promise of making up time enroute.
Having a leaf through the IFE, some of the selections have changed, while some things were still there. The featured movie for January was 'This Is It', which actually turned out to be worth watching, even if a little slow moving at times. Michael Jackson's passion for performing and his fantastically high standards were so evident. Also, it was clear that while he was the star and it was his show, he knew he couldn't do it without the rest of the crew, and that he viewed them as fellow creatives.
Also, the episode of Fawlty Towers had been changed - we had 'The Wedding Party'! (Who knew that 'Mrs. Peignoir' translates as 'Mrs. Bathrobe'?)
It looks like ANZ have done a bit of service tweaking with their late evening departures out of AKL, as this flight carried a 'supper' service. The post departure cocktail service and snack is gone, in order to expedite the service of the main meal. I don't think this is a negative step in itself, as it meant that meal service was happening within an hour of takeoff.
The Supper service is a choice of a 'Fast Dine' single-tray meal which consisted of a carrot and coriander soup with roll and a chocolate lamington for dessert, or the full four-course dinner:
Starter:
* Kawakawa cured salmon with citrus jelly and potato salad
Main Course:
* Lamb navarin and cutlet with truffled potatoes and minted pea puree (as found ex-LHR, obviously ANZ thinking LHR pax won't use YVR flights!)
* Cranberry and cherry stuffed chicken thigh with orange glaze, cherry compote, parsley roasted pumpkin and courgettes
* Pan fried snapper on smoked potato mash with spinach, sesame roasted carrots, water chestnut and caper salsa
Dessert:
* Ice cream (however much you dress it up as being 'gourmet dessert', it's still ice cream) - offered with dessert wine.
Cheese and Fruit Plate.
As the service was starting, it seemed that everything being done in the galley was being done with a slam, crash or bang. 'He's grumpy!', said our crew member about the galley operator. Ah, that explained why when he was setting up the service in the L1 door area after departure, I thought he was going to come through the toilet wall!
A glance back during the meal service saw the aisle around L1 door littered with cafetieres and other service items!
Well, I was pretty open mouthed. I don't recall seeing such inflight unprofessionalism in an airline crew member a long while. Probably inappropriate bar/galley chat or horseplay on a VS flight being the last such instance.
I think this attitude of the galley operator rubbed off on the service - the other crew members working in that area were obviously negatively affected by this person's behaviour despite their best attempts to overcome it. The meal service was still quick and efficient, but felt a little chaotic, such as in the details like the bread basket being allowed to go cool.
The meal itself was still pretty good, the kawakawa salmon was really delicate, though I thought the lamb navarin was just 'okay', not the best meal I've had on ANZ, not the 'wow' factor. Normally ANZ food is finished with something nice like fresh herbs or similar on service, but this wasn't there. Maybe Mr. Grumpy back in the galley just couldn't be arsed putting it on?
Apparently Mr. Grumpy didn't want me to have the cheese plate 'out of order', i.e. before the dessert, too, but the crew member serving our aisle just ignored him and took it anyway. Certainly this isn't a problem when flying with one of ANZ's LHR-based crews.
The other thing I noticed was that we had plastic knives in the tableware. Not sure why, as I don't think it was re-introduced since the Detroit incident. ISTR that Australia still required plastic knives, so maybe we had been loaded with Australian cutlery packs?
Anyhow, dinner service was done quickly, but unhurried, and it was time to start to settle down and think about sleep.
I was worried that this wouldn't be easy to get, as like the outbound flight from LAX to AKL, we had a young passenger up at the front, seated in 1K. However, it looks like mum was well organised, brought plenty of stuff in terms of at seat activities (like colouring books) to keep the little boy happy beyond what the IFE could do, and very sorted out in terms of meals, etc. We didn't hear a peep!
So, sleep turned out to not be a problem, unlike the outbound. I slept about 7 hours or so, in bursts of around 2 hours at a time. Almost unheard of for me on a plane!
The full ANZ breakfast was served before landing, nice NZ-brand cornflakes, croissant and other bakery items, followed by hot breakfast choices of a brie and mushroom omelette with spinach and bacon or french toast with fresh berries, berry compote and mascarpone cream. The french toast was pretty decent!
Like the outbound, they have also added a bacon roll. Wonder if they pinched that idea from Virgin?
As ANZ still serve one of the best airline breakfasts I've ever experienced, I hope they don't make any changes for the worse, or get any of the bad ideas from Virgin!
The only negative aspect on the breakfast was the coffee, which was very weak, such that I asked for it to be replaced - dismissing it as being dishwater. Both the crew members working the aisles looked more closely and agreed. Of course, it was Mr Grumpy the galley op who had made the rubbish coffee!
Before long we were descending through thick cloud into a rainy YVR, where we landed about 20 minutes early. As we were in international transit, we don't really have much else to say, other than Canadian international transit is relatively painless - you do have to see a customs/immigration person, and fill a form, but that's it. No stamp, no reclaim of bags, or anything.
Overall:
Check-in: Utterly farcical for a 'Premium' check-in experience.
Lounge: Not bad at all. Pleasant refurb of the lounge. Nice Mac's Ginger Beer in the fridges for a different non-alcoholic option.
Boarding: Messy.
Cleanliness: Rough.
Seat: Mostly very good, apart from the cleanliness issue. I do wonder when NZ are going to replace or remove those crap 'original' reading lamps from the UCS.
Onboard Drink: Good, but not the best selection of ANZ onboard wines I've experienced. Mostly from the major NZ wineries - Wither Hills, Montana, Spy Valley, labels that are easier to find in the UK. It's nice when they have wines from less common NZ wineries.
Onboard Food: Good, but not the best I've experienced by ANZ standards, but it still outshines most other airlines if you ask me.
Cabin Crew: Okay. The bad attitude of the galley operator really let the whole experience down. The amateurish and petulent behaviour does not belong on an aircraft.
So, this proves that if you fly the same airline often enough, you'll eventually have a duff flight, though even then, it wasn't *that* bad. It hasn't put me off flying ANZ again, especially since I'm more likely to fly just as far as LAX or HKG with an LHR-based crew.
I remember that when Decker was doing a lot of AKL trips, he said that while the LHR crews were unswervingly good, there were some rougher edges among the AKL crews.
I will feed back my observations from this trip to ANZ, so I'll be sure to report how this is received and compares with VS.
Mike
