We were picked up at the hotel as scheduled and arrived at Auckland airport some 25 minutes later and dropped off outside the EK check in area. Walked in to what appeared to be chaos huge queues. Turned left as instructed by the driver and through the madness appeared the EK First and Business check in area.
Two people in front of us but we were seen within a couple of minutes. As we were being checked in the friendly agent handed us the departure cards to complete whilst she got on with it. She then said if we had cash we could pay her the departure tax which we duly did. By the time we had finished completing the cards she had sorted out the tax/lounges invites/baggage receipts/boarding passes and advised us to see the First/Business only Customs screening agent on our left. Which we did however due to bad signage (or us not paying attention) not sure which it didnt help as we queued for customs only to be told when we got there that we should have used the pre-clearance lane!
We made our way to the lounge which was decorated in exactly the same style as the one in Mel but has no windows so it felt somewhat claustrophobic. It was fairly busy, with EK have three flights out of AKL to Dubai one via Brisbane and Singapore, one via Sydney and Bangkok and ours via Melbourne only. Good selection of hot snacks and drinks. Bubbly again. The staff were friendly but not as friendly as those in Melbourne definitely no personal touches here.
Only minor gripe here was the children (actually same two back and forth) running between their parents and the business centre (adjacent to which was where we were sitting). They werent misbehaving just being kids however it became annoying and even though no one said anything the father did come over and drag them back to sit down and to stop hogging the PCs which they werent because no one else was or wanted to after. It just slightly soured the experience of decadence probably more so than it would have because a harbour cruise we had done prior to heading to airport had a screaming child on it who managed to selectively scream when the commentary was being made so we couldnt hear it. It was apparent they were trying to teach him he couldnt have his own way all the time nice of them to do it in public.
Flight was called and we made our way to the gate to find most of those in the cheap seats [}:)] were already on board and no queues. Welcomed on board the A345 by name somehow makes one feel important. However there were the usual latecomers battling their way down the aisle to the back. Flight was full again.
Watched the ICE whilst on the ground and during takeoff again I opted for the forward view cam for the take off roll. In flight service didnt start in the back J cabin for a good 40 mins after take off which was rather tardy for a 3hr15m flight with the amount of courses they were serving[V].
Drinks and canap_s
Starter (sea food selection or chicken terrine)
Main (coconut prawns, lamb shanks or a veggie option)
White chocolate mousse with strawberry coulis
I think crew member in our aisle was new as she took twice as long as her companion in the other aisle to serve drinks and the meals. When she served the starter and again the main she served him indoors and then got out the breads and offered him bread and then put bread away served me and followed up with bread. Imho it would have been quicker to serve both of us and then offer bread once.
The main was tepid by the time it was served which was disappointing as it tasted very nice (coconut king prawns with rice) and so spoilt it. I watched, as I was in the aisle seat, as she picked up the dish (supposedly hot) with her bare hands and put in on top of the trolley removed the foil and then proceeded to serve it with those tongs (not really required as it was previously picked up with bare hands). The service ended up taking so long we had started our descent into Melbourne before they served the desert and coffee.
On leaving the aircraft the crew member at the door apologized for the rushed service which I appreciated. Again the crew were a complete mixture of nationalities and seemed to work as individuals rather than as a team my observation.
However I would definitely choose to fly EK again.
Rob
Rob
