Over the last week, we’ve taken you on board Jennifer Quinlin’s journey from Melbourne to London with Air New Zealand atypical route for Australian travellers, via Auckland and Los Angeles. So far she’s taken us through legs one and two of the journey, as well as her experience in transit in Los Angeles. Now today we bring you the final leg of her long journey, from LAX to London Heathrow, flying Premium Economy on Air NZ’s 777 aircraft.
Airline: Air New Zealand
Route: Los Angeles – London Heathrow NZ2 (second sector from Auckland)
Seat: 23K
Aircraft: B777-300
Scheduled Flight Time: 11 hours 5 minutes
On Schedule? Departed on time, arrived 15 minutes early
Frequent Flyer: Air New Zealand Airpoints & Star Alliance Network
Check-in & Baggage: Checked through from Melbourne.
Meal Service:
Dinner service after leaving Los Angeles, and breakfast service 90 minutes from London Heathrow.
In-Flight Entertainment:
Movies, TV, music, and games. Seat chat Other features include the drinks and snacks on-demand system, and the airshow. The entertainment can be operated either by touchscreen or by using the remote control, which is stored in the hardshell around your seat. The pilot informed us we’d have a faster than usual trip across to London as we had a significant tailwind. I was completely over trying to sleep by this stage, so I settled in and watched the second instalment of The Hobbit. I deliberately chose the extended edition because I knew it would burn almost four hours. (Side note, I worked on The Hobbit, and I confess I geeked out every time I saw things I’d helped make – dorky, yes, but it helped pass the time). I don’t remember what else I watched after that because I was in a brain-dead jet lagged stupor. I have a horrible feeling it was more Big Bang Theory.
Comfort:
Same seat as the previous two legs. The flight was smooth, mostly, particularly after the pilots opted to steer us around the massive storm clouds around Salt Lake City, and we landed ahead of schedule.
Customer Service:
An announcement was made at the start of the flight that the crew was short staffed by one owing to crew illness, and that they would endeavour to provide the same level of service provided when fully crewed. I can’t speak highly enough of this crew. If they were under strain it didn’t show. They were as gracious and professional as ever, and never once lost the smiles on their faces. I chose to try the in-flight snacks/drinks on demand about 2/3 of the way across and I was brought a beautiful hot chocolate and snack within minutes, delivered with a warm smile. Air New Zealand crew really are the best around.
To book yourself a journey with Air New Zealand, visit their official website.
The author flew at her own expense in June 2016.
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