albatross710
Established Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2004
- Posts
- 3,707
Many months ago I managed to do a KF points redemption for flights for my 20th wedding anniversary. This week was the week it all came together.
We started the journey in the Air New Zealand lounge at Brisbane airport for breakfast. Fairly basic lounge as far as J lounges go. Service was mediocre and the coffee was terrible. Using powdered milk from a low end coffee machine is not a good start. Fridge items were fairly basic.
We were boarded towards the end of boarding and soon entered a different world. On board service was excellent and at just after 9:30am on a Brisbane morning we were being offered champagne and lunch. Food in flight was very nice even though they forgot to load the menu cards. We were even surprised in-flight to receive a special happy anniversary cake. Thanks Brenn, Mike and crew.
The IFE is quite easy to use with the touch screens. Managed to catch a few episodes of Two & A half men. I do find the 'fast forward' feature annoying. The onscreen pictures are moving slowly but the actual position of where the movie has been fast forwarded is a different.
We received priority processing in Auckland although this wasn't required as the airport was quite empty. With just our cabin baggage we were out of the door and into a taxi to the CBD. At NZ$80 for a taxi to the CBD, I think we may have also paid for a tour of the outer suburbs.
For the flight to AKL >> SYD we arrived at the airport two hours before. AKL has a dedicated checkin area and immigration clearance section. Very personable service and very speedy. Documentation says that NZ Customs are trialling the premium service. It felt wonderful to breeze through the immigration process in a dedicated area.
The Auckland J lounge is very impressive. Good coffee and a wide selection of food. We were there for the afternoon and enjoyed two buffet selectiosn, early & late afternoon. For our late lunch I enjoyed the curry & coconut soup, the salad, the pasta, the L&P, the cake, the macaroons and basically over indulged for the entire time in the lounge. While the Brisbane lounge left me wondering about their commitment to premium PAX, the AKL lounge restored my faith. Once again, comparing it to KF Silver in SIN, I enjoyed the AKL lounge. Plenty of menu variety, polite staff and left feeling like we wanted to return.
Flight to SYD left 30 minutes late due to rescheduling of a later flight which was cancelled. Once again on onboard in J is peaceful and pleasant. I think I'm addicted to travelling J now. At just over 6' tall I really enjoyed the extra leg room. Even compared to SQ I found the ANZ seats very comfortable and struggled to stretch my legs to reach the seat in front. Food on this lflight was a prawn & mango entre, lamb shank, very meaty, strong flavours.
We arrived into SYD about 15 minutes late. Once again priority immigration, cabin baggage only and nothing to declare had us out of the airport by just after 5pm.
The highlight of the trip was a night at the Park Hyatt in The Rocks. Wonderful view, wonderful service and wonderful anniversary. Even more wonderful was that it was a redemption from the Million Rooms promo that Hyatt ran earlier this year.
SYD-BNE everything came back to reality. With no *A carrier offering a practical service on this route and no more QFF points since changing to KF earlier this year we were onto a VB redemption. Nothing more to say about this leg!
In summary, I recommend Air NZ for a wonderful J experience.
Alby
We started the journey in the Air New Zealand lounge at Brisbane airport for breakfast. Fairly basic lounge as far as J lounges go. Service was mediocre and the coffee was terrible. Using powdered milk from a low end coffee machine is not a good start. Fridge items were fairly basic.
We were boarded towards the end of boarding and soon entered a different world. On board service was excellent and at just after 9:30am on a Brisbane morning we were being offered champagne and lunch. Food in flight was very nice even though they forgot to load the menu cards. We were even surprised in-flight to receive a special happy anniversary cake. Thanks Brenn, Mike and crew.
The IFE is quite easy to use with the touch screens. Managed to catch a few episodes of Two & A half men. I do find the 'fast forward' feature annoying. The onscreen pictures are moving slowly but the actual position of where the movie has been fast forwarded is a different.
We received priority processing in Auckland although this wasn't required as the airport was quite empty. With just our cabin baggage we were out of the door and into a taxi to the CBD. At NZ$80 for a taxi to the CBD, I think we may have also paid for a tour of the outer suburbs.
For the flight to AKL >> SYD we arrived at the airport two hours before. AKL has a dedicated checkin area and immigration clearance section. Very personable service and very speedy. Documentation says that NZ Customs are trialling the premium service. It felt wonderful to breeze through the immigration process in a dedicated area.
The Auckland J lounge is very impressive. Good coffee and a wide selection of food. We were there for the afternoon and enjoyed two buffet selectiosn, early & late afternoon. For our late lunch I enjoyed the curry & coconut soup, the salad, the pasta, the L&P, the cake, the macaroons and basically over indulged for the entire time in the lounge. While the Brisbane lounge left me wondering about their commitment to premium PAX, the AKL lounge restored my faith. Once again, comparing it to KF Silver in SIN, I enjoyed the AKL lounge. Plenty of menu variety, polite staff and left feeling like we wanted to return.
Flight to SYD left 30 minutes late due to rescheduling of a later flight which was cancelled. Once again on onboard in J is peaceful and pleasant. I think I'm addicted to travelling J now. At just over 6' tall I really enjoyed the extra leg room. Even compared to SQ I found the ANZ seats very comfortable and struggled to stretch my legs to reach the seat in front. Food on this lflight was a prawn & mango entre, lamb shank, very meaty, strong flavours.
We arrived into SYD about 15 minutes late. Once again priority immigration, cabin baggage only and nothing to declare had us out of the airport by just after 5pm.
The highlight of the trip was a night at the Park Hyatt in The Rocks. Wonderful view, wonderful service and wonderful anniversary. Even more wonderful was that it was a redemption from the Million Rooms promo that Hyatt ran earlier this year.
SYD-BNE everything came back to reality. With no *A carrier offering a practical service on this route and no more QFF points since changing to KF earlier this year we were onto a VB redemption. Nothing more to say about this leg!
In summary, I recommend Air NZ for a wonderful J experience.
Alby
