09/06/23 | QF139 | SYD to
CHC WLG!
10/06/23 | QF139 | WLG to CHC
What was meant to be a midnight arrival into Christchurch from Sydney turned into a 2am arrival into Wellington, followed by a 6am departure turning into a 7.30am departure from Wellington before finally arriving in Christchurch at just past 8am! Thankfully I had some the luxury of QF Business Class to make things a little easier.
Bottled water was at our seats on arrival and a PDB of champagne or sparkling water was offered. Went with the Duval-Leroy champagne.
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Dinner service was about an hour after our two-hour delayed take-off. Options were chicken in cream sauce with polenta mash, green peas and beans, roast lamb salad with green beans and herbed potatoes or a green pea soup. I chose the chicken.
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All three options were served with a pumpkin, feta and haloumi salad, cheese and crackers, sourdough bread, Pepe Saya butter and a Koko Black chocolate bar. I was happy with my meal choice, it was a generous portion with large pieces of chicken. To drink I had sparkling water and a glass of Shiraz.
About an hour after the dinner service ice creams were brought around. I'm a bit "anti-fruit-in-ice-cream" but it was nice nonetheless!
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Business was looked after by Kevin and cabin manager Amit, both friendly, helpful and in good spirits despite the late departure from Sydney.
Unfortunately fog at Christchurch and two aircraft ahead of us unable to make the landing meant we had to divert, intending first to go to Auckland but then going to Wellington instead due to runway works being done overnight at Auckland. Given it was the only airport functioning in the country the 1-6am curfew at Wellington was suspended and we landed after 2am. Thankfully customs/quarantine had stayed open so we were able to complete formalities and then sit around in the departures area until the curfew ended and we could continue on our trip to Christchurch.
Overall I have to give credit to Qantas for handling the diversion about as well as a diversion could be handled. Although comms in the air were poor (was also quite weird having the crew continue with the formalities and usual generic announcements on landing despite the diversion), once we were on the ground there were updates sent through via text message and pushed to the Qantas app, as well as announcements in the arrivals area. They were able to source a crew in the middle of the night and eventually we were again on our way. No meal service on the short hop to Christchurch however a drinks run with water, juice, coffee and tea was offered. Not sure if all passengers were offered this but when picking up the boarding pass in WLG at 4am for the second leg the agent issued me with a $20 meal voucher which I used to pick up breakfast from a café in the terminal.
I'll leave you with a pic of the low-level fog on arrival at Christchurch. I can understand why they had to divert given we were told this was a significant improvement on the situation from earlier!
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