nzom_pilot Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Apologies for the lack of photos in this report - it will be explained below Introduction After my visit to Brisbane in October, I found things were much better for me health wise in the Brisbane climate, than any part of the New Zealand climate could offer. So after some consideration I decided that shifting to Brisbane would be beneficial to me, as it not only offered improved health but an improved lifestyle. So as a Christmas present my parents and sister went halves in buying me another holiday to Brisbane. This is that holiday and I am using the fortnight to help confirm my plans to move over, and as a chance to help try and find a job and somewhere to live. General Flight Overview Airline: Air New Zealand Link – Air Nelson (NZ) Flight number: NZ8018 Origin: Blenheim Woodbourne Airport (BHE) Destination: Auckland International Airport (AKL) Distance: 505 kms Scheduled departure time: 09:35 Scheduled Arrival Time: 10:55 Scheduled flight time: 1 hour 20 minutes Actual departure time: 09:52 Actual arrival time: 11:05 Class of Travel: Economy Class Seat: 12D Aircraft: Q300 Registration: ZK-NEC Statistics: 5th flight on type, 1st on NEC DepartureAirport Blenheim Woodbourne Airport is my “home” airport and a quintessential regional New Zealand airport. In many ways Blenheim is lucky to have an airport of the quality we do, as it is shared with RNZAF base Woodbourne. The airport is managed by the local council through a holdings company as part of Port Marlborough. The passenger terminal is a modest building with 4 main stands in front of the large glass windows, accessed from either of two gates. Gate 1 accesses stands 1 & 2 and Gate 2 accesses stands 3 and 4. There are two main check in desks, the Air New Zealand link desks that handle all the Link flights, operated by Eagle Air’s B1900Ds and Air Nelson’s Q300s. The other check in desk handles the flights of the two commuter airlines that serve Blenheim, Sounds Air and air2there.com, both of which uses C208 caravans. Check In this morning was a breeze although a little early due to the requirement that international connection’s must check in 1hr prior to the flight, instead of the standard 30mins for domestic services. I was sequence number 3 for my domestic leg and 11 for the international leg. The lovely NZ ground crew member checked me in smoothly and towards the end remembered to ask me if I’d packed my own bag. She forgot to ask me if I had any LAG’s in my carry on but of course I was well prepared. The passenger before me had been check into Papeetee (PPT), and she had completely forgotten to ask him all the security questions so as soon as she had completed my check in she went and asked him. The joys of a small terminal where the gate lounge is the same space as arrivals/drop off/check in/café/rental car booths. After the reasonably short process and the printing of both boarding passes and bag tags I still had nearly an hour to kill before my flight. With Blenheim being as small as it is, I know most of the rental car agents so was able to chat with them to fill in the time. Aircraft My aircraft for the flight was ZK-NEC which touched down from AKL as NZ8019 5minutes early at 0905. NEC was the third Q300 delivered to Air Nelson in November 2005. Despite being one of the elder statesmen of the fleet it has held up well, a testament to the way Air Nelson look after their aircraft. Boarding was scheduled for 0925 but we were delayed until 0935. All passengers were on board by 0941. Flight I had pre selected my seats on airnewzealand.co.nz prior shortly after the booking was made, and was allocated these pre selected seats for today’s flights. For this flight I was in 12D the very last row on the starboard (right) side of the aircraft. I have learnt in previous Q300 flights that it is better to choose either the first two or the last two rows if you want to take photos otherwise the engine nacelle, and wheel wells get in the way. There was a reasonable load fact of 60% this morning with 30 of the 50 seats filled, much better than the last few times I have taken this flight. I was welcomed on board by the vivacious smile of our cabin crew member Hayley. Wandered down to the back and settled in, making sure my camera was ready to take pics. I used my point and shoot digi for this as on previous flights I found my DSLR too big for this purpose. Unfortunately when trying to download the photos from the camera to my laptop the memory card threw a wobbly and refused to let any of the pics download then promptly decided it wasn’t formatted anymore, so as a result I have 0 of the 80 pics taken to share as part of this report. Our expected flight time today was 80minutes. After the cabin was secured the engines were started and we were prepared for departure. We were off blocks at 0945. We taxied to and held at holding point two while we waited for an Eagle Air 1900D from Wellington to land. We taxi backtracked behind the 1900D and lined up on runway 24. As this was happening Hayley undertook the pre flight safety announcement, and introduced the crew, CPT Murray Clarke and F/O Craig Hurst. We stopped briefly on line up before the throttles were advanced and we began our take off roll down 24. We achieved wheels up at 0952 and began the climb out. Following usual procedure we made a right turn over Renwick and continued round to join the runway 06 heading, crossing central Blenheim on our way to the Blenheim beacon. After crossing the coast we started a right turn tracking for the Tory VOR. The weather was absolutely perfect in Marlborough but the sight over the North Island wasn’t so good. WLG was clear with patchy cloud over PPQ then the rest of the island appeared to be buried under a sheet of fluffy CB’s. In actual fact most of the island was probably covered in the same broken CBs, as Taranaki and Waikato was, but it didn’t look like it from our position. After crossing Tory we made a couple of turns to line up on the direct track north crossing Ohura, and Raglan. The service was excellent on this flight. The first service, water, was served promptly after we reached our cruising altitude at FL190. Hayley then distributed the cups for the hot drink service, consisting of either tea or coffee. The Vienna Gold cookie today was a macaroon. Hayley earned extra point by doing a second biscuit run after the hot drink run. The final service was the Air New Zealand boiled lolly’s, at top of decent. Service from Hayley was top notch the whole way and her smile was an absolute highlight. She treated all passengers with respect and made the day of the two children on board by surprising them with colouring in materials and other such child friendly things. The flight crew did a wonderful job and the only hint of turbulence was some slight chop as we descended through the cloud level on approach into Auckland. We touched down on 23L at 1105 and taxied via Alpha 4, 23 Right, Bravo 4, and Charlie 5 to gate 43, where we were on blocks at 1108. Deplaning was an orderly affair, and I thanked Hayley for her wonderful service as I left NEC behind. ArrivalAirport I can’t really say to much about Auckland Domestic in an arrival airport role for this trip, as my luggage was checked thru to Brisbane so I didn’t need to collect it, and it was simply a case of wandering thru the terminal and out into the Auckland sunshine to do a bit of spotting before heading for the international terminal. Overall Impression Booking & Reservation: 9.0 Check-in: 8.0 Airline Airport Facilities: 7.0 Boarding: 9.0 Seat: 9.0 Entertainment System: N/A Crew: 9.0 Food and Beverages: 8.0 Amenity kits and other freebies: N/A Arrival: 8.0 On-time performance: 8.0 Total Score: 8.33 General Flight Overview Airline: Air New Zealand (NZ) Flight number: NZ739 Origin: Auckland International Airport (AKL) Destination: Brisbane International Airport (BNE) Distance: 2296 kms Scheduled departure time: 15:35 local Scheduled Arrival Time: 16:15 local Scheduled flight time: 3 hours 20 minutes Actual departure time: 16:09 Actual arrival time: 16:20 Class of Travel: Economy Class Seat: 23A Aircraft: A320 Registration: ZK-OJC Statistics: 1st flight on type, 1st on OJC DepartureAirport Auckland International is undergoing some work landside and the Jean Batten food court was all but closed as a result. There was still one café as well as Subway open. McDonalds operate from the other end of this level so have not been effected. Other than that it is always a strong contender with its two upstairs viewing areas that provide views across the international apron, and towards Qantas & Pacific Blue domestic. After sitting in the lower of the two viewing areas for sometime watching the loading then departure of ZK-OJA as NZ719 to Sydney, it was time to head airside. Passport control and security wasn’t that traumatic despite having to wait at the metal detector while and Indian gentleman in front was wanded several times as he had forgotten to remove several items from his pockets. Airside is and interesting place, beginning in the downstairs area home to duty free and Asian targeted Souvenir shops. Then you make you way up to the new departures level, added on top of the old terminal as a security measure to segregate the arriving and departing passengers. I’m not sure I like it but I guess it’ll grow on me eventually. There does seem to be a lack of seating around the café/burger king area, and an excess in other parts of the terminal. There is quite a nice lot of seats near the Air New Zealand/Star Alliance transfer area, and it was here that I started writing this report. Landside I had noticed a guy in a North Queensland Cowboys shirt but didn’t take any notice. It wasn’t until I was airside and there were suddenly a lot of guys in cowboy shirts that I realised it was the North Queensland Cowboys. They had been playing the Warriors in Auckland on the Sunday, going down in a thriller 32-28, with a late Manu Vatuvai try sealing it for the Warriors J They were on QF125 to Brisbane operated by ZK-JTR. About 5 minutes before we were due to start boarding I made my way down to the gate lounge at Gate 2 where ZK-OJC was waiting to take us to Brisbane. As I got to the gate lounge the gate staff made an announcement that due to the late arrival of the inbound aircraft boarding would be approximately 15 minutes late, but they still hoped we would depart on time. Aircraft ZK-OJC was the 3rd A320 delivered to Air New Zealand in October 2003. Like the rest of the Trans-Tasman/Pacific Island fleet of A320s and 763s OJC has now been fitted with PTV’s. So the seats were in reasonably new condition, belying the age of the aircraft. Overall it was in reasonable condition with a few scratches on the windows but nothing too much to complain about. The PTV’s had a good selection of Music, Television and Movies. The airshow was a bit dodgy, while sitting at the gate the vertical speed indicator was fluctuating between 0 and +/- 60kms/hr. It also showed the plane as being parked in the middle of Mangere Bridge township, then taxiing through and taking off in the middle of Mangere Bridge/Mangere. Flight When we finally began boarding and I was one of the first group of regular punters allowed on with a seat towards the rear of the aircraft. Boarding was completed in reasonable time when the captain Ian Wright came on to tell us that two domestic connecting passengers had missed their connection and didn’t look like they would be able to travel with us, but even though they weren’t here their luggage was, and it would be about 10 minutes while they searched for it too offload it. Around 10 to 15 minutes later Amy the CSM came on and said the passengers had been located and were being rushed through security and should be joining us shortly. They finally arrived and then had to do the walk of shame the whole length of the A320 to their seats near the back. We finally pushed back at 1553, and began our departure. We taxied via Bravo, Bravo 2 and Alpha 2 then held for an Air Nelson Q300 to arrive before lining up on Runway 23L. We were off almost immediately and climbed out on the runway heading. The crew for today’s flight was CSM Amy, who served in economy class, Jess in business class and Fritha and Courtney also in Economy. Unfortunately the stereotype about Zeal 320 kiddie crews was true on this flight. 2 looked to be in their mid 20s and the other two really did look like they’d only finished high school yesterday. And unfortunately this was very apparent in their service standards. They did appear to be going through the motions, and didn’t appear to have any enjoyment in their work. The flight crew, were the already mentioned CPT Ian Wright and the F/O was never mentioned over the PA. The flight was packed with a load factor of over 90% in economy – I could only see 5-6 empty seats. Our cruising altitude today was FL340. The first service carried out through the economy cabin was a water service. This seemed to be very cumbersome as the F/A was carrying a stack of plastic cups and a single 1.5L bottle of Kiwi Blue (Mount Franklin) water, and every time it was emptied she had to walk back to the galley and get another. So to serve the entire cabin it took her about 8 trips! The meal service followed with two choices, either a peppered steak pie or rosemary chicken rissole. I choose the pie, which was a gourmet pie and very tasty, it was served with pasta salad, a small cup of water and a small piece of Banana cake – (this is where I would insert picture of said meal had the stupid camera not eaten it L ) Following on the heels (literally) of the meal cart was the bar cart. I accompanied my meal with what turned out to be an average Montana 2008 Sauvignon Blanc. After the meal was completed they offered a second bar cart service with the inclusion of tea and coffee. I settled into the inflight entertainment and had my fix of comedy, watching 2 episodes of The Big bang theory, one of The I.T. Crowd, 2 of The Simpsons and 1 of Two and a half men. I also selected the jazz radio to listen to while the airshow was on. The crew after completing the service spent the rest of the flight standing in the galley gossiping. We were at top of decent at 1545 local and started descending along the Northern NSW coast. We passed Coolangatta by about 90-100km off the coast according to the airshow, although I’m not sure how accurate that was considering it was out on the ground in AKL. We arrived over Moreton Island and made a left turn onto finals for runway 19. After an average landing we took the high speed Alpha 6 then taxied along Alpha to Bravo 9 before entering the international apron and pulling onto Gate 80. The one thing that surprised me was when the CSM thanked the code share partner for this flight Aircalin. I was unaware that Aircalin code shared on the AKL-BNE service. ArrivalAirport Brisbane isn’t the most exciting airport to arrive into. Out of the aerobridge, then left through the corner of a duty free shop, and you’re into the bland customs hall. From the customs desks into the baggage claim area, where an incredibly long wait occurred before my bag finally arrived. It was then into another queue for AQIS, before being directed to a second AQIS official who waved me through. Before finally getting land side to meet my friends. Overall Impression Booking & Reservation: 9.0 Check-in: 8.0 Airline Airport Facilities: 7.0 Boarding: 7.0 Seat: 6.0 Entertainment System: 8.0 Crew: 5.0 Food and Beverages: 7.0 Amenity kits and other freebies: N/A Arrival: 7.0 On-time performance: 7.0 Total Score: 7.10 Wrap Up All in all the flights were ok – there was a marked difference between the domestic leg, with a crew member who loved what she was doing and wanted to be there doing it, and the international leg where the crew were just going through the motions and didn’t seem all that interested. The Q300 lived up to expectations, and I was left under whelmed and sore from the A320 experience, despite the great inflight entertainment. NZ8018 + NZ739 8.33 + 7.10 = 15.43/2 = 7.715 total score
Guest Darren Masters Posted February 24, 2009 Posted February 24, 2009 Excellent trip report mate Love the format too. New and different. I think I will have to do a similar format for my next trip. Shame that the crew were not overly enthusiastic on your second leg. I think it's really important how the crew present themselves as it really does show when they are not that interested in what they are doing. This, in turn, reflects on the customer service of the airline. I really hope I am better than this in my soon to be cabin crew role. Shame about the pics mate. There is nothing worse than when this happens :mad: I had the same when I came back from the USA. Took probably 300 plus pics and came home with around 35! Again, well done on the trip report and I look forward to reading more
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