Air New Zealand review by Liam 2013-06-11

I flew Air New Zealand twice in the last 18 months from Australia to the United States to begin my year abroad as a foreign exchange student. My trip began with a rough start, our flight from Melbourne was delayed 6 hours due to the scheduled aircraft having problems in Auckland. We were given food vouchers to buy food in Melbourne Airport but overall was a dissapointment. The flight from Melbourne to Auckland was perfect, the flight crew were extremely polite and apologetic for the delay, we were on a 777-300 aircraft. Luxury airplane with enough leg room, comfortable chairs, great entertainment system and AC power to charge computers. As we landed in Auckland we were in a hurry to get to our transfered connecting flight (from missing the first one) to Los Angeles. Again we boarded another 777-30 aircraft with friendly flight attendants and an overall happy atmosphere. The food also on both flights were fantastic!
12 months went by and I was due to return to Australia. The flight which was a 777-300 in “The Hobbit” paint scheme and was again a fantastic service. Extremely friendly flight crew asking my friends and myself about our year as an exchange student. The food on this flight was honestly the best I had ever had on board an airplane. Very smooth flight and comfortable to sleep on, and I’ve never been able to sleep on airplanes before this flight.
As we arrive in Auckland to wait for our already long 7 hour wait for the Melbourne flight, our flight was delayed a further 2 hours. Of course, two hours may not seem long, but after a long journey and 7 hour wait before the delay and anxious to see our families we haven’t seen in a year, two hours felt extremely long. When we asked the ANZ crew at the information desk, again the response was aircraft problems. We decided to pay to use the ANZ lounge which was also a great experience and boarded our Melborne flight 2 hours later that was serviced with a 767 aircraft was also a good flight. Overall the service with Air New Zealand was great with friendly cabin crew and great services onboard their airplanes. Despite the delays on both the departing and arriving flights, I would recommend to fly Air New Zealand!