Flight check: Auckland to Vancouver on Air NZ

An Air New Zealand Boeing 777. Photo / File

Grant Bradley flies aboard Air New Zealand NZ24 from Auckland to Vancouver.

The plane: A Boeing 777-200ER.

Price: Business Class fares booked at short notice around this time of the year are about $4300 for a one-way flight.

On time: We left the terminal within eight minutes of the scheduled departure time of 8.05pm on Saturday, and soon took off at 311kph.

My seat: 3J - I was lucky enough to be upgraded en-route to Europe. I knew the seats well having seen them being rebuilt at the airline's maintenance base in Auckland last year as part of a $100 million refurbishment of the eight-strong 777-200 fleet. There are lot of motors, pulleys and wires within to get passengers into a lie-flat situation. It's a herring bone 1-2-1 configuration in Business Class.

Fellow passengers: At a rough estimate, two-thirds Kiwis, mainly on holiday, and a sprinkling of Canadians.

How full: The 26-seat Business Premier cabin was full, bar three seats. There were 17 vacant spots further back in the plane which has a capacity of 312 passengers.

Entertainment: The refurbishment has meant a whole new entertainment system, so while the planes are approaching a decade old, everything inside is new including the 10.4" iPad-style touch screens with intuitive controls. Between SoHo, SkySport pop-up channels and Netflix at home, airlines have got a job on their hands. That said, there is plenty of variety onboard, but I went for a Norwegian zombie movie I had on my laptop.

Food and drink: The dinner menu included lamb, venison and hapuka which was as plump as the last one I pulled from the sea off Gisborne. A good range of premium wines, Quartz Reef bubbly and French Champagne.

The toilets: Music on as soon as you're in, Antipodes soap. All good.

Extras: The retro-style amenity bag (to mark the airline's 75th birthday) had socks, lip balm, moisturiser, air plugs toothpaste, a pen, and a couple of cool postcards.

Luggage: Up front, two bags at 32kg stowed.

The airport experience: Pleasantly quiet early on a Saturday evening; the soon-to-be replaced Koru Lounge ranged from crowded to tranquil.

Would I fly this again: Yes. This is currently Air New Zealand's longest flight and can be over 13 hours (we had a tailwind so did it in 12.5) so the comfort and a sleep up front really does help get a journey off to a better start. And the staff were friendly and thoughtful.

Grant Bradley is the Business Herald's aviation reporter.