Flying from Auckland to Christchurch with Air New Zealand

An Air New Zealand Airbus A320. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Lauren Jones flies from Auckland to Christchurch with Air New Zealand.

The plane: An Airbus A320.

Class: Economy.

Price: Managed to get a grabaseat deal for $69, I can't say how great that app is for cheap flights if you're a frequent domestic flyer.

My seat: As always, close to the back of the plane - I can never be bothered to reserve a seat, it really doesn't make that much difference to me on the short domestic flights.

Flight time: We departed at 6pm, and were a little late leaving but arrived bang on time.

Fellow passengers: It was quite late in the afternoon so everyone was pretty quiet as we boarded. I always find it funny listening to people's responses to the quiz to see if they get it right.

How full: There were a few spare seats dotted throughout the cabin, but not many.

Entertainment: This time I was fully engrossed in the quiz, it distracted me for the hour. I had a copy of Kia Ora magazine, but I didn't read it.

The service: The crew were great, we had a little delay in taking off but they were very good at informing us of what was going on.

Food and drink: The classic option of the cookie or chips and coffee, tea or water. The cookie and cuppa tea won me over.

Luggage: I had carry on, a backpack and a little suitcase but there were no problems.

The airport experience: There was practically no line for security in Auckland, which is unusual but nice. The queues upon arrival in Christchurch were good too and they had us also exiting out of the back door, which made things a bit faster.

The bottomline: Pretty standard flight with Air New Zealand and even though we had a slight delay at Auckland they made up the time on the flight, which was great. There was next to no turbulence, which always makes a flight more pleasant and seeing the sunset from above the clouds was a wonderful treat.