Thomas Bywater flies aboard NZ573, from Auckland to Christchurch.
The plane: An Airbus A320.
Class: Steerage.
Seat: 24B.
Entertainment: Ours was one of the first flights to screen Air New Zealand's new Antarctic safety video, something the airline was evidently very proud of. Watching Adrian Grenier and awaxwork of Captain Scott cavort around the expedition base, it definitely qualified as in-flight entertainment. Even the inflight mag, Kia Ora, was plastered with the ruggedly handsome Grenier in polar-expedition gear. It was a celebration of the airline's connections with the scientific team at the Antarctic base, though all mentions of ill-fated flight 901 — which, in 1979, crashed into Mt Erebus very near Scott Base, killing 257 people — had been expunged.
Fellow passengers: A vegan, a vegetarian and a steak-pie-eating omnivore get on to a plane ... sounds like an extraordinary start to a very average joke. I was sandwiched in between my girlfriend and our healthy-living friend. We had paid the $7 each extra for the privilege of booking three seats together, rather than being assigned spaces at random. — one of the sneakier stealth charges of the self-check-in era. But at least we could sit together and air our grievances about this stealth charge.
Food and drink: After only 40 minutes in the air we were offered a cup of coffee and a cookie. A nice gesture, considering how short the flight was. There was even a bag of vegan-friendly corn chips. Everyone was happy. Though I overheard a sigh that sounded suspiciously like: "No soy milk?"
Airport experience: At the girlfriend's insistence, we arrived two and a half hours in advance of our 8.30am departure. An added hour's delay meant there was little of Auckland's domestic terminal we didn't see. This included the over-scaled but under-supplied food court. The two noodle bars and sandwich shop were all out of salad. There were no cucumbers. Not even for ready money. I self-consciously tucked into a Big Mac while my herbivorous travel companions scanned the departure boards, starving.
