Flying from Auckland to Singapore with Singapore Airlines

The cabin of an Air NZ 777. Photo / Winston Aldworth

Winston Aldworth flies aboard SQ4284 (aka NZ284), a Singapore Airlines codeshare in an Air New Zealand aircraft going from Auckland to Singapore.

The plane: An Air New Zealand Dreamliner. I guess we're starting to take for granted how great the cabin experience is on these things.

My seat: One of the annoying things about a codeshare ticket (this was Singapore Airlines on paper, but Air New Zealand in the real world) is that you can't check in online in advance. Meaning seat selection is very much come as you are. Much to the joy of my colleagues, I was down for a dreaded middle seat in the 3-3-3 Economy cabin. But the early bird gets the better seat — as soon as the gate was open, I was down there noseying for an aisle seat. It pays to ask. I got there in the end, with a shuffle from 37J to 59F. Always ask, people.

How full: Business and Premium Economy were chocka. Most of the few spare seats in Economy were made up for Sky Couch.

Flight time: We were about 50 minutes late getting airborne. It's a 9hr, 30min flight.

Toilets: The two at the back of the cabin didn't fare well in Grant Bradley's "three-quarters-of-the-way-there" test (patent pending).

Entertainment: Air New Zealand packs a solid IFE collection, with old and new movies. Check out The Sisters Brothers if you get the chance. On this route, be sure to have a look out the window as the aircraft first goes over the Indonesian coastline. I had a peek while visiting the galley at the rear of the cabin — gorgeous islands.

Food and drink: There was a superb Malaysian chicken curry. On the drinks front, I stuck to fizzy water and apple juice, as back in the real world it was technically Monday morning. When dinner arrived there was stir-fried chicken in oyster sauce, or Chinese barbecue beef served — weirdly — with potato wedges.

I'm a big fan of the classic Cookie Time chocolate chip cookie, and will take some convincing about the merits of the ginger alternatives that have been foisted on Air New Zealand's regular passengers.

Airport experience: Hot tip for young players: When you're going somewhere that requires a visa, it pays to have a few printouts of the visa with you. Further, it pays to make sure you actually print out copies of the actual visa, not merely the email you received from the Indian High Commission acknowledging that they'd received your application for a visa. I arrived at Auckland Airport with six copies of a basically meaningless notification. So a shoutout to the superb Air New Zealand staffer at check in who ducked out the back and whistled up a copy of my actual visa from lord knows where.

Fortunately, I had an hour in the Strata Lounge before departure, so was able to rattle off half a dozen copies of the visa, before knocking back my last decent coffee in a fortnight.

Final word: Good food, good service and a lucky seat shuffle made this flight a cracker.