Flying from Vancouver to Auckland with Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand Boeing 777. Photo / Jason Oxenham

The plane: Boeing 777-200.

Class: Economy.

Price: One-way Economy fares are on sale from $859, until July 3.

Flight time: Listed as 14 hours. Actually about 30 minutes less. But add on two hours for the plane to get out of Vancouver International Airport — it was snowing, so the plane had to be de-iced, and its push-back tractor couldn't get enough traction without the snow being cleared for it.

My seat: 46K. I had asked for a window seat, but never will again on a long flight; it's too hard to ask your neighbours to get up, so I limited myself to two brief strolls and, alarmingly, my ankles swelled up. I got a good sleep though, once I'd wrapped up to ward off the typically too-cold air-conditioning.

Fellow passengers: A companionable older couple — a Canadian man and his Kiwi wife — on their way to a North Island road trip.

How full: No vacant seats nearby.

Entertainment: Extensive list of music, TV shows and films.

The service: Friendly, attentive, business-like.

Food and drink: Moderately sized, tasty meals. Wine and beer on offer. My only complaint is that water wasn't offered frequently enough.

The toilets: Clean, functioned well.

Luggage: I had no problems using my 190cm-long ski bag for my checked-in baggage and in carrying my ski-boot bag plus a little backpack on board.

The airport experience: Fantastic. Air New Zealand in Vancouver saved my day. "Kia ora and no worries", the check-in woman said when I sprinted up to the bank of empty counters five minutes late because of my snow-delayed connecting flight from Calgary.

Would I fly this again? Certainly.