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After being delayed a couple of days due to a cyclone, it was time for my first Air New Zealand flight! This will be a quick review as the flight was short and service onboard wasn’t anything like a long haul.

Air New Zealand A320 Economy Auckland to Wellington: Review

Booking

I booked directly with Air New Zealand using cash. This one-way flight was cheap at $130.

It didn’t make sense to use points for this flight since cash was low. If you do want to use points, United is a good option. You can find flights for as low as 8,800 United miles. You can transfer points from Chase to United to book.

It might make a bit more sense to book through Air Canada. Slightly lower pricing at 8,000. Air Canada does charge a $50 partner booking fee. Watch cash prices if you go this route.

Check-In

Check-in was quick. I used the self-service kiosk to print my boarding pass. Air New Zealand would not let me take both my carry on and backpack so I had to check a bag. Luckily the fare I purchased included a checked bag.

On a side note, it took five minutes from the time I left the plane to when I picked up my bag at baggage claim.

Boarding

Boarding was slightly chaotic. There are no boarding groups unless you have Star Alliance Gold then you board first. Everyone else boards when their row is called. Air New Zealand typically calls in five row increments.

Seat

Air New Zealand flies an all economy A320 between Auckland and Wellington. There is nothing special about this seat. If you’ve flown Southwest, that is exactly what you can expect.

The entire cabin is arranged in a 3-3 arrangement with three seats on each side of the aisle. While the seats aren’t special, they were fine for the flight.

Legroom was pretty tight. If you are a tall person, make sure you pay in advance for the exit row. Unless you have status, you need to pay for seat selection. Since the flight was short, I waited until check-in to assign myself a seat. Luckily I got an aisle.

There was no television on this 1-hour flight. Make sure your device is charged so you have something to do.

Food and Drink

Food and drink were limited. You had the choice of water or water. That wasn’t a typo. Water was the only drink choice. No soft drinks or juice. The snack was a chocolate chip cookie.

Air New Zealand A320 Economy Auckland to Wellington Bottom Line

Even though this flight was nothing special like a long-haul business class flight, it was fine. This would suck for anything longer than five hours.

Have you flown Air New Zealand on a domestic New Zealand flight? What was the experience like? Let us know in the comments.

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The opinions in this article are the author’s and not those of a bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.