The next morning we woke up early and called an Uber to take us to the airport. We found the Emirates first class ticket line without any problems. As we were checking in we were informed that the inbound flight had been delayed and our departure was therefore delayed by one hour.
We also had a separate connecting ticket from Auckland to Christchurch on Air New Zealand that was booked using Singapore miles. The connection time was only an hour and 45 minutes and in order for us to have a chance to make our connecting flight I needed to have our bags tagged through the final destination, Christchurch. At first the Emirates agent told me she could not check our bags through, however after asking to speak to her manager she somehow managed to find a way to do that
Emirates first class passengers are entitled to use the Qantas first class lounge, which has a reputation for being one of the best lounges in the world. Some DDF members have reported that the Qantas lounge will arrange for kosher meals to be prepared for you if you order beforehand, however I spoke to several people in the lounge, including a manager in the days leading up to our trip and I was told they no longer offer the service.
Regardless, we entered the lounge which at the entrance has a wall filled with green plants, very similar to the Amex Centurion Lounge. We took an escalator going up to the main area and we were warmly welcomed into the lounge. I found the lounge to be pretty nice but nothing spectacular. Then again, a big reason why the lounge is so highly rated is because of the food which of course we did not have.
I will say the service and professionalism of the employees in the lounge is really something special. Everyone was very warm and outgoing and if you even look like you needed help someone came over to you and politely asked you what they can do for you. We had one employee who was actually Jewish but not observant who tried to help us find something that was kosher. Unfortunately the several things that he brought us did not have any kosher markings and were not listed in the Australia kosher guide as being kosher. The lounge has a spa, however it was booked solid and we were not able to take advantage of that.
The lounge also has a couple of semi-private rooms which I was made aware of by the staff and I requested that we receive one. The room consists of a nice couch and desk with a computer, and we hung out in our room for the remaining 40 minutes or so until our flight. I also used that room to daven.
Boarding was shortly called for our flights and we made the short walk over to our gate. We were welcomed on board the upper deck of the A380. This was only our second time onboard an A380, and the last time had been about 5 years ago, so we were very excited. The first few minutes were dedicated to taking lots of pictures and exploring our seats and all the features that it comes with. It pretty much looks exactly like it is shown in so many pictures however there are a lot of details to examine.
Although it was a three hour flight I asked the fight attendants if they had any leftover pajamas from the inbound flight. They looked and were able to find a couple of pairs that they had left over which were our size, and they graciously gave them to us. The first-class cabin was mainly empty with only three other people in the cabin. One thing that I enjoyed very much was being able to use the cameras on the plane to watch what was going on. I found it interesting that when we boarded, the female crew were wearing headdresses in line with the official uniform of emirates, however once we took off they all took off their gear and looked like a regular flight attendants. The crew did not seem to be Arabic at all, in fact they seemed mainly British or Australian. The vibe on this flights seemed to be pretty relaxed, as this was a tag-on flight for them.
Shortly after takeoff we were presented with our kosher meal. The cabin crew manager came by to greet us and apologized that for some reason the hot portion of our meal was not loaded onto the airplane.
When we had boarded the plane we had made a request to use the shower about halfway through the flight. After eating breakfast we asked the fight attendant to get the shower ready for us, however there was a bit of a delay. After a few minutes the cabin manager came back to us and told us there was a malfunction with the water system. Even though they knew the tanks were full, in order for the shower to work the computer system needed to show that it was full and it was in fact showing that the tanks were empty. Apparently, the captain can reboot the computer system and the cabin manager told me the captain had already done so two times without success.
Hearing this, I almost had a heart attack, and I asked the purser to have the captain try a third time. Thankfully the third time seemed to do the trick and we quickly rushed to take a shower before it stopped working again.
This was our first time taking a shower while flying at 40,000 feet and it is simply amazing. I remember when Lucky described the first time he showered onboard and said he could stop giggling. I had the same reaction. Unfortunately, I did not know at the time that the floors were heated but I had a great time nonetheless. Soon, before we knew it we were descending into Auckland and the crew put their headdresses back on.
After waiting some time for our luggage to come out- somehow our luggage got put in with the economy class- we headed over to customs. New Zealand is notorious for being extremely strict with bringing in food and other items. There were numerous signs in different languages in the baggage area saying that you will receive a large fine even for bringing in a banana. Right before you enter the customs area there is a big sign that says “last chance to declare or face large penalties”. We declared our food and were directed to a special side area for a more thorough examination. The agent whom we were assigned to was friendly but firm. She examined all our Meal Mart meals and said that we would be allowed to bring in our meats however all the chicken meals were not allowed and she proceeded to confiscate those meals. Everything else was fine and we had enough meals to keep us going so I wasn't worried. Having experienced both OZ and NZ customs, I would say NZ customs are more tougher, both in practice as well as the attitude that they project.
After exiting the airport we realized that our connecting flight to Christchurch had left already. We ended up booking a Hotwire stay at the local Holiday Inn, which hopefully our travel insurance will cover.
On a more technical note, our tickets was issued by Singapore Airlines using Krisflyer miles for travel on Air New Zealand. Air New Zealand refused to put us on another flight and told us we had to call Singapore. After spending some time on the phone with Singapore they told us that our tickets had been reissued, however when I called in the evening to confirm with Air New Zealand they said that no tickets had in fact been reissued. After spending a few hours with the incompetent Singapore team I got a better understanding of what was happening. Apparently Singapore was seeing open seats and was requesting X space, however ANZ did not have any X space available. Singapore would request seats but Air New Zealand would deny them and this continued again and again.
Finally, after being told by a Singapore Airlines supervisor that my ticket would be re-issued by the following morning we went to sleep. I called ANZ again early in the morning and they confirmed that in fact they had not read issued the ticket. After spending on tense moments on the phone, a supervisor at ANZ did us a favor and reissued our tickets. At this point we had 15 minutes to get to the airport to check our luggage in for our flight. We ran to the front desk and jumped in a cab, who absolutely floored it to the airport. I had no idea people can drive like that in New Zealand. We grabbed our bags from the cab and to make a long story short made the check in deadline by 1 minute. It was certainly a rushed start to our day….
Lesson from this: avoid the Singapore Krisflyer team and know what you’re getting into if you use your miles to purchase a ticket from them.
