Australia to Auckland

 

Do not think that poor service air travel is just a North American problem, cousins

from NZ have experienced the same thing.

 

We both agree with your perception of air travel, Peter. As you have probably guessed by now Steph and I are no strangers to long distance flights. The last trip we did, just a 4 hour trip, from Adelaide, Australia to Auckland, NZ was the worst ever. Although Steph had a window seat she ended up suffering claustrophobia!

 

Our knees were hard against the seats in front, so there was no room for a cabin bag in front of you. If she needed to get out to the aisle each person in the row had to vacate their seats to let her out! It was a flight from hell. The weird thing was our domestic connecting flight to Wellington had far more space between the seats and felt more like an international flight.

 

We also agree about the over-booking of international flights. We were nearly dropped off a midnight flight from Hawaii to NZ after having booked our flight 6 months in advance. All flights from Hawaii to NZ originate in LA, so they arrive in Honolulu in the middle of the night. Not the best time to be told the flight has been over-booked! Fortunately some hard talking on our part persuaded them not to bump us off the plane. We have since established that all flights out of Hawaii – and probably all over the States - are over-booked.

 

And don’t get me started on their Homeland Security checks, or their surly customs and immigration personnel...