LAX-SYD on Air New Zealand's Boeing 747-400

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flightsimboy
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LAX-SYD on Air New Zealand's Boeing 747-400

Post by flightsimboy »

I had always wanted to fly LAX-SYD and the day had finally arrived. I came in from YYZ early in the evening of that lovely Californian day and had a long wait till the NZ 744 would fly me across that great big blue sea called the Pacific Ocean 8)

The long wait finally ended and I reached the gate where a VS 340 was pulling out soon to be replaced by our magnificent B744. LAX was becoming 744 paradise with carriers from Asia, the South Pacific and Australia filling the gates http://www.airliners.net/open.file/544007/L/. Many Qantas tails could be seen http://www.airliners.net/open.file/650455/L/, along with CX, SQ, BR, PR, CI jets lighting up the already bright terminal areas http://www.airliners.net/open.file/264781/L/. Our 744 arrived http://www.airliners.net/open.file/741889/L/ and soon the boarding would begin. It was a full flight and the entire waiting lounge was full. The bright smiling cabin crew were ready at the door welcoming each guest on board, as the numbers in the waiting area reduced and the plane filled up. I had the last few seats of the jet and was happy to finally settle into the seat.

I had a window seat and the little cars with flashing lights underneath began to fill the belly of our hungry monster, and catering trucks filled the jet to feed our hungry stomachs later on in the flight. I just love all the attention a jet gets before pushing back, especially at night when the flashing lights bounce of the planes parked alongside as well as off the wings and engines of your own jet. There were no PTV's on board and I could only imagine how the next 15 hours nonstop over the deep blue sea would pass by. The plane was fresh, clean and the smiling FA's of Air New Zealand smiled and help put us to rest.

The jet pushed back late, and we were already late boarding the plane. I looked out of my window and saw lines of lights lining the sky as the jets touched down at LAX. I had a seat on the right and the view of the sky disappeared as we now began taxing down the length of the northern runways to turn left and then up the length of the southern runways on the other side of the terminals, from where we would take off once we reached the start of the runway. On our way we passed many different airlines and jets and I have to say LAX is one busy airport. We were now on the runway and the cabin lights dimmed even lower and the darkness outside engulfed our mighty beast. The silhouette of the wing with the winglet could be seen in what little light was coming from the hangars on the other end of the airport. The engines roared to life and my stomach felt pushed in as the thought of us leaving the ground sound filled my head. I love take offs, but on a 744 and the sheer size of it, you can't but help feeling a bit intimidated :oops:

We were now climbing out of LAX the runway lights getting smaller and dimmer and the lights of LAX getting smaller too but the cluster of lights got bigger and bigger..It was a huge city stretching for miles and miles and it's twinkling lights appeared and disappeared behind low lying clouds, the wings of the massive jet slicing through them, the winglet itself appearing and disappearing, the lights soon disappearing and the winglet fully visible now under the moonlight, bathing down on the sheets of clouds below. But this too was soon lost as the cabin lights came in bright and shinny and when I tried to look out at the view again out of the window all I saw was my face :roll:

The monitors in front of us and mounted on the ceilings showed nothing but a big blue screen which was actually the Pacific Ocean which was what we were now flying over. We had banked to the left and we heading down towards the Pacific Islands from where we would continue towards Australia. We were served dinner a nice lasagne which I still remember, or it might have been I was just too hungry. The Captain came on the air and welcomed us to enjoy our meals, and it being a full flight assured us that our selection would be available the next time. Of course the service had begun from the front of the plane, and the next time it would begin from the back. Soon the lights turned out and now the darkness outside seemed to creep into our jet. A few random reading lights lit up the top of some seats and the heads that seemed to extend out of them. I struggled to sleep but I could not. Some 7 hours had now passed and I recall looking shaking my head thinking another 8 had to go. The movies continued to play and I cannot recall what exactly was playing now. Cabin crew moved around the jet with water and juices, but generally the cabin was dark and quiet. Even the two girls who sat at the side of me who after chatting :insult: for a long time were now asleep now :zzz:

Some two hours or more before landing the lights came on again, and as promised by our Captain we were given the option to have our selection first. It was still night outside just like when we had left LAX some 13 hours ago. It was one long night really and I longed for the sun. Finally after seeing nothing but a blue screen whenever the displays were on, a tip of land could be seen approaching from the bottom left corner ...It was the Australian coastline and we would soon be landing into Sydney's Kingsford Smith International. I suddenly did not feel tired and the thoughts of being in Sydney again six years was making me feel really excited....And then the Captain came on the air and announced we would be making an approach from the North flying over Manly and then heading South towards the airport...The words 'Manly' "North" raced through my head and I realised what was going to happen....we were going to land on runway 16L and that would mean the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and Sydney skyline would all be visible, though I wondered how much I would really see in the darkness we were landing in. And then the Captain like he read my mind by magic turned the lights in the cabin down, and the winglet and the lights below could be seen once again. I only had one problem one of the two girls wanted to finish her novel too before we landed and had her reading light on, the light which was reflecting off my window and once again allowing me to see my face in it. I took the Inflight magazine, not to hit her with it :lol: but to cover my head to get a view of the scene that was going to approach. She looked at my strange behaviour and took an interest in what was happening...I then asked her if she didn't mind turning the overhead reading light of, which she agreed too... :dance:

And then I looked and in the view that had now become clearer, I saw the first of that magnificent view (just picture this at 0550 still dark)http://www.airliners.net/open.file/752937/L/ (but actually more of this clearer view from behind the wing)http://www.airliners.net/open.file/264781/L/of the Opera House....the white shell tiling bathed in the flood lights that filled the whole structure though small and in the distant, shone like sparkling teeth out of a black panther's mouth (if they ever took time to smile at night) and then the lights of the city, the skyline, the AMP Tower, the buildings came into view...I frantically pointed out almost hysterically "OMG the Opera House...the Opera house" now stirring up the sleeping girl that sat between me and my new friend who decided to look out of the window with me...We all three looked out and I pressed my back and head against my seat back. making room for them to look through the window as these two peered out and smiled not so much at seeing the Opera House in the distance but at the thought i needed to check into an assylum on landing :mrgreen: . The Harbour Bridge could barely be seen and it lay somewhere there between the Opera House and the City skyline, but the sklyline got bigger and closer as we descended lower, the flaps descending at the same time, the winglet moving up and down gently like it was waving at the passing skyline expressing my sentiments as I took in the whole scene, moving slightly from side to side in my seat not from excitement but the jet trying to stay straight and on the center line. Yes, I wished to see this view just as I wanted to fly LAX-SYD and both were coming true now. The skyline now behind us, the airport area lights filled under the wings and soon we touched the ground after 15 hours of nonstop flying. It was still dark and the only time I saw sunlight again was when I walked out with my cousins who lived in Sydney, and my mum who was visiting Sydney too from another corner of the world.
Last edited by flightsimboy on 18 Feb 2005, 03:44, edited 1 time in total.

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sn26567
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Post by sn26567 »

Beautiful report, flightsimboy. NZ seems to have become an excellent airline after the numerous complaints of Comet in this forum ;-) : smiling crew, good meals, clean aircraft, you name it!
André
ex Sabena #26567

waldova
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Post by waldova »

What a nice report! A joy to read! It is almost like a bedtime story! I love it! I wish to go to Australia to one day! But that is still far away! Still a dream!

moons

Post by moons »

Hello,

Nice report with a bit of poetry in your language!

greets

moons

Post by moons »

Oh yeah, like you said LAX is a busy airport with many airlines visiting it...

6 years ago we had our vacation at the west coast and we stayed for 2 nights at the LAX Hilton...you have the most fantastic view you can imagine!! I saw every plane for landing or take-off.

This picture below shows the Hilton close to the runway, so if you stay at that hotel you never get bored :D



http://www.planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=289433

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Comet
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Post by Comet »

The plane was fresh, clean and the smiling FA's of Air New Zealand smiled and help put us to rest.
That's a first! Smiling FAs on the Airline from Hell! I agree that the approach to SYD from LAX in the morning is stunning, we were lucky enough to get a window seat in the exit row for that flight. It's time they improved their visual in flight entertainment though. The business class have had personal screens since the mid 1990s, they should have them in economy by now :evil: From what I remember of the inflight entertainment on ANZ, the audio pop channel was great, the visual stuff was horrid and boring, the only good stuff was the Airshow display. On my flight from LAX-SYD the meal was inedible. It was supposed to be chicken but as the fork would not even make any impression, I never got to taste it. Try ANZ's 767s next, and see the seats fall apart :lol: And count the number of old cigarette ends and bits of rubbish you can find because the aircraft has not been cleaned. That happened on our flight between Auckland and Honolulu. I spent 8 hours 20 minutes with the cover of the seat in front on my knee, sharing my seat with around 300 cigarette ends.

sn26567 - if you have never experienced being treated like second class muck on ANZ then you cannot question what I said about them.

Here is a link to my report of the same route, same airline https://www.aviation24.be/posts1734-highlightsyd.html
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

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sn26567
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Post by sn26567 »

Louise, you have told us 100 times how bad your flight on Air New Zealand was. Everybody on Luchtzak knows your story. But that was light years ago. An airline is not static. It can improve (or get worse). An airline with a bad reputation does not remain in the air. It crashes (financially, I mean, because nobody will fly it).

Air New Zealand is now a reputable airline (four-star according to the Skytrax star ranking system http://www.airlinequality.com/Airlines/NZ.htm). Can we stop the bashing and go back to the topic of this thread: flightsimboy's trip on NZ from LAX to SYD?
Last edited by sn26567 on 17 Feb 2005, 14:05, edited 1 time in total.
André
ex Sabena #26567

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speedbird1
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Post by speedbird1 »

Great report!
I agree with Flightsimboy. Air NZ are really good. I flew with them a few times when I was in Australasia this winter. The crews were very happy, food was good, aircraft were clean. All in all very good! Something some European airlines could learn from!

Emirates

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Comet
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Post by Comet »

sn26567 wrote:Louise, you have told us 100 times how bad your flight on Air New Zealand was. Everybody on Luchtzak knows your story. But that was light years ago. An airline is not static. It can improve (or get worse). An airline with a bad reputation does not remain in the air. It crashes (financially, I mean, because nobody will fly it).

Air New Zealand is now a reputable airline (four-star according to the Skytrax star ranking system http://www.airlinequality.com/Airlines/NZ.htm). Can we stop the bashing and go back to the topic of this thread: flightsimboy's trip on NZ from LAX to SYD?
Sorry Andre but you started this argument. And it is not "flight" but "flights" as I had 10 of them! And Air New Zealand were supposedly "reputable" when I flew with them. I do have a right to voice my opinion. And my comments were meant to be light hearted, they did have faces on.
Sabena and Sobelair - gone but never forgotten.
Louise

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sab319
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Post by sab319 »

Nice report!!

flightsimboy
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Post by flightsimboy »

Thank you all so much for the kind comments 8) You always encourage me to write about my trips.

Comet and Andre: I didn't mean to upset either of you. Comet my flight was a non-smoking flight and I definitely would not want to fly 15 hours nonstop in a plane that had smokers :wink:

Waldova: I don't think you have read my other bed time stories posted on this wonderful site :lol:

Moons, Emirates and Sab319: Thank you. Glad you enjoyed the report

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Buzz
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Post by Buzz »

That is about the best written report I have ever read...

I just NEED to fly right now :wink:

skyvanman
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Post by skyvanman »

I loved reading that report. Next time I take a long flight I will post about it here.

SN30952
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Post by SN30952 »

sn26567 wrote:Beautiful report, flightsimboy. NZ seems to have become an excellent airline after the numerous complaints of Comet in this forum ;-) : smiling crew, good meals, clean aircraft, you name it!
Me too, I have only excellent experiences with NZ. Looks like Comet got on board that only NZ aircraft that served bad expererience to UK citizens only..... :wink:
NZ is the most european carrier outside Europe, catering was more than palatable. The aircraft tidy, the sundries excellent, the pillow and blanket smelled fresh, and were handed in plastic cover. They respected the sleep of the passengers and flight operations were smooth and on time, what else can one wish on NZ flights (other than to sit next to Comet, because she seems to attract problems on that airline, :lol: :lol: :wink:)?

bigjulie

Post by bigjulie »

Air New Zealand is in the process of up-grading their whole fleet to Comets level of satisfaction (which seems quite a big ask); the first B744 will be ready about August.
Comet, why don't you try Air New Zealand after the upgrades are completed, you probably will be surprised! :D :D :D

flightsimboy
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Post by flightsimboy »

Thanks for all your kind remarks. Comet, I wish you take all the comments with a smile :wink:

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