To be fair, they didn't mess us around, and we were immediately told we would be taken to the Marriott, provided dinner and breakfast, with a further update at 12.30pm the next day, but they were hoping to fly at 3pm. We were given the option to collect our bags, but we passed knowing that the airport hotels have toothbrushes etc and are used to dealing with this sort of stuff. Anyway, within 30 mins we were on a shuttle bus to the hotel and checking into a room on the 12th floor with great views of the airport. We decided to grab a bite to eat and then headed up to bed as it was about midnight in LA and we'd been up for around 24 hours by this point. The NZ ground staff were present at the hotel all night and also provided us with phone cards to make calls with and took details of any issues/requirements we had, plus provided the obligatory letter for insurance purposes.
After a reasonable nights sleep, we had some breakfast, made use of the free wi-fi and readied ourselves for the update at 12.30pm. Given that we'd been told that check out time was 12pm by the hotel, we packed up and headed downstairs, checked out of the room and went to the meeting room. The head of NZ operations in LA personally attended the meeting to tell us the bad news that the flight was cancelled again, and that their Business Premier passengers were being transferred to the NZ1 flight that night, while the rest of us were being transferred to the QF26 flight at 11.45pm that night. We were told we could keep our hotel rooms and would be provided lunch and dinner (this time with alcohol). We were given a different room by the hotel on the 8th floor, still with a view of the airport, then spent some time sitting by the pool, enjoying the sunshine!
We were asked to head back to the airport anytime after 7pm, and were accompanied by NZ staff who took us to the Qantas check in desk and got us sorted. Cleared security again, headed to the gate, boarded and found we were on the back row of the plane, at least we couldn't recline into any other passengers. There was less leg room than the NZ flight and the IFE felt old compared to the NZ one we'd just experienced, but it was comparable to the Nova/Odyssey systems. I slept through dinner, but was pleased to find a snack bag in my seat pocket when I woke up later, containing crisps, chocolate, shortbread and water. Some brief spells of slight turbulence, and the crew were only once asked to take their seats during the flight. Breakfast was good too - cereal, fruit, yoghurt and a muffin. We landed into Auckland and headed for immigration, beating most of the passengers who were distracted by the last minute duty free shopping. Picked up our bags and cleared customs, before heading to the transfer desk, who re-tagged our bags and printed boarding passes for our internal flight to Wellington. Unfortunately, we were within an hour of our next flight so had to take our bags over to the domestic terminal ourselves, which entailed a 10 minute walk. We could have waited for the bus, but felt the need to stretch our legs after the long flight.
An interesting start to our holiday, and I really wanted to compare the old and new NZ aircraft, but not this time.
