I'd arrived on UA into LAX (from ABQ) shortly after noon. The UA agent at ABQ was happy to through check my bag to LHR, despite the two legs being on separate PNRs, and it was all intra Star Alliance as well, so I wasn't squeamish about interlining the bags. However, she couldn't through check me, so I'd still have to check-in with ANZ at LAX.
I wandered across to Terminal 2 - I just walked over, around the car park - rather than bothering with the shuttle bus, where I noticed that the Encounter (the restaurant and bar in the Theme Building) was closed for renovations. A real shame, as I wouldn't have minded having lunch there and watching the planes go by, while I waited for ANZ's check-in to open at 13.30.
So, instead I sat out in the California sun on the upper level bridge and watch planes, before heading into the disorganised looking check-in area at T2. No fault of ANZ, it's just obvious that the terminal wasn't built to cope with the security regime now in force, with a baggage screening point in the middle of the check-in area, between VS and ANZ.
The ANZ check-in staff arrived bang on time, and I was served by a lovely agent who joined my through-checked bag onto my ANZ PNR, gave me a boarding card confirming 23K upstairs, and directions to the ANZ lounge. She also mentioned that to get to security we have to go outside the terminal and back in again, because of the above mentioned baggage screening point.
Security wasn't a problem, no major lines, everything moving fast, and would have been even quicker if I'd actually remembered to properly empty my pockets! I must have been half-asleep, as I almost always remember to do this! I think it was because I didn't have a coat - I'm usually wearing or carrying a coat or jacket, so I will 'de-metal' into the jacket pockets, and stick the whole lot through the scanner. Second time lucky, and I headed off upstairs to the ANZ lounge, where I was given a friendly welcome by a member of staff.
As those who have flown VS out of LAX recently will know, this is a lovely new facility, with excellent decor and features - with really nice touches such as inlays of paua shell along some of the walls.
I decided to freshen up in the nice shower facilities - though it's all a bit 'help yourself' compared to a VS Clubhouse, before getting some lunch from the excellent buffet, which contained fresh salads, cheeses, cold meat, breads, etc. The food provided on the buffet is of a very good quality, accompanied by the excellent selection of NZ wines on offer, including a new Pinot Noir being made available partway through my stay, which was very agreeable!
Catering staff also tour the lounge with warm snacks. Sadly no green-lipped mussels on this visit, but quesadillas, chicken wings, and satay-ish skewers were offered, by which point the lounge started to get quite busy, as the through pax with lounge entitlement were arriving, along with VS8 pax (one of whom sat opposite me).
The lounge has several different types of seating, from the usual lounge seating in groups of four, to bar and cafe type seats near the food and drink serving areas, and work desks tucked away in a quiet corner... and boy did you need the quiet area today if you wanted to concentrate, as one whole block of the lounge was dominated by some loud British 'media-ish' people... one particularly voiciferous young woman dripping in garish jewellery and a 'muffin top' poking over the top of her low cut pants (thankfully, even though she was on the NZ flight, and upstairs, she passed out shortly after dinner, and slept the rest of the way).
The lounge also offers free wi-fi access, and all you have to do is go and ask at reception for the username and password details. VS really need to get this sorted out in their US Clubhouses, to avoid the fiasco I had last time I was in SFO.
The Rugby World Cup was on while I was visiting, and despite the All Blacks having been knocked out, there were still some signs of support, such as All Blacks shirts and flags decorating some areas of the lounge, and the fixtures list still up, because the lounge staff were now rooting for the English team (though we'd later lose...).
I had a nice chat with the ANZ Station/Lounge Manager, who mentioned that some of the All Blacks squad had come through several days previously on their way back from their defeat against the French, and they were totally gutted. She said that the Kiwi members of the station staff tried their best to look after them, because they were so obviously down. Ironically, her partner is a Brit, and she joked - at least I think it's a joke - that if the English team won (the next day), she'd never be able to look him in the face again! (Fortunately for them, England lost to the Springboks the next day.)
About 45 minutes to an hour before the flight was due leave, the ANZ FSM taking the flight forward to London did the rounds of the lounge and made a PA announcement, and about 15 minutes after that, the flight was called, and pax were escorted down to the gate to board, by the same agent who had checked me in earlier. The ANZ way seems to be to refer to staff members by first name, even when talking to pax, which I think is a nice extension of the laid-back NZ attitude.
There was no obvious priority boarding lane at the gate, but the agent who brought us from the lounge hustled us through the boarding card reader and toward the jetway. They seemed to be using three boarding card readers, which appeared to make even the usual queues go quickly.
A short walk down a corridor, past the duty free pickup (which was a guy surrounded by a pile of carrier bags), and we got a good view of 747-400 ZK-NBV 'Christchurch' waiting to take us to London. Minimal jetway scrum, straight onboard and upstairs, to get sorted in my seat. Pre-departure drinks, amenities, etc., all offered, as per the outbound.
Shortly after the doors were closed, I got a seatmate, after thinking I'd manage to get an open seat next to me. From a sneaked peek at the manifest, I think this person had been given a sneaky upgrade.
Pushback was slightly late, but it was only a short taxi out to 24L for departure, with the usual sweeping left turn over the ocean to take us back over the top of the airport at 10000ft (a 'LOOP4' departure).
Service was started quickly, with drinks and ANZ's cassava crackers (basically like a prawn cracker, but never been near a prawn), and I opted for another agreeable Pinot once on board and stuck with it.
The FSM toured the cabin, and I notice spent quite a bit of time with each Business Premier pax, said hello to the PE pax, and made a point of addressing me by name, while at the same time handing out landing cards.
Dinner was quickly setup, here's the menu:
Starter: Poached prawns with asparagus, red radish, and lemon aioli
(When they said 'red radish', they seem to mean radicchio.)
Very good flavours, tender rather than rubbery prawns, nice and fresh tasting.
Main Course choices:
New Zealand beef with oxtail ravioli, Swiss chard, and roasted cipolline onions
Pan seared New Zealand snapper with olive oil braised potatoes, broccolini, crushed roma tomato, and rocket pesto
Confit of duck leg, kabocha squash spaetzle, savoy cabbage, sour cherry confit and duck jus
I went for the duck confit, and it was absolutely delicious, even if the presentation wasn't 100% perfect - it's baked in oven-to-tableware, and the portion was very generous, almost overflowing the dish. The duck meat was very tender, almost melting in the mouth with almost a creamy feel, offset by the sharper cherry confit.
However, a clean plate (apart from the bone!) was returned, so that I could enjoy my dessert of exotic fruit upside down cake, with mango, papaya, and tropical creme fraiche - which was okay, but not amazing.
Cheese and biscuits, coffee, tea, port and other after dinner liquors were offered from a trolley in the aisle.
Having watched what I can only describe as the downright bizzare NZ film 'Black Sheep', I slept off and on during the flight, the PE seats having quite a generous recline, occasionally getting up to stretch my legs.
Water and snacks - such as crisps, chocolate, fruits, etc. - were laid out for your to help yourself during the flight, both on the monuments by the upper deck exit doors, and on the shelf above the stairwell.
About 90 minutes before arrival, breakfast was served on the Upper Deck, and Premium Economy get the same breakfast service as Business Premier.
The Breakfast menu was:
Fruit selection, cereals, yogurt
Croissants with fruit preserves
and a choice of two hot breakfasts, Scrambled eggs with herbs, chicken and sundried tomato sausages, grilled bacon and mushrooms, or, Orange brioche French roast with passionfruit cream, manuka honey and apple syrup
You could have as much or as little of the breakfast as you wanted, initially starting with juices and smoothies just as the lights were turned up, followed by your tray setting arriving with cup and saucer and the fresh fruit, then croissants and danish pastries were brought around, cereal ('Skippy', an Antipodean brand), and then the hot breakfast choices.
I went for the French toast, and it was a bit burned to be honest, but still edible, with the really nice manuka honey syrup. I really wouldn't have minded a side of bacon!
This did make for quite a long breakfast service, and a we got crew sent from downstairs to speed things up, but it was a very good and very generous breakfast offering, significantly better than VS offer their PE pax.
It was soon time to pack the cabin away, as we crossed the Northern Irish coast, and prepare for arrival into Heathrow.
I don't remember if we did any holding, maybe only one lap at Bovingdon, before landing on 09L in clear autumnal weather, slighty ahead of time. However, there was no stand for us, and we sat for close to an hour parked on a taxiway before a stand was found - we'd had to wait for an American Airlines flight to get off stand 319, before we could park up.
Yay for IRIS, and reasonable priority baggage, as I still managed to get from arrival gate to Central Bus Station in about 30-odd minutes.
The verdict:
Check-in: Apart from having to hang around waiting for check-in to open, very good. Efficient and friendly staff.
Lounge: ANZ's lounge at LAX is simply fantastic. One of the best lounges in the US, I think. Could even give VS' Clubhouse at SFO a run for it's money.
Seat: Very good. Same as the outbound. Not as wide as the new VS seat, but still very comfortable and adjustable. Note that even the PE seats on the main deck on ANZ's 744s have side bins next to the windows! Also, there isn't a galley tucked under the stairs on their config, there are two crew rest seats, and the FSM's workstation. I think this helps cut down on noise if you're sat in one of those main deck seats. I wouldn't have minded sitting down there, actually.
Entertainment: Very good. Same AVOD system and choice as the way out. Good Oz and NZ film, TV and music content, along with mainstream items and some great classic films. Didn't crash on the return like it did outbound.
Food: Very good. A high ingredient quality, the thought that had gone into the dishes, and overall flavour, made up for the 'oven-baked' presentation. Wide choice of breakfast items that would put most other airlines to shame, despite being a bit slow to serve. Excellent NZ wine selection.
Crew: Very good. Seemed to work quite hard, and were attentive.
The only real downer was the long wait at Heathrow for a stand when we got back.
I'd definitely recommend Air New Zealand for LAX and HKG (as well as AKL, obviously).
Mike
