Air New Zealand, NZ 101, AKL - SYD, Business Class

Update Review 2018 Flight

Class: Business Premium
Seat: 5K
Departure: 7am

I have reviewed Air New Zealand Business Premier many times now, and in fact, this exact flight (or its slightly differently timed sibling, NZ104), so I will keep this short.  The aircraft, seat, amenities were all as expected and consistent with my other short flights from Auckland to Sydney.

Staff on this route are often less knowledgeable than on the longer flights, less attentive, and far, far less friendly.  I'll cover only the food, breakfast service, since they are the only unique elements of this trip.

Mediocre Breakfast.

This was my 3rd breakfast of the morning, after a breakfast on my previous flight, and another in the Air New Zealand Business Lounge in Auckland, so perhaps I just wasn't into it.  Or maybe, it just wasn't very good.

Spoiler: it wasn't good.

Breakfast Menu.

The breakfast menu and service followed the same format as always.

Refreshment Drinks

• Get yourself started with an all natural strawberry and peach smoothie or your choice from the juice selection.

From the pantry:

• Fresh fruit salad
• Natural yoghurt or fruit yoghurt
• Fruit and grain muesli
• Toasted cereal

From the bakery

• Croissants and Danish
• Vogel’s or fruit toast with your choice of: marmalade, strawberry jam, Vegemite, Marmite

From the stove:

• Scrambled eggs with grilled streaky bacon, slow roasted tomato, kumara and onion rosti cake
• Cinnamon brioche French toast with creme fraiche and pineapple, mango and lychee salsa
• Warm sesame bagel filled with streaky bacon, fried egg, caramelized onions, tomato chipotle relish, and barbecue sauce

After takeoff, juice and smoothies were offered, which I declined.

I absolutely could not decide which "stove" item to get.  In the "real" world, I'd get the french toast.  No question.  But I have always gotten the french toast, pancakes, or waffles, and I have literally never liked them on ANZ flights (which isn't true for all airlines, I do like them on others!).

I didn't want the scrambled eggs, but, uh, the bagel called out.  Because my companion once had a great version of the bagel, and it kept bringing back memories.  Of course, that one had cheese, and this wouldn't, that one was catered out of SFO and not AKL, and when I did try the breakfast panini that sounded similar, I didn't like the "fried" egg nor the streaky bacon, so ... why would I want it?  Still, it was a hard choice for me.  I asked for advice from the FA, but she just said everyone likes the scrambled eggs, the one I wasn't considering.  Lol.

Horrible Coffee.

As always, once we had our juice/smoothies, the cart came through offering coffee and the "pantry".  I don't generally care for the cereal or yogurt offered, and the fruit salad had melons (I'm allergic), so I declined that entire section.  On these shorter flights, the yogurt is packaged in individual containers (Light N Tasty I think it said?), and the cereal likewise was packaged, a plain looking one, or a toasted muesli.

I did have coffee, because I had not really slept on my previous flight, and was desperately tired.  It was going to be a long day.  The coffee was bitter, yet watery, and full of grounds.  Really not good.  They usually have decent (regular) coffee on these flights, so I'm not really sure what happened here.

Bakery: Rhubarb Custard Danish.

Next, again as always, comes the "bakery" basket, with toast and spreads, croissants, and, the Danish of the day.  I generally try the danish, just for ... kicks?  They sometimes satisfy, in a strange way.

Which sums this up too.

I asked what kind it was, and the FA looked at me and said, "Looks like custard".  It clearly had a fruit component to it, and I had just voiced a fruit allergy, so this was a bit off putting.  I asked specifically, "So, a fruit that unknown, but certainly not melon?"  He said, "not melon", but offered no more.  Ok, then.

It turned out to be custard rhubarb.

A pretty standard Air New Zealand danish.  It was hot!  But it wasn't toasty on top, and it was strangely moist and soggy.  Yet it did pull apart in layers.  Just not, buttery layers.  But it wasn't spongy and oily ... exactly.  It is so hard to describe, really.

The pastry isn't good, but it somehow hits the spot ... for a couple bites, before the "eww, that is kinda gross" feeling sets in, sorta like after you eat a Starbucks pastry, if you know what I mean?

I did like the filling, there was a generous amount of creamy custard, and slightly tart fruit.  I think the only good part of the meal was the filling of this danish.

From the stove: Cinnamon brioche french toast.

"Cinnamon brioche French toast with creme fraiche and pineapple, mango and lychee salsa."

I went with the sweet option in the end.  I decided that I had the savory poached eggs dish as breakfast #1 of the day on the SFO-AKL flight, and the healhty muesli and yoghurts in the lounge in Auckland as breakfast #2, so, it was time for dessert?  Of course, I did also have a baked good in each location too ... a cinnamon roll on the flight, a chocolate croissant in the lounge, and the aforementioned rhubarb custard danish on this flight.  But, uh, time for "real" dessert?

It was ... eh.

The toast was soft, and it did seem enriched with egg, and did have a shiny brioche crust.  And it was cinnamon toast for sure, way too much cinnamon for my taste.  It was moist, not crisp, and really just boring and as you'd expect microwaved french toast to be, really.  Not sure why I thought it could be otherwise.

The toppings were tasty enough though - very melted creme fraiche, and a few chunks of pineapple that were in a mango puree, with one tiny, tiny, tiny sliver of lychee.  You know, "salsa".  It was very fruity.

I lapped up all my sauce, and called it a day.  By breakfast #3, I had breakfast fatigue anyway.

Original Review June 2015

The second leg of our most recent journey to Sydney was aboard NZ 101, from Aukland to Sydney.  The flight departed at 7am local time, arriving at 8:35am local time, for a total flight of 3 hour 35 minutes.  Our connection time in Auckland was ambitiously short, but luckily our first flight (NZ 7 from SFO to Aukland) was early, there was literally no line at security, and the international transfer process in Auckland was shockingly simple, so we were even able to sneak in about 40 minutes in the lounge, where I enjoyed my second breakfast of the day.  I'm glad I did, as the flight breakfast left something to be desired, as you'll read about momentarily.

Seat.

The seat was a fairly standard business class seat.

The controls were a bit primitive, but eventually I figured out how to recline slightly, and put out my foot rest.  I was comfortable enough, but wouldn’t want a long flight in this configuration.  Still, we were in actual business class, which is why we selected the flight, even though the connection time was risky.  No other Air New Zealand options between Aukland and Sydney offer full business class.

Provided at our seats was a blanket, pillow, and bottle of water.  The seat did have a pull out entertainment unit, which I never used, as I was busy writing up my trip reports!  It also had a usb port, which I thought would be great to continue charging my phone, but it didn’t work.  And a power plug, which also didn’t work.  When my battery ran out, I mentioned the power problems, and the FA offered to just reset the switch, which, actually worked.  Hurrah!  But ... it worked for all of 5 minutes before it stopped working.  Doh.

Welcome Drinks.

Prior to takeoff, we were offered standard orange juice, water, or sparkling wine, along with hot towels.  Newspapers and a really nice selection of magazines were then offered.  I was surprised to find trashy gossip magazines, but, I loved that they had something fun for me to read, which I did, cuz, what else did I have to do before turning on my laptop?

Sparkling Water.

Soon after takeoff, another round of drinks arrived, the "Refreshment drinks": juices, water, and mango and coconut smoothies.  If I wasn’t stuffed from full breakfast on my prior flight, and scarfing down tons of food in the lounge in my 40 min jaunt, I definitely would have gone for the smoothie, but I opted for simple water (sparkling of course).

Menu.

Menus were provided at our seats, and they listed both breakfast and lunch options.  Given our <4 hour flight time, and our 7am departure, I was a bit confused, so I asked.  No, we didn’t get both meals, just breakfast.  They just use the same menu for multiple flights.  I was a bit jealous, because I still wanted to try the ice cream that was on the lunch menu.  Ojan was sad because we'd already had breakfast on our previous flight and in the lounge, and he was ready for lunch food.

The breakfast menu was formatted exactly like the breakfast menu on our longer flight, starting with "Refreshing drinks" of juices and smoothies that I previously mentioned, followed by “From the pantry” items, then “From the bakery”, and finally “From the stove”.

The "Pantry" offered the same basic items: fresh fruit salad, natural yogurt or fruit yogurt, fruit and grain muesli, or toasted cereal.  Same with the "Bakery": croissants, fruit Danish, Vogel’s or fruit toast with marmalade, strawberry jam, Vegemite, Marmite.  The "Stove" had only 3 options this time (opposed to four before, reducing the egg dishes down to one):

• Corned beef croquettes with scrambled eggs, garlic roasted tomato, and horseradish cream
• Cinnamon Hotcakes with rhubarb compote and brown sugar sour cream
• Hot bacon roll - a warmed rolled, butter and filled with grilled bacon, offered with caramelized onion jam and barbecue sauce

As before, our main dish choices were taken in advance.

Breakfast Cart: "From the Pantry".

The first round, just like on our previous flight, came from a cart.  While the menu sounded nearly identical, it actually was served entirely differently.

This time, the yogurt came in individual sealed cartons rather than big vats, so I was able to see the brand.  It was Fresh 'n Fruity brand, and the choices were plain natural yogurt or apricot.

Likewise, the cereal was in individual packets (although poured into a bowl when served).  It was Serious Cereal brand (but packaged for Air New Zealand), and the choices were "Natural Muesli" or "Best Breakfast".

From the Pantry: Fruit, Muesli, Yogurt.

The fruit salad again contained melons so I skipped it, but Ojan got it.  Fresh enough looking fruit, although this time the strawberries were replaced with grapes and pineapple, so, less exciting.

The muesli was fine, full of nuts and seeds.  Served with a pitcher of milk on the side.  It sounds silly, but I really liked the milk.  I’m sure it was full cream milk, and it showed.  But also, I often find non-US milk tastier ... I wonder if it is any different?

The yogurt had a better texture and consistency than our previous flight, it was more creamy, but was still just basic low fat yogurt.  The little bits of apricot were nice enough.

From the Bakery: Danish.

A while later, a bread basket was passed around, with croissants and danishes, and two types of toast.  I’m wasn't sure what Vogel’s was, and I asked, and the reply was, “Vogel’s”.  I’m guessing this is a New Zealand brand that I should know?

I tried a danish, mostly out of boredom, as they certainly didn't look good.  The meal service was very slow and I was getting antsy.  Our tray tables were prepared really far in advance, and the seats were too cramped to use a laptop or do much with the tray table open.   I was eager to get on with other things.  I wasn’t hungry due to breakfast in the lounge and on the previous flight, so I planned to skip both the pantry and bakery courses, but the slow pace was kinda killing me.  So, more breakfast it was.

Anyway, the danish was soggy and as awful as it looked, but at least it was served warm?

Entree: Cinnamon Hotcakes.

“Cinnamon Hotcakes with rhubarb compote and brown sugar sour cream.”

Finally my entree arrived. Unlike our previous flight, they didn’t serve all of one entree, then all of another, then all of another, rather, they did it in more standard service order.  They started with the back of the plane, on the left hand aisle, moved up that aisle, and then went to the back of the right hand aisle, and up that side.  I was on the right hand side, row 2 (and no one was in row 1), so, last served.  Doh.

I again picked the sweet bready option, even though the french toast on my previous Air New Zealand flight was pretty bad.  I hoped this would make up for it.  It didn’t. 

The serving was 2 pancakes, each cut in half, so 4 slices total.  They were thin and flavorless, a bit spongy.  The pancakes on my similar Qantas flight were far more successful, at least texture wise, than these.

On top was tons of the rhubarb compote, with little chunks of rhubarb (that I would have never identified as rhubarb), plus some blueberries.  It was mushy and not tasty at all.  Qantas wins again here, with fresh raspberries.

The brown sugar sour cream was completely melted, but it was actually decent, a bit creamy, a bit sweet, although honestly it tasted more like cream than sour cream.  I didn’t detect much, if any, sour notes.

On the side was also a package of vanilla syrup.  I appreciated that they didn’t even try to pretend it was maple syrup, (or, perhaps vanilla syrup is a thing in New Zealand)?  It was sweet and sticky, but I’m not sure how I possibly could have used it, as my hotcakes were so entirely coated in compote and cream.  The Qantas pancakes came pre-drizzled with syrup, and not nearly enough, so, this was an improvement.

Overall, the breakfast was pretty bad, and I was very glad I had feasted in my quick lounge pit stop before.  The scrambled egg dish didn’t look much better, although the bacon roll may have been.  I’m not sure if this is the bacon roll that people rave about, since it was just butter and bacon, no cheese?

I also ordered decaf coffee.  Unlike my previous flight where I got a full size personal french press of decaf, this time I got a mug, likely instant, and really not good at all.  I had several more mugs full, loaded it up with sugar and milk, but still was never able to make it tasty.  Next time, I’d just give up on the coffee. 

Anyway, meal service was slow and not tasty.  I do not recommend breakfast on board their short haul business class.  The only thing that was really edible was the basic cereal.