We usually fly economy, especially on shorter journeys. The service, food and legroom has alway been of a high standard, especially with Emirates, our preferred carrier for flights to Asia or Europe.
On our recent trip to Tonga we flew with Air New Zealand.
Little did we know that we had purchased a basic flight option, which was called ‘Seat+Bag’ This was, as it suggests, a seat in the plane and 1 checked bag.
Nothing else.
No food, no drinks, no movies, just tea, coffee and water.
We made the trip to Tonga in two legs. Melbourne to Auckland (3h 30m) then Auckland to Nuku’alofa (2h 50m)
We arrived in Tonga at 10pm, so by the time we had been processed through customs and immigration, and made the slow drive to our hotel, it was midnight.
As expected, the kitchen at the Little Italy Hotel was closed.
Another by-product of Amoeba Class is that, because it costs extra to have stowed luggage, a lot of passengers only travel with cabin bags.
Some of these are huge and way larger than the official size.
We seemed to always be the last to be called on board, so by the time we got to our seats all the overhead lockers were full. You are then forced to stuff leftover luggage under the seat in front of you.
Now the Amoeba is one of the lowest forms of life, and that’s how we were made to feel on Air New Zealand.
But I guess that’s a consequence of budget travel.
