Above: Masks must be worn on board at all times.
Check-in
My Malaysia Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur departs at 0105 and I got to the airport a about 3h20 prior to departure. A queue had formed already and opened more or less as soon as I joined it, before the usual 3h opening.
It took me an hour to get to the front as progress was stop-and-start; strangely it didn’t feel like a long wait. Lots of people had documentation issues due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. My Economy Flex fare supposedly allows Priority Check-in but the Business Class line wasn’t moving much faster. I didn’t ask as I’d end up waiting airside anyway if I was able to check-in quickly.
Temperature checks were done as we waited. Fortunately once it came to my turn, I didn’t have any issues with documentation.
Airside
Immigration and security was a breeze. I felt like the only one going through. Once airside, the shops were all closed and the corridors were deserted. I didn’t see many people till I got to the gate.
Airside, Auckland airport felt deserted.
The crew for my flight marched up to the gate 35 mins prior to departure. They had landed after 0900 this morning, about 30 mins ahead of schedule. And here they are again at 0040 after some hours of rest in a hotel room. I was concerned that the pilots may be fatigued but learnt that there were three pilots on board and they would take turns to rest during the flight.
Crew for my flight looking fresh despite having worked through the night to Auckland, the about 12h in a hotel with a night flight ahead back to Malaysia.
Boarding was done in rows of three starting from the back of the plane. Once on board, I realised that my area was quite empty, and the rest of the plane not too full either. I shifted to the extra legroom row and had a block of four seats.
Inflight
At the aircraft door, we were welcome on board and given a hygiene kit. This contained a mask, sanitiser gel and sanitiser wipe. Masks must be worn throughout the flight except when eating and drinking. Crew wear them too, plus eye protection (unless they are bespectacled).
Complimentary hygiene kit.
We departed only about 10 mins late. Dinner service was started very soon after take-off. I lay down and slept for an hour before popping a sleeping pill for more. That knocked me out for another 3h and somehow I managed to get a further 3h after that! In all, I was horizontal from 0300 to 1000 New Zealand time, enjoying 7h of sleep … pretty good considering we had 8h of time between supper and breakfast.
In the hour awake before breakfast, I checked out the seating of the former Air Berlin A330-200 aircraft. The legroom was noticeably less than Malaysia Airlines’ own A330-300. The extra legroom zone however was very generous. Recline was better too in these rows except in the last row of extra legroom seats because these would recline into a normal row.
The Economy Class pillows were also very full and generous which may have helped me sleep so well. I used a stack of three! The aircraft didn’t come equipped with a belly crew-rest and the crew just rest in Economy Class seats.
The breakfast tray had a few items that were suitable for takeaway. As I wasn’t too hungry, I opted to bag them. I had read reports of people waiting 5-6h for the arrival processing before being whisked away to quarantine.
My breakfast tray had a few items suitable for takeaway; great because arrival processing can take a long time.