- Welcome to beautiful SoCal, LAX.
This is my favourite airport.
And now I'm going show you why.
(jet engines roaring) (dramatic music)
Look at that, wow, slam!
What a great landing!
Air New Zealand, All Blacks, on the triple seven.
That's actually my flight today from Los Angeles to London.
Let's go, guys!
- Kia ora, welcome to the Star Alliance Lounge.
- [Sam] Kia ora.
Thank you.
You're welcome, sir, enjoy the lounge.
- So, at the LAX Star Alliance Lounge,
it's on the sixth floor, Tom Bradley terminal.
This little patio section outside,
you can look out to the whole terminal.
It's very airy, and this is my preferred sitting.
There's also a outdoor terrace outside.
(dramatic music)
So, before I go to the flight,
I want o show you how great my pink suitcase.
You probably have seen it.
I've travelled hundreds of miles
on my pink suitcase in the previous vlog.
So, let's take a look here.
This is the Away Bigger Carry-On suitcase.
It came with different colour in many different sizes.
It's really popular.
It's high-quality built, a hard suitcase,
at a fraction of the competitors' price.
The best thing I like about Away suitcase is its quality.
It's really durable.
It's got this four, 360 degrees spinner wheels.
The other feature I like about the suitcase
is it has this TSA lock
so you secure your belonging conveniently.
The Away suitcase come with a 100-day free trial guarantee.
So if you don't like it,
you can return it with no question asked.
I also travel with this Away daypack,
which you can securely strap on to the handle
of the suitcase.
So this makes a perfect travel combination carry-on
onto the plane.
So, see you next time.
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(dramatic music)
Wow, look at this, all black!
The door is black as well.
Hello, how are you?
- Good, thank you, kia ora, welcome.
- [Sam] Yeah.
You know it's been 15 years, ooh,
let's do this. (clinks)
- Welcome aboard. - I was going to tell you,
it's been 15 years - Thank you.
- since I fly Air New Zealand.
The last time was a 747.
- Yeah, welcome back, triple seven, 300 series.
- Nice to see it.
- Hello. - How are you, how are you?
- Hello, welcome.
(plane whirring)
- Kia ora, welcome on board, Mr. Chui.
How are you today? - Hi, good, good, kia ora.
- Lovely to meet you.
My name is Kara.
I'll be looking after you today.
Would you care for a glass of champagne before takeoff?
- I would love to have a glass ofchampagne.
- There you go.
(clinks)
Cheers. - Cheers.
- So, I'll just give you a quick brief
on how the seat works, okay.
So, the seat turns into a bed.
This button here converts the seat into a bed.
When you wish to sleep, just let one of us know,
and we'll make it for you.
This is for the seat recline, lumbar support,
and tray table, which just pops out of here.
And this is a retractable TV.
It's all
touch to use.
If you need any help with it, just let us know, okay.
Your armrest just go down by pressing this button here
to give you more space when you sleep.
Your life jacket is just at the side there.
If you need any help during the flight, just let me know.
My name is Kara, it's lovely to meet you.
- [Sam] Oh, thank you so much.
Thank you, take care. - Thank you, enjoy the flight.
- Would you enjoy one of our finest hot towels?
- [Sam] One of your finest, thank you.
- You're welcome.
- Well, first impression of Air New Zealand,
it's very friendly people,
but the seats are a bit weird 'cause you face each other.
Everybody can see you here.
So, how do you like pair sitting like this?
- We really like it.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- [Sam] Do you eat together like this?
- We haven't done,
but we could. - We haven't, but we could.
(dramatic music)
- Would you care for some more champagne?
(clinks)
- Is that really the way the people,
they greet each other in New Zealand?
- It is, yeah, it is. - It is.
- I am an-- - Supervisor.
- Operations manager, and I'm going to get in here too.
- Kathy, like this is a unusual flight
because this is the longest flight, one stop, Auckland--
- L.A. - Los Angeles,
London, right? - Right.
- Over 10,000 miles
- Correct. - all the way.
How many passengers do we have today?
- Today, that went all the way through, 122.
We 320 on board going just to London.
- Oh, so you have people like me
join from Los Angeles, - Correct.
- about two third join, one third all the way through.
- Correct. - All the way through
is crazy. - Crazy.
- It's like 24 hours.
- I wouldn't do it.
(both laughing)
They're very brave.
Have a wonderful trip.
- Thank you.
- Nice to meet you. (laughing)
- [Sam] See you.
- Bye, guys. - See you, Kathy.
- [Kathy] Bye, Sam, thank you, bye.
- [Man] Las Vegas (mumbles).
- All right, Sam, welcome aboard NZ 2,
this flight to London Heathrow.
(engines whirring)
(gentle music)
- Kia ora, Sam.
We've got a customer today in 41A,
and we're going to set up her Skycouch for her now,
so if you want to follow me. - Yeah.
- This is our Skycouch row today on Air New Zealand.
So it's this three across seats.
And what we do is,
we convert all the leg rest to come up
to make a completely flat
kind of bed or area for you to sleep.
It's great for kids or people travelling alone
that don't have to go to Business Premier
or Premier Economy.
So I'll show you how it works.
So first button,
you just press and it will lift up the leg rest halfway,
and then you just literally use it with your hand
and pull up all the way, and there you go,
so you have your completely flat bed.
Customer travelling with the Skycouch
should also get a bedding pack and a pillow,
which of course would be like a small mattress,
and then quite a big pillow
that will let you have a nice sleep.
- Almost like a business-class bedding.
This is only for Skycouch. - Pretty much, pretty much.
It's not as warm as probably like kiwi sheepskin
or what they have down there all the way,
but it's sort of similar so it keeps you warm
for kind of the flight when we're crossing over.
- [Sam] Most important thing, clean and hygiene.
- You also get your blanket as well with the Skycouch,
which also goes on top.
We have three separate belts.
You have adult loop belt, a cuddle belt,
and another adult loop belt,
depending on how you're sitting.
So, if you're by yourself,
we usually recommend the cuddle belt.
The cuddle belt clicks into the middle seat,
just at the bottom of the hook.
And it'll be a blue belt that goes around,
and you'll clip your original belt into the belt.
So it kind of keeps you secure
till the seatbelt sign go on,
and it kind of let's us kind of secure the cabin
and kind of see what's going on.
- Having three seats, a Skycouch bed in Economy
is going to make other people very jealous,
but I guess you pay for what you get.
The Skycouch pricing is somewhere between
Economy and Premium Economy.
We've actually got a passenger
that usually travels in our Business Premier cabin,
but she prefers to travel in our Economy Skycouch.
She feels she's got a little bit more room
to kind of spread out.
So, at Air New Zealand, we're very, very proud of our wines.
We even have a wine specialist
down in the Pacific Class cabin today.
So, we have quite a lot of offers of wine today.
For reds, we have two reds from Villa Maria.
It's a Pinot Noir and a Merlot.
And then Samantha's got two wines,
it's a Chardonnay and a Sauvignon Blanc.
So we don't only just have four choices of wine
for the meal service, we also have a sparkling wine as well
for our customers down here as well.
- [Sam] So, what's this one here today?
- Chicken with couscous and some vegetables.
Quinoa side salad, they've got a cheesecake.
The other choice in Economy cabin today,
which is the beef ragout with mashed potato and green bean.
- Sam, I also like your beautiful,
I like that pattern.
The pattern makes it
very special. - Quite bright, isn't it?
- It's actually very catchy, when you see it,
you want to look at it again and again, right?
It has something in there. - We stand out
from the crowd. (laughing)
- Stands out in a crowd.
- I'm Alex here.
I'm the chef today on Premium Economy cabin.
And we have our famous New Zealand lamb that we offer in--
- [Sam] This is the famous one, New Zealand lamb.
- [Alex] It's the famous New Zealand lamb.
- [Sam] Wow.
- [Alex] It's the lamb shanks with the polenta.
- [Sam] This is beautiful, look at this fish here.
They're same like Business Class, right?
- The same quality as Business Class but we've been serving
the Premium Economy cabin.
So, not many airlines, they do it in the Premium Economy.
- Yeah, that's a upgrade.
You see, as they're arcing,
I have to turn to my back when I film.
I mean, the seat is comfortable, it's a flat back.
But every time, I have to turn to film,
which is...
(upbeat music)
- Here's our special need chef, that's why he's in black.
- Hello.
- I was going to say, what is this beautiful monogram?
You're a chef. - I'm a chef
on the plane, yeah.
- Oh, a chef in your black jersey.
I've never seen a chef in black 'cause I normally see
chef in white.
Black shirt chef, wow.
Leflore, what do you recommend to eat today?
- Well, I like the lamb, New Zealand lamb.
- [Sam] New Zealand lamb?
- Yes, perfect, green beans, polenta.
- Air New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.
We have the Tohu from Marlborough.
(upbeat music)
(pops)
- Black olive bread, garlic bread or sourdough
with New Zealand olive oil from Hawke's Bay.
(pops)
(gurgling)
This food on Air New Zealand, this salmon was so good.
- Would like the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc,
Chardonnay, or Pinot Noir, maybe?
- [Sam] Maybe Chardonnay.
- [Kara] Wairau River Chardonnay from Marlborough.
(upbeat music)
- Good news,
there's free Wi-Fi Internet
on Air New Zealand for everybody.
And I just checked the speed, it was really fast, 19 Mbps.
- This button here brings the back of the seat over
to meet the ottoman here,
which turns the seat into a complete flat bed.
- [Sam] And what's inside this?
- So, inside here, we have the mattress,
which is super thick and comfortable.
Two pillows.
There you are, sleep well.
(upbeat music)
- Mattress is really, really thick.
This mattress is really nice.
It feels like you're sleeping much higher.
The bed is a little short,
I can just about fully stretch out.
If anyone taller than me, then you might have a problem.
Hopefully, I can sleep well, good night.
(upbeat music)
Good morning, I just woke up after about five hours sleep.
They're serving breakfast now
with the lights turned back on.
In terms of privacy, it's also interesting.
When I go fully flat, all I could see is up the ceiling.
I don't see anyone else.
The only problem I have with this seat is
they can only go either flat
or back to upright position.
(gentle music)
Inside the bathroom here in Air New Zealand,
very interesting bathroom.
They have a speaker from up here, they're playing pop music.
And they have a window painted on the wall here,
very pleasantly doing your morning business inside a toilet.
- How was the rest of your flight today, Sam?
- Very good, very good.
- Good, did you manage to get some sleep?
- [Sam] Yeah, awesome.
- Awesome, all right, cool, hope to see you again soon.
- Yes, pleasure meeting you.
- No worries. - Take care.
- Bye.
(gentle music)
(engines whirring)
- How's my New Zealand friend doing after how many hours?
24?
- 24 hours.
- How do you feel?
- Good.
- Good? - Actually, good.
- You have one more flight like me,
you continue. - I have one more flight.
- Care, bye-bye.
Thanks very much, bye-bye.
- Hi, I'm Craig Malcolm.
I was the captain of this flight, New Zealand two.
We've left Los Angeles,
and we're flying across the Atlantic and arrived in London.
With me on the flight deck, first officer Craig Forster,
second officer Jason McGregor.
We left Los Angeles about 11 hours ago.
It took us nine hours
and 14 minutes
to fly across the Atlantic.
We started off at 31,000 feet, we ended up at 37,000 feet.
We cruised at Mach .83.
And we had a relatively smooth flight.
I think most of the passengers got some sleep.
Weather in London for our arrival,
it was forecast to be snowing
so we're a bit lucky we beat that,
and it's just been a low cloud
and it's feeling cold outside at two degrees.
- [Sam] Thank you, Captain.
Pleasure to be on board.
- Oh, you're welcome.
We are very pleased to be able to bring you this far.
- Thank you, take care! - Thank you so much!
(upbeat music) Bye-bye!
Thank you, see you, bye! (mumbles)
(tings)
(pops)