Air New Zealand to Auckland
Thirty minutes in our fully loaded compact and we arrived safely in Napier and Hawke's Bay Airport, a small but pleasant facility.
The cool thing about regional air service in New Zealand is the complete absence of formal security screening. You just scan your boarding pass, walk to the tarmac and board your plane.
Since the flight was not fully booked, we were able to select single aisle seats with an open window towards the rear of the plane. Great NZ counter agent was then kind enough to block the window seats for us.
Lots of families and kids on today's flight. Fortunately the only one near us was quiet and pretty cute.
The regional terminal at AKL. Great idea with baggage claim right in the gate area.
OK, there's no domestic Business Class but NZ Economy is inexpensive and reasonably comfortable if you can get priority seating. Between Star Alliance Gold access to bulkhead, exit rows and blocked seats, Economy is acceptable within New Zealand.