EDIT: You can save yourself an hour you'll never get back by skipping the bullet points.
* Despite checking in 3 hours before our flight we got seated on the back row for the NZ-LA leg where the seats only reclined about half way. The check in attendant didn't even ask us the usual aisle/window question.
* Our seats for leg two (LA-Frankfurt) were the middle 2 in the centre section of 4 seats - so someone on either side of us.
* I thought our luck changed in LA when I asked about our allocated seats and they managed to find us an aisle seat.
* I was wrong - we got on the plane and I was next to an annoying little kid who's mother's method of parenting was to ignore and read. Even when the kid took off up the aisle as the pilot was revving up the engines on the runway.
* This plane was fitted out about 20 years ago. No personal screens and the 2 films (in a 11 hour flight) were Hairspray and Licence to Wed. There weren't many 12 year old girls on the flight so not sure how they made those choices.
* Our connection to Manchester boarded 50 minutes after we were due to land in Frankfurt. We were delayed by 50 minutes though which lead to some sweaty palms on the airport. I asked a steward what the crack was and he told me there'll be more info given out nearer to landing.
* Info was the gate the Manchester flight left from. We grabbed our bags and sprinted off the plane to the gate, got to security checks (why? we were still in departures) and told the guy our flight left in seconds - he said "Oh it's ok, there have been a few Manchester passengers through just in front of you and no one from the desk has come to hurry people through". We eventually got to the desk I (after I was properly, or more accurately - improperly frisked and even had my passport and ticket x-rayed) and after being ignored a couple of times were told the flight had left.
* Back up to ticket counter to find out what to do next and were told we were now on the 1650 flight to Manchester - it was 1130 by this point. This had already been sorted out apparently so not sure why they couldn't have told us this and saved us the crazy sprint.
* Next was an hour long queue to pick up new boarding passes and the sourfaced rude cow at the desk didn't make that any more pleasureable.
* Back to ticket desk to get meal vouchers - 20 Euros. We wanted a sandwich and a drink which was about 12. If I was being optimistic I would have hoped for change, the very least I expected him to write down the remaining balance on the chit. But no, we had to use up the whole amount. We ended up chucking away most of the food (it's hard to find a hobo in need of a feed in a departure lounge) and the guy made a couple of euros pure profit.
No more worries after that, the short flight back to Manchester was fine and there waiting for us was my poor mum who'd been there to greet the arrivals on the 1125 flight.
In summary, in flight entertainment on Air New Zealand is fantastic, but don't sit on the back row. Flying with Lufthansa was horrible in just about every way. The only exception being one of the customer service guys in Frankfurt who let me call home twice and was actually helpful unlike the others.
Ha, a while ago I said I'd calmed down and I'll explain what happened in brief! Didn't quite work out that way did it?
Anyway, it's great to be home and in a way feels like only yesterday I left. We had a good nights kip and went for a walk around the village this morning. It was quite a change in temperature from NZ that's for sure...
I lived in Brodsworth for 20 years or so but Jo pointed out something I hadn't noticed before - you can join together the r and the n in the name of our neighbouring village with amusing results...
New Zealand and England can be very different. Jo was fascinated by the molehills. Sadly the moles couldn't be enticed out for the photo opportunity...
More pictures of our various adventures to follow (and less text I promise)...
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