“Would you be able to assist the crew in the event of an emergency?”

“Yes I would”

These are the words that get you upgraded when flying on a narrow-bodied Jetstar Airbus A320. With Business Class being only available on their Boeing 787 Dreamliners, this is the closest you will get to a seat with extra leg room so lets call it Premium Economy. After my Birthday celebrations in Queenstown, I was heading to Auckland to meet up with my friend Bert to stay with another dear friend of ours Colleen.

There were two flights heading to Auckland an hour apart this sunny afternoon, mine at 3:15pm and another at 4:20pm however with my flight delayed, it was rescheduled to depart 5 minutes after the later flight. This meant I had to spend longer than usual at the airport, and with only one cafe, prices were hugely inflated.

With two flights departing a mere five minutes apart, seemed to cause some confusion at the departure gate with passengers of both flights trying to have their boarding passes checked and board the aircraft no matter what flight they were on. The ground staff and crew seemed slightly overwhelmed by this, but nonetheless managed to get people on the right aircraft (well so I think).

With the normal seat pitch being 29 inches or 73.66 centimetres, the Exit row provides a lot more leg room in the 180 seat aircraft. Located in rows 12 and 13, it does mean row 11 and 12 don’t recline to not block access to the emergency exit, so steer clear of them!

Sitting in the exit row meant I was also given a special safety card and an extra briefing from the Cabin Crew.

After take off the views were simply spectacular as we ascended over the fjords and sounds of New Zealands South Island.

Something savoury and something sweet, washed down with one of those Kooks wines. This little snack pack set me back NZD$10 for the wine plus cheese and cracker combo and NZD$3 for the Tim Tam fingers…. bargain!

We arrived in Auckland a couple of hours behind schedule, but I met up with Bert outside the terminal and made our way into the city. Although the departure was a bit of a shambles, it was another pleasant with the typical Jetstar perfunctoriness I’ve come to expect.

FreakyFlier paid for the ticket independently