Milestones

Press, 10 September 1985, Page 30

Milestones

Compiled by

Les Bloxham

I felt genuinely sorry for the two Mount Cook Airline stewards who were kept busy mopping up after a few young passengers were sick on a flight from Rotorua to Christchurch last Wednesday. Their bout of nausea was, it would seem, caused more by pre-flight festivities than in-flight turbulence. Top marks to the Mount Cook boys who succeeded in preventing a domino reaction among other passengers. Who said that flying was a glamour job — particularly during school holidays?

Not so good, however, was the performance of an Air New Zealand international crew on a Boeing 747 domestic flight from Christchurch to Auckland a couple, of Fridays ago. Seventeen minutes of fre-, quent swinging on the atten-

dants’ call button failed to produce any response. When eventually nabbed (literally by the skirt), a hostess said the call button probably was not working, in spite of the fact that the overhead signal light was clearly illuminated.

Perhaps the crew was suffering from jet-lag, for on our approach to Auckland after the hour-long flight from Christchurch a hostess announced that we should have our completed immigration and Customs forms ready for presentation, and that transit passengers should await their boarding call in the transit lounge. All of which left me rather anxious as to whether my Mainland passport would be acceptable for a fleeting visit to Auckland.