We just returned from a great but short trip to New Zealand’s South Island. We were extremely fortunate that we had no major security or flight delays and everything pretty much went as planned. In fact, including our quick visit to Vegas for a wedding at the end of the trip, we checked bags seven (!) separate times and none of the bags were lost or delayed.

We flew to Dallas on Delta then visited the American Airlines Flagship Lounge (and I snuck in a quick visit to the Capital One Lounge) before flying on the brand new AA 787-9P Flagship Suites on the 15+ hour flight to Auckland. We took a domestic flight on Jetstar to Christchurch and rented a car.

We spent the first night in Christchurch at the Crowne Plaza then headed out to explore the South Island, stopping in Lake Tekapo and Wanaka each for one night. We took a Milford Sound fly/cruise/fly tour from Wanaka before continuing on to Queenstown where we spent one night at the Sofitel (which was booked the day before when we changed plans somewhat) and three nights at Eichardt’s Private Hotel, an amazing Small Luxury Hotels property. There was lots of sightseeing, hiking and wine involved.

For the return trip, we flew from Queenstown to Auckland on Air New Zealand then visited the Strata Lounge before boarding the 12 hour flight to LAX on the updated A350 Delta One Suites. At LAX, we had time for a brief visit to the Delta One Lounge before heading to Vegas for a wedding on the way home.

I’ll have posts about our flights, lounges, hotels and activities in New Zealand over the next few weeks. Many of these posts will have a lot of pictures as the scenery is just so beautiful. I will update the links below as each part gets posted.

1 – AA Flagship Lounge DFW Review

2 – Capital One Lounge DFW Quick Review

3 – AA 787-9P Flagship Suites DFW-AKL Review

4 – Jetstar AKL-CHC Review

5 – Crowne Plaza Christchurch Quick Review

6 – Driving from Christchurch to Lake Tekapo

7 – Grand Suites Lake Tekapo Review

8 – Astro Tekapo Dark Sky Tour Review

9 – Driving from Lake Tekapo to Wanaka via Mount Cook

10 – Edgewater Hotel Wanaka Review

11 – Southern Alps Air Fly/Cruise/Fly Milford Sound Review

12 – Driving from Wanaka to Queenstown

13 – Sofitel Queenstown Review

14 – Queenstown Activities

15 – Eichardt’s Private Hotel Review

16 – Air NZ ZQN-AKL Review

17 – Strata Lounge Auckland Review

18 – Delta One A350 AKL-LAX Review

19 – Delta One Lounge LAX Review

20 – Overall Thoughts on New Zealand

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