20 March 2026 Auckland to Tokyo

We are flying China Southern to Tokyo via Guangzhou. The first leg is almost 12 hours with nearly 4 hours in Guangzhou and then a further 4 hours to Tokyo. Feeling a bit apprehensive about flying economy all that way. It's been a long time since we have done anything remotely like this in cattle class. We asked for an upgrade at check in but they only had business class available for $3,000. Yeah Nah. Departure time for the first leg is 10:10pm. Going to be a long night.
We pushed back from the terminal 5 minutes early and as soon as we were at cruising altitude the crew were round with drinks followed by dinner. Finally we settled down for some shut eye about 1am. We managed some sleep but it was very cold in the cabin. The plane and the crew were great. A particular highlight was the Air Marshall patrolling the cabin all night. Looked like he was licensed to kill. We arrived in Guangzhou an hour early at 4am local time. My bum and my old knees were very happy to get off the plane and move around.Read more