Points for stranded Qantas passengers

Passengers stuck in a hot plane for six hours without food will be given Qantas frequent flyer points as compensation.

On Saturday, travellers complained of feeling ill in ‘‘the extremely hot’’ plane, which was stranded on a tarmac for hours after it was diverted from Wellington.

The flight from Melbourne was diverted to RNZAF Base O¯ hakea, near Palmerston North. It had been due to arrive in Wellington at 2.35pm, but it was diverted because of a mechanical issue and passengers were not let off the plane until 7pm.

Customs officials from Wellington and Napier arrived about 7.30pm to process them through a makeshift immigration.

A passenger told Stuff they departed on buses to Wellington at 8.40pm, and the journey was expected to take two hours.

Yesterday, a Qantas spokesman said the passengers would be contacted and offered the points, but could not say what they would be worth.

The airline was in the process of ‘‘reaching out’’ to the affected customers, he said.

The compensation followed demands from passengers, including Tracy Johnson who said she felt ill by the time passengers were allowed to disembark, and that fellow travellers were close to fainting. She could not understand why passengers hadn’t been allowed to wait inside at the base, rather than on the plane. ‘‘An elderly lady hugged me when we got off, she thought she was going to faint . . .we all did.’’

Others on board complained the plane was too hot and they went without food after 11am (NZ time), when breakfast was served on the plane.

Passenger Ryan Newington, from Melbourne, said some people were ‘‘visibly distressed’’ from the heat in the cabin. Children and babies had been moved to the front of the plane, close to an open door.