Flight from hell
More than 100 Qantas passengers travelling between Sydney and Wellington endured a journey of over 15 hours and a night’s sleep on the floor in Auckland International Airport after their flight was diverted.
The fiasco of a journey that normally takes a bit over three hours began when Flight QF163, scheduled to take off from Sydney at 6.40pm on Tuesday, was delayed for about two hours. Mid-air, it was realised that the flight would no longer make it to Wellington before the airport’s night-time curfew came into effect, which meant it had to divert to Auckland.
The full flight landed in Auckland at about 1.45am yesterday and a passenger says it was hours before any staff member came to help them. “As soon as we got out, we were just standing and wondering, there was nobody around,” the person said. The passengers ended up in the the Transit Waiting Zone, however, an Auckland Airport spokesperson said the area was only suitable to accommodate up to 50 people. Photos show many of the stranded passengers sleeping on the ground.
Two hours after landing, the passenger said an Auckland Airport staff member finally came to speak to them but said they would have to wait in the area until 5am which is when they would be able to pass through Aviation Security.
The passenger said calls were made to the Qantas helpline at the time and they were told that nothing could be done for them and they needed to submit a complaint online. “I put the complaint in and I asked if somebody can check on this and send us some help or arrange for something better than us sleeping on the floor and there was no response, still now I still have not got a response.”
The inconvenience continued for the passengers after having to wait around an hour to collect their bags, recheck their bags in and pass through security. To top it all off, their flight to Wellington was delayed by three hours.
The passengers finally landed in Wellington at 10.15am — more than 15 hours after they were supposed to depart from Sydney.
Qantas has apologised to passengers. “We know this would have been an uncomfortable night for these passengers and we apologise,” said a Qantas spokesperson.