So a long wait in the terminal ensued, with some unhappy about the level of communication about what was happening from Air New Zealand.
One of the hundreds aboard was Tony Carter, Air NZ's board chairman and ex-Foodstuff chief executive.
He was flying business class on private business.
He said he received no preferential treatment and spent the night in the terminal, although he had since moved to a flight lounge.
"I think there's probably some lessons to be learned. It's a very difficult situation. We're in the middle of a typhoon. It's a national holiday in Hong Kong. [Staff] have done their best."
Mr Carter said he read and tried to sleep to pass time.
He rubbished suggestions from passengers that he was furiously emailing Air NZ staff about the situation.
"When you've got nothing else to do you send emails to all sorts of people."
Another passenger, Anita Easton, said 19 rooms were found for families with children and some elderly travellers.
"The rest of us have been sleeping in the lounge all night."
Ms Easton said meal vouchers were handed out at 10.40pm (3.40am NZT), 20 minutes before the food stalls shut - some didn't accept the vouchers anyway.
They then received HK$50 vouchers for breakfast.
"It took four or five hours for bottled water to be handed out. Nobody can get a shower."
Ms Easton didn't get a wink of sleep and spent the night reading.
She called the situation a "complete shambles".
Some due to fly out on NZ80 flight compared the situation to one in Hawaii last year, when 227 Air NZ passengers were stranded for up to 56 hours.
It was then revealed some of the crew there went out drinking, making them unfit for duty if the plane had been made airworthy.
After the Hawaii incident Air NZ chief executive Christopher Luxon said the airline would invest in a new communication system to provide better contact with affected passengers.
It promised to improve training for "disruption management" for all international airport management teams.
NZME's request to speak to Mr Luxon yesterday was unsuccessful but an Air NZ spokeswoman said the airline had invested in "additional systems and people to enable us to provide better and more timely communication to our customer".
In February a travel alert service was set up allowing customers to receive information if there was a disruption.
Customers who downloaded the Air NZ app also received flight updates.
"On this occasion customers who have subscribed to travel alerts along with other passengers who have provided us with mobile or email contact details have been sent information via these channels, however, in a situation such as this where customers were already at the airport, our first means of communication is via face-to-face contact and via announcements from our airport staff and crew," the spokeswoman said.
"As with any offshore flight disruption where we have a limited number of people on the ground working to assist a large number of customers there are some challenges and the lack of available accommodation in Hong Kong has compounded an already challenging situation."
She said the poor weather conditions also played a part and meant other flights from Hong Kong were also cancelled.
"Unfortunately around 80 customers remained in the terminal overnight and they have been provided with meal vouchers, blankets and pillows as well as water and snacks.
"They are also being offered a cash payment as a gesture of goodwill for their inconvenience."
