Frustrated Air NZ passengers spend more than $1000 to get home after 'perfect storm' of delays

A stranded Queenstown passenger travelled halfway across the South Island to board a flight north as Air New Zealand struggled to clear the holiday backlog.

Nearly half a dozen flights have been cancelled today, stranding passengers as the airline continues to clear a "perfect storm" of holiday backlog.

Additional flights are being put on to try and speed up the process but frustration is spilling over for some passengers forced to shell out more than a $1000 to get return seats.

Chantal was supposed to fly from Queenstown to Auckland for a job contract but instead had to travel nearly 500km and stay in a Christchurch hotel overnight before boarding a replacement flight this afternoon.

"I was put on hold for over three hours with Air NZ."

Chantal said she was booked by the airline for two other replacement flights which were also cancelled.

"I checked the app for information on what flight I was supposed to be on, and there were no flights listed.

"So, I had no idea what flight I would end up on, what time I was supposed to catch it, or where it would take me."

Chantal arrived at the jam-packed Queenstown airport and managed to talk to airline staff there.

"I got all the info I needed, including what hotel they would put me in, vouchers for taxi, to and from the airport and some food vouchers as well."

Air New Zealand chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said the airline was still experiencing a "perfect storm" of a very busy end to the school holidays, with ongoing weather and crew sickness causing disruptions.

"Due to these rolling disrupts, recovery might take several days, and we're working through potential alternative transport options for customers and encouraging those with non-urgent travel to push their fare in credit.

"Air New Zealand is putting on a 300-seater 787 from Auckland-Christchurch-Auckland today.

"There will also be additional flights out of Christchurch to Queenstown and Wellington today to help customers return home."

Five flights had been cancelled today due to bad weather.

Geraghty said where the reason for a flight cancellation was within Air New Zealand's control, the airline would provide overnight accommodation either arranged at the airport or to an agreed value, should customers make their own arrangements and on proof of receipt.

"Customers can get in touch with their receipts and we will arrange reimbursement accordingly.

"If a flight has been cancelled due to weather and customers are required to overnight, this would normally be covered by the customer or via their travel insurance.

"However, if a customer is part-way through their journey (in a stopover port) and the next flight is disrupted, we do our best to arrange appropriate accommodation for the night."

Passengers say they were forced to fork out over $1000 on last minute flights following cancellations and delays due to Covid-19 and bad weather. Photo / James Allen

Caitlin Mehrtens spent almost $1500 in last-minute airfares after original flights for her kids to see their grandmother were canned due to Covid-19 and bad weather.

Mehrtens said the first flight was booked for July 9, however, upon reaching the airport gate, they were informed it was cancelled and the only other available flight was for July 15.

"We booked a late-night flight for July 14, which cost us close to $1000 and we had to pay full price for it.

"We were met with more hours of delays but my kids managed to get on this flight."

Mehrtens said the nightmare was not over yet, the return flights for their kids cost them another $900.

"Air NZ said all they could do was offer flight credits for the original flights, which were obviously substantially less than the last-minute flights we had to book because of their mistakes," Mehrtens said.

"Even with these flight credits, we were out of pocket almost $1500 in flight costs alone (again, not taking into account the incredible parking fees, fuel costs for the extra trips to the airport, and lost income during this time)."

Air NZ has different pricing for different seats on the plane, Geraghty said.

"As the popularity of the flights increase, the faster the cheaper seats are sold. While every flight has low fares available, these fares slowly increase as the flight fills up.

"Often when someone sees a higher price, it's because someone else has booked the last of those lower fares, so the next price level is now available.

"That means, fares for last-minute flights are higher. It's a common misconception, but we don't change the price based on previous flight searches. Rather on the availability of seats."

For up-to-date information on flights keep an eye on Air NZ's Arrivals and Departures page.