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The family of former All Black and MP Grahame Thorne have lashed out at Air New Zealand for ruining their family holiday and treating them with "disdain".
The holiday to Brisbane was a special treat for Mr Thorne's son David, left unable to talk or fully function after
being injured in a rugby tackle in 2006.
But the family say the airline's bungling made the trip "more stressful and worrying than if we'd just stayed home".
In a letter to Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe, Mr Thorne's wife Briony said the airline's handling of their baggage with important medicines for David had left him stressed and agitated when he should have been having fun.
"Worst of all, we've paid you to do this to us," Mrs Thorne wrote.
She and David had flights booked from Christchurch to Brisbane on Saturday, while her daughter Hannah was travelling from Auckland.
"We had our flights timed in such a way that we would meet up in Brisbane in a timely manner. That was, until we got a call on Friday night to say that our flight had been cancelled," Mrs Thorne wrote.
They opted to take an alternative 7am flight, via Sydney, and arrived at Christchurch Airport two hours before departure. Mrs Thorne said the terminal was packed and by the time they reached check-in, the flight was almost departing.
"The check-in clerk took our baggage, telling us it would go straight to Brisbane, but she didn't give us any baggage tags. I thought this was odd, and mentioned something to her, but she was in such a hurry, she fobbed us off. We found out later most of the other 30-odd passengers on the flight did not get tags."
When they got to Sydney, after a delay in the tarmac, they were met by an Air NZ staffer who asked for tags.
"Of course we did not have them. Nor did almost all of the other passengers. The attendant then told us we were basically out of luck.
"I was sick with worry during the entire flight to Brisbane, because David's medicines were in our luggage. Fortunately, I had a day's supply in my carry-on, because when we arrived in Brisbane, our luggage didn't."
An Air NZ spokeswoman said the airline was disappointed the Thorne family had an unsatisfactory experience "through an unfortunate sequence of events".
"We are currently looking into the issues raised by the Thorne family and will be talking with them directly about their experience."
The baggage turned up on Sunday.