Flight QF163 was diverted to Auckland Airport and passengers were forced to sleep on the floor. Photo / Supplied
Flight QF163 was diverted to Auckland Airport and passengers were forced to sleep on the floor. Photo / Supplied
Over 100 Qantas passengers travelling between Sydney and Wellington have 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 began when flight QF163, scheduled to take off from Sydney at 6.40pm yesterday, was delayed for around two hours. Midair 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 around 1.45am today 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,” they 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 in the space.
Over 100 passengers were left in the transit area overnight, many had to sleep on the floor. Photo / Supplied
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.
They 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,” they said.
“This was pure negligence.”
Flight QF163 was diverted to Auckland Airport and passengers were forced to sleep on the floor. Photo / Supplied
The inconvenience continued for the passengers this morning 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 - over 15 hours after they were supposed to depart from Sydney and just shy of the duration of the non-stop Auckland to New York flight which has a flight time of 15 hours and 55 minutes.
Qantas has released an apology to passengers following the debacle.
“We know this would have been an uncomfortable night for these passengers and we apologise,” said a Qantas spokesperson.
Qantas said Sydney Airport was operating for much of yesterday with just a single runway because of strong winds which led to various delays.
A spokesperson from the airline said a refreshment voucher was offered to all passengers this morning however the passenger who spoke to the Herald said it was too little and too late.
“They’ve treated us all so badly and then only given us one voucher,” they said.
“Nobody was able to use it, we got a $15 voucher early in the morning and this was five minutes before boarding was to take place.”
Passengers were left in the transit area for over three hours. Photo / Supplied
Auckland Airport acknowledged that the ordeal was frustrating for passengers but said passenger communications and welfare for when an aircraft is diverted is the airline’s responsibility.
An Auckland Airport spokesperson said Aviation Security opened for 30 minutes at 2am outside of normal operating hours but the passenger group was too large to process at the time.
The dedicated transit screening point operated by Aviation Security is usually only operating from 90 minutes prior to the first departing flight of the day through to 11pm.
“Last night’s circumstances were very unusual. All passengers on board QF163 were required to go through security screening, resulting in a much larger number of travellers waiting for processing,” they said.
Auckland Airport said it was committed to working with its airline partners and Aviation Security to see how it could improve this process.
This comes after more than 100 transit passengers were also forced to sleep on the ground in the airport last month after their flight from Samoa arrived in the early hours of the morning.
The passengers set to fly to Australia were ushered to another part of the airport to wait for flights later that morning, only to be told they could not go into the departure lounge until 5am - three hours later.
Elizabeth Nanai said then that they were left shocked and disgusted at being told they would have to wait in the corridor for three hours.
“We could see the chairs on the other side of the big windows. The lounge was right there. There were over 100 of us and only 12 seats available.
“It was 2 o’clock in the morning and we had elderly and children on the flight. Yet they expected us to sit on the ground in this cold area - we’d just arrived from the islands, we started looking for blankets and clothes to use to sit and lie down on,” Nanai said.
A day later Auckland International Airport apologised and said an existing area would be prepared for passengers arriving on overnight flights who have to wait until the departing lounge is officially opened at 5am.
General manager operations at Auckland Airport Anna Cassels-Brown told RNZ’s Morning Report at the time that a gate lounge in the arrivals pathway was being readied as airport management and Aviation Security work to come up with a permanent solution.
“What I really want to say is how sorry I am for these customers because the key thing is this is absolutely not a level of service that we want to provide.”
