Angry passenger reaction after Air New Zealand flight to US turned back

Air New Zealand uses Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners on its New York route. Photo / Supplied

An Air New Zealand passenger trying to get to New York says those who were returned to Auckland mid-flight are “boiling with rage”.

The 16-hour “flight to nowhere” was turned back yesterday because of problems at JFK Airport and the airline says it was the best way to recover the schedule. One US report says pilots on NZ2 offered options to the airline on where to touch down elsewhere in the United States, to minimise disruption for passengers.

Passenger Michele Carbone was heading home when the flight turned around, just under eight hours after taking off and about halfway to New York.

She says she got the impression from a pilot she spoke to that he was disappointed about the decision by the airline and theView from the Wingwebsite is carrying part of a flight deck communications log where they were offering US alternative airports. Air New Zealand says this allows its Auckland operations centre to make the call, taking all factors into account.

Carbone, whose original flight to New York on Monday was cancelled due to the cyclone, had been rebooked on an Air New Zealand flight to Los Angeles Friday night and faced a nine-hour wait before another flight of more than five hours on United Airlines to Newark. Her journey home, with the initial stranding in New Zealand, waiting in airports and more than 30 hours on planes will take her about four days longer than she expected.

She is hoping to get to Washington DC for a wedding but some other passengers on the flight were in a much worse position, one trying to get to a dying relative in Europe and others with disabilities.

“If you were to gather all the people from that plane in their room right now you’d find them boiling with annoyance and anger.”

Carbone said the airline appeared to have forgotten about good customer service.

Most passengers found out about the mid-Pacific U-turn on NZ2 by watching the flight track on screens and while she didn’t hear any general announcement, crew on board were as helpful as they could be.

She and her boyfriend had paid extra for exit-row seats and when she asked at Auckland Airport if this could be refunded she was told to send an inquiry to the airline by email.

Air New Zealand said all customers from NZ2 have been re-accommodated on alternative services leaving Auckland tonight and tomorrow.

Another passenger who contacted the Herald from onboard NZ2 said she found out from her brother, who was tracking the flight, about it being turned back.

“Crew then confirmed it for me when I went to the galley. Some people [are] kicking off, but it’s not the crew’s fault. Most people can see they’ve been rebooked onto new flights,” the passenger said.

“Crew being amazing - [I] got a lovely hug from one of them.”

She said it is not ideal and the passengers are exhausted.

“But unfortunately not a lot we can do except pick up the new bookings and go from there.”

She also said passengers were confused at why they didn’t head for another United States airport but Air New Zealand says it made the call to return to Auckland when mid-Pacific because it would be easier to recover its schedule in the long run. Flying crew to an overseas port could add days to the recovery.

The airline said an electrical fire in Terminal 1 at JFK Airport and the terminal’s subsequent closure forced NZ2 to divert back to Auckland.

“Diverting to another US port would have meant the aircraft would remain on the ground for several days, impacting a number of other scheduled services and customers,” an airline spokeswoman said.

There have been more than 100 delays and two dozen cancellations at JFK due to the fire, according to reports in New York. A flight from Korea returned to Seoul but other longhaul services were diverted to other US airports.

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The inbound Air New Zealand NZ1 flight to Auckland from JFK diverted to Rarotonga because of Cyclone Gabrielle early this week. The airline has had other problems on the route, the airline’s longest. Soon after launching last year, NZ1 faced delays and a diversion because of strong headwinds.

The problem at JFK came at a bad time. Cyclone Gabrielle resulted in 50,000 passengers being disrupted. About 10,000 were international customers and although some have been told it could be up to three weeks before they were rebooked, the airline is working to reduce that.