Hundreds of Jetstar passengers stranded in Queenstown

Hundreds of Jetstar customers were stranded in Queenstown overnight after their flight was cancelled.

Earlier today, a disgruntled Sam Collins emailed the New Zealand Herald to say his girlfriend, Rosie Shelton, was among more than 200 "irate" Jetstar passengers still at the airport, more than 24 hours after they were due to fly out of the resort town.

Their original flight to Auckland was cancelled around midday yesterday because of a faulty part in the plane, Mr Collins said.

That was after the passengers had sat on the jet on the tarmac for more than an hour, with no information.

Promises of new flights never eventuated, he said.

"The flight was cancelled and $150 hotel vouchers were issued.

However, Queenstown was completely full and no hotel rooms [or] backpacker beds were available for under $350."Mr Collins, who is in Auckland, said he tried to find a room for Ms Shelton. She ended up staying with "the friend of a friend".

A midday flight today was promised, but that was later pushed back to 8.40pm, with the promise of a plane coming from Auckland to pick the passengers up.

"The staff have been of absolutely no use," Mr Collins said.

And the Jetstar call centre had "dismissed us and made false promises".

A Jetstar spokesman said the company "sincerely apologised" for the delay.

Yesterday's flight JQ297, bound for Auckland, had been cancelled because of an "engineering issue", he said.

Accommodation was organised for a number of passengers, and others had organised their own and would be reimbursed.

The spokesman said affected passengers were transferred to a new flight that left Queenstown at 1.25pm today.