An 80-year-old man and his family on a flight to Auckland got the fright of their lives when about "half a bottle" of water poured on to his head from the roof.
David Shen was travelling with his parents on the Air New Zealand flight from Shanghai to Auckland when he noticed the dripping water - roughly an hour before landing.
"I'm just sitting down, nearby my daddy, water came from the top of airplane," he said.
"He tried to move, but water is already on my daddy's back and there's some water on my daddy's seat.
"Not just one or two drops, but half a bottle."
It turned out to be condensation from the air conditioning but Shen had suspected something more sinister.
"At first we thought it was a plane accident, very nervous.
"We were told later it was water, but not drinking water. It is disgusting. We felt very sick."
Shen tried to dry his father's back and alerted the flight attendants to the issue.
"They checked the seat, checked everything and they said it came from the air-conditioning."
Shen, who lived in Auckland with his wife and three children, said his father was given a blanket to stay dry.
After the incident Shen wrote to Air New Zealand asking for an upgrade to business class on his father's return journey to Shanghai later this month.
The airline responded to his concerns by saying an upgrade was "not something that we would consider".
However, it offered him compensation for dry-cleaning costs and gave him lounge access for his return journey.
The airline told him moisture-related problems were common in all commercial aircraft and while it appreciated the inconvenience said it was not a safety risk.
Shen wanted the airline to investigate the issue of condensation further.
An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said all passenger aircraft could be affected "from time to time" by the formation of condensation inside the cabin.
"The Boeing 787 aircraft type these customers were travelling on have a system in place to reduce condensation to a very low level by using cabin zone heaters and humidity control systems inside the passenger cabin, however even with these systems in place, drips of condensation will very occasionally be seen or felt in the cabin."
She said Shen made contact with the company in late August.
"This is very unfortunate and we have apologised to the customers and offered to cover any dry-cleaning cost they may have incurred as a result. We have also offered them access to our lounge on their return journey as a gesture of goodwill."