Holiday travel ‘chaos’ as Air New Zealand flight from Fiji to Auckland grounded by air-con fault

Holidaymakers returning from Fiji were caught up in hours of “utter chaos” after an Air New Zealand flight was abruptly cancelled because of an air conditioning fault.

One passenger booked on flight NZ953 from Nadi to Auckland on Friday afternoon said there was confusion at the airport while engineers scrambled to fix the problem.

Passengers were finally told about 6pm, four hours after the flight was scheduled to leave, that they would need to find accommodation locally for the night — at the peak of the holiday season, when rooms are scarce.

“Most of the passengers understood that cancellations happen and this is a busy time of year,” the person said, “but the way this was handled by Air New Zealand was really poor.

“People were really upset they were just being turned away and told to figure out emergency accommodation themselves when there were no options.”

In an email to customers booked on the flight, Air New Zealand blamed the delay on an unforeseen problem with the air conditioning system.

“Despite our engineer’s best efforts to fix the issue in time for an evening departure, we now need to source a new part which has regrettably extended the repair timeframe,” the airline said.

Air New Zealand told the customers they would be booked on the next available flights.

For those who needed to find a place in Nadi to stay for the night, it offered compensation of FJ$340 ($245) per room and FJ$120 per person for meals.

The airline said this was consistent with its policy on disruptions for controllable reasons, such as engineering faults and crew shortages. In these circumstances, it says staff try to source accommodation for passengers but may require them to find their own during busy periods when rooms are hard to find.

“For hours it was utter chaos” while people waited at the airport for the plane to be repaired, the passenger said.

“There was an old lady in a wheelchair and her family was really worried that they would have to sleep in the airport. One family had a small child that was sick everywhere and they had to wait for hours with her wrapped in a blanket until the staff finally let people go collect their luggage and try to find accommodation.

“Because there was no information some passengers also got quite aggressive toward the poor staff when they were told to find their own place to stay.”

That passenger and their family were rebooked on a flight leaving Nadi at 9.27am on Saturday which was due to arrive in Auckland early in the afternoon.

Scott Carr, Air New Zealand’s customer and sales manager, said in a statement: “All customers were re-accommodated on the next available flights. Air New Zealand would like to sincerely apologise for the delay and thank customers for their understanding.”