An Auckland man and his family have been left stranded in Queenstown after severe weather caused their flight home to be cancelled. Photo / Supplied
An Auckland man and his family have been left stranded in Queenstown after severe weather caused their flight home to be cancelled. Photo / Supplied
An Auckland man and his family have been left stranded in Queenstown after their flight home was cancelled because of the recent severe weather, forcing them to borrow money to stay somewhere safe.
Chetan Sonavane told the Herald he and his party of 10 were informed late last nighttheir Jetstar flight to Auckland was cancelled, which left them scrambling to try to reorganise their travel.
Sonavane said he spoke to Jetstar staff at Queenstown Airport about the situation, but was offered little help.
“They just said it’s not their responsibility and they forced us to stay until the next available flight,” Sonavane said.
“They say it’s your responsibility, how you stay, how you survive, and what you do. It has nothing to do with Jetstar.”
He claimed that because of the weather, he and his family have no other way back home and have had to borrow money in order to find a place to stay for the next few nights.
“We are the passengers, it’s their responsibility to make sure they’re taking us safely, but it doesn’t mean you just leave us here in a situation where we financially struggle to stay or pay or anything.
“We are their customer who booked in advance, they cancelled it, so, they need to provide us accommodation and the rest of the costs as well.”
Strong winds led to flights across the country being cancelled today and has impacted passengers across several airlines, including Jetstar.
“We appreciate how frustrating this is for Mr Sonavane and those he’s travelling with,” Jetstar said.
“We want to get them all on their way as soon as possible.
Jetstar is putting on more flights after many were cancelled on Thursday because of severe weather. Photo / Supplied
“We’ve been closely examining our schedule and this afternoon we added more than 1100 seats across six additional flights, including an extra flight from Queenstown to Auckland tomorrow.
“Our customer care team will reach out to assist Mr Sonavane with the new flights.”
Jetstar said customers who have been impacted by recent cancellations should visit its website for further updates on travel and help managing their bookings.
The airline also pointed out that under New Zealand law, it does not have to compensate passengers if the cancellation or delay could not have been avoided, such as extreme weather conditions.
