Plane spends 16 hours in the air, ends up back at same New Zealand airport

Authored by upi.com and submitted by Sariel007

An Air New Zealand flight from Auckland to New York ended up landing back in Auckland 16 hours after takeoff due to an electrical fire knocking out power to John F. Kennedy International Airport's Terminal 1. File Photo by Dan Himbrechts/EPA-EFE

Feb. 17 (UPI) -- Passengers on a flight from New Zealand to New York spent 16 hours in the air just to end up at the same airport where their journey began. The Air New Zealand nonstop flight from Auckland to New York had been in the air for about 8 hours Thursday and was about 2,000 miles from California when the airline received word that an electrical fire at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport had led to Terminal 1 being closed. Advertisement

The airline said the decision was made for the plane to turn around and return to Auckland, where it landed about 16 hours after departing.

"Diverting to another U.S. 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 told the New Zealand Herald.

Terminal 1 remained closed Friday while crews repaired the issues caused by the electrical fire.

The airline apologized to passengers and said those aboard the flight would be booked on the next available flights to New York.

bloodguard on February 18th, 2023 at 19:39 UTC »

I would be so pissed off. Incandescent rage.

BigGrayBeast on February 18th, 2023 at 17:43 UTC »

"Frequent travelers will receive credit for miles from our city of departure to our city of arrival."

Wait a minute.

SoCaliTrojan on February 18th, 2023 at 17:04 UTC »

Passengers would be booked again so they can risk another 16 hours to end up back where they started again.

The airline inconvenienced passengers so that it wouldn't inconvenience itself and lose money. They can't refund time so they should refund money and book them on discounted flights for being inconvenienced.