The Sunday Review
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It’s the stuff of nightmares. You’re trying to get somewhere, you’ve prepped and planned and you’re doing your best and yet you end up right back where you started.
That’s about what happened to frequent flyer Bryan Gottlieb with his colleague Air New Zealand On Thursday, passengers will be able to board their flight from Auckland. to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport was disrupted by an electrical outage at the airport.
JFK’s Some of the scheduled flights were cancelled and Terminal 1 was closed. to There was land. to not be diverted. Some international flights have landed at Newark, Washington Dulles and Boston Logan.
Gottlieb’s flightANZ2, turned back mid-flight However, the flight was more than 16hrs after leaving Auckland. Flight tracking site FlightAware logs a total flying time It took 16 hours 25 minutes to complete the flight, and it returned about halfway through.
“I was sleeping pretty soundly, and I woke up with the feeling that I would surely be landing in JFK soon,” Gottlieb declared in a Message to The Sunday Review Travel. There “the passenger next to me tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘did you know we’re almost back in Auckland?’”
Gottlieb claimed that his passenger had given him the information two or three hours earlier than the plane took off to land. An announcement about the diversion didn’t come until the flight Was almost back in New ZealandHowever, he stated, “But…” “you could see our route on the tracker, and word had spread around.”
He claimed that when the pilot made this announcement, “he acknowledged that part of the decision was based on schedule efficiency for the airline, and that the lack of crew at an airport near JFK would have caused the airline further delays.”
Passengers were not content.
“Everyone on that plane would have much preferred to be in any airport in the US, to say nothing of Newark or LaGuardia right in the same general area,” Gottlieb a A game designer was heading home from a five-week work trip to join the tail end of his brother’s bachelor party trip.
Air New Zealand According to Thursday a Statement to Sunday Review: Travel “diverting to another US port would have meant the aircraft would remain on the ground for several days, impacting a number of other scheduled services and customers.”
The time was the flight Was still on route back to Auckland. The airline stated that its team was available to Help customers to rebook the next service.
“We apologise for the inconvenience and thank our customers for their patience and understanding,” According to the statement. The Sunday Review was published. to The airline for We received more information on Friday, but we did not hear from you immediately.
Gottlieb, who resides in New York spent eight hours waiting at Auckland’s airport. for His next flight Out to Los Angeles where he was born to Connect to JFK. Air New Zealand provided him with $100 worth of meal vouchers, but he didn’t have any luck buying his way into a loyalty club lounge to Get ready to move to Auckland. He hadn’t heard about other compensation at the time he communicated with The Sunday Review.
It was diverted flight was Gottlieb’s second attempt at getting home. He originally flight Retour to The States Monday cancellation was due to to The devastating cyclone that hit New Zealand This week. His wife’s plans to join him for His last two weeks in the country were ruined by her. flight The cancellation of the order was due to Airport flooding in Auckland, New Zealand at the beginning of January
The 16-hour Auckland to Auckland delayed, so he didn’t make it to the bachelor party. In terms of trips, “it was a wild one for sure!”
Gottlieb said he is disappointed with the airline’s response “at a corporate level,” But I encountered extremely helpful staff at the airline.
“This is certainly the worst travel experience I’ve ever had, but ultimately, these things do happen, and I always try to keep in mind that none of the people I’m interacting with had anything to do with the decisions that delayed me — they’re all just doing their best and they were legitimately kind.”
Also New Zealand It is one of Gottlieb’s favorite places.
“The people and region are both lovely. I sure do wish it was a little closer though.”
