CNN
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It’s a nightmare. You’re going somewhere, you’re preparing and planning, you’re doing your best, but you still end up back where you started.
This is according to frequent flyer Brian Gottlieb and his fellow Air New Zealand passengers on Thursday, when a planned trip from Auckland to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport was interrupted by a power outage at the airport. It’s about what happened.
JFK’s Terminal 1 was closed and some flights that were due to land there had to be diverted. Some international flights landed at other airports such as Newark, Washington Dulles and Boston Logan.
Gottlieb’s flight, ANZ2, reversed mid-flight and landed in Auckland more than 16 hours after departing from the same airport. Flight tracking site FlightAware total flight time It took 16 hours and 25 minutes, and the plane returned about halfway through its planned itinerary.
“I had a pretty good night’s sleep. When I woke up, I knew I was about to land at JFK,” Gottlieb said in a message to CNN Travel. “The passenger next to me tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Did you know we’re going back to Auckland soon?'”
Gottlieb said a passenger notified him two or three hours before the plane was to land. An announcement about the diversion didn’t come until the flight was almost back in New Zealand, he said.
When the pilot made the announcement, he acknowledged that “the decision was based in part on the efficiency of the airline’s schedule, and that crew shortages at airports near JFK would have caused additional delays for the airline.” He said.
Passengers were not satisfied.
Gottlieb, a game designer returning home from a five-week business trip, said: Attending the end of my brother’s bachelorette party trip.
In a statement to CNN Travel on Thursday, Air New Zealand said: “Diverting to another US port means the aircraft will remain on the ground for several days, impacting many other scheduled services and customers. I will give you a
At the time, the flight was still en route back to Auckland, and the airline said its team was ready to assist customers with rebooking on the next available service.
“We apologize for the inconvenience and thank our customers for their understanding and cooperation,” the statement said. CNN reached out to the airline for more information on Friday but did not immediately hear back.
Gottlieb, who lives in New York, spent eight hours at the Oakland airport waiting for his next flight to Los Angeles, which was scheduled to connect him to JFK. Air New Zealand offered him his $100 worth of meal vouchers, but he didn’t have the luck to enter the club’s lounge to refresh in Auckland. At the time he communicated with his CNN, he had not heard of any other compensation.
The diverted flight was Gottlieb’s second attempt to get home. His first flight back to the US on Monday was canceled due to the devastating cyclone that hit New Zealand this week. , his wife’s plans to spend the last two weeks of his stay with him fell through.
A 16-hour delay from Auckland to Auckland prevented him from fully attending the bachelor party. As far as travel is concerned, “it sure was a wild one!”
Gottlieb said he was disappointed with the airline’s response “at the corporate level,” but met with a very kind airline staff.
“This is certainly the worst travel experience I have ever had, but ultimately these things happen. I always try to keep in mind that there is nothing there—they were all doing their best and were justifiably kind.”
New Zealand is one of Gottlieb’s favorite places.
“The people and the area are wonderful. Certainly, I wish it was a little closer.”
