Travellers who found themselves stranded at Auckland Airport last night, numbering as high as 2000, have complained about a lack of support and communication.
They say the conditions in the toilets are unsanitary and some desperately need their luggage off the plane for medicines.
"My problems is the communication," Claire Emmett, a passenger whose international flight was unable to go ahead, told 1News today.
"We've been there 14 hours before we were even given a bottle of water."
They say conditions in the toilets are unsanitary and some desperately need their luggage off the plane for medicines. (Source: 1News)
"We were put on our flight at 6pm last night. We sat there for 4 hours, they gave us two drinks and a bottle of water during that time. They put us all in the departure lounge again, we were there for 14 hours," Emmett said.
"It's as if we've been abandoned and we're nobody's problem."
Another passenger, Gary Moore, said "there's 500 people upstairs that have been there all night - babies, nursing mothers, older people, people in wheelchairs. Nobody's given us any information on anything."
"My husband's 81 years old, he was sleeping on a stone floor," said Maurine Duckworth, who was also trapped in the airport overnight.
"We would've gone to a hotel if they would've told us we're not going to be flying until Monday - which is what we're hearing now."
"It's so frustrating, we don't know what to do. It's like we don’t exist," Duckworth said.
Auckland airport CEO Carrie Hurihanganui said the challenges came from a surge of water that receded overnight.
It was a "really challenging night for the customers and the staff," but domestic flights were expected to be possible this afternoon.
The international terminal took on much more water, Hurihanganui said, and it will take at least until 5am Sunday for departures to begin - and until 7am Sunday for arrivals.
Asked whether there was any structural failing of the airport that caused people to be trapped, Hurihanganui said she didn't know but nobody there has every seen anything on a "remotely similar" scale before.
SHARE ME