Passengers on a Qantas flight were left angry and frustrated after being stuck in limbo after boarding, waiting six hours for their plane to take off before the flight was eventually cancelled.
Flight QF93 from Melbourne to Los Angeles sat on the tarmac on Monday night before passengers were sent home. They were told the plane was too heavy to take off due to strong winds.
A passenger told Melbourne radio station 3AW they were offered bottles of water and bags of nuts during the delay, and were offered the option to fly ahead of their bags before the flight was cancelled and customers offered taxi vouchers to get home.
"This isn't their first rodeo, they didn't have any contingency plan and they're never on the front foot," passenger Pip said.
"You've got to get on the phone to them, you've got to chase them up, you've got to be the one that tries to get your compensation or get your complaint in."
Fellow passenger Caitley had travelled five hours from regional NSW to make the flight.
"At first we were all OK, but by the end of it, everyone was very frustrated," she told 3AW.
"We just wanted to get off, we were tired, there was no water, we weren't even offered any food, we weren't allowed to get out of our seats."
Caitley said she didn't get to bed until 6am.
"We left home at 11.30am yesterday morning so it's been a big journey to only travel 500 kilometres."
Melbourne Airport was undertaking overnight works on the main north-south runway, which resulted in its length being temporarily shortened.
Qantas apologised for the inconvenience to passengers.
"The aircraft arrived late in Melbourne following a weather-delayed departure from the UK and then faced further issues including runway works and bad weather which impacted take off," a spokesperson said.
"Passengers were provided refreshments on board, but further refreshments were not possible once the plane was preparing to take off.
"Qantas provided accommodation and transport for customers overnight and they will board a new flight Tuesday night."
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