‘100 people slept on carpet': Virgin passengers spend Easter in Queenstown after delay, cancellation
Virgin Australia passengers were forced to bed down at Queenstown airport on Easter weekend after their flight was cancelled with no replacement options.
Passengers returning to Sydney from New Zealand on Saturday evening instead had to sleep in the airport after an engineering issue delayed Virgin flight VA162.
As some passengers were offloaded so the plane could operate under weight restrictions, the Virgin crew is understood to have reached its maximum allowable duty hours, which forced the airline to cancel the flight. Under Civil Aviation Safety Authority rules, there are limits to the number of hours a crew can work.
'The safety of our guests and crew is always our highest priority,' a spokesperson for Virgin said.
'We sincerely apologise to our guests for the disruption to their travel plans.'
Loading
Sydney-bound passengers stranded in Queenstown were unable to find accommodation on Saturday night because of the Easter long weekend.
'No accommodation provided or available in Queenstown so 100 people slept on the carpet at the airport,' one affected passenger said via email. 'Isn't that illegal?'
The replacement flight on Sunday was itself delayed, the passenger said. Customers were told they would depart at 1.50pm New Zealand time, but the flight didn't leave until 5.20pm.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News.com.au
18 hours ago
- News.com.au
The best thing that's ever happened in a business class cabin
Not since the advent of the lie-flat bed, has a business class offering been more of a gamechanger. OK, this might only be true if you've got as much of a sweet tooth as I do, but hear me out – you're cruising along at 38,000 feet, feet up on your glorious recliner, full of your gourmet dinner, when something absolutely glorious, and unexpected, comes rattling down the aisle. An ice cream sundae cart! With all the trimmings! On a plane! I rest my case. United Airlines is famous for this particular in-flight miracle, which has reached icon status among its passengers. After your meal, the cart comes along, offering to adorn your vanilla or chocolate ice cream scoop with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream, slivered toasted almonds, M & Ms and a cherry on top. If there's a better food experience on a plane, I haven't had it. New cabins Last month, United Airlines unveiled its new United Elevated interior, which includes sliding privacy doors for all business class seats, and a brand new studio suite experience. There are eight of the new seats in each upgraded cabin, located at the front of each business class section. They are 25 per cent larger than the standard business offering and offer even more privacy. I flew from Sydney to LA on the standard Polaris service, here's how it went down. Baggage Like most business class offerings, your ticket includes two free checked bags, up to 32kg each, which is a challenge I was unable to meet, with my puny 22kg offering. You're also entitled to Premier Access, which is essentially a priority check-in lane, and the promise of seeing your bags faster on the other side with priority bag handling. Lounge Polaris customers also get access to United Polaris lounges, where they are available (currently there are six, Chicago O'Hare, Houston Intercontinental, LAX, New York Newark, San Francisco and Washington Dulles). Don't worry, if there's no Polaris Lounge at your departure airport, you will get access to a partner lounge of your choice. I used the Polaris Lounge at LAX. It features deluxe shower rooms with Therabody products, an a la carte restaurant (order the famous burger and the skillet cookie, even if you're not hungry, trust me on this) as well as a buffet for lighter meal options. If you're already tired, there's a private rest area with daybeds, soft lighting and white noise to help you rest and relax The seats Like many business class offerings, the staggered 1-2-1 seat configuration means every seat is an aisle seat, but window seats are definitely the pick of the bunch. But not all window seats are created equal – to enable a full lie-flat experience, the seats are offset, with one being right next to the window, the next being closer to the aisle and so forth. This makes seats 1L or 9L superior choices, as they are both front of their respective parts of the cabin, closest to the windows and with the most privacy and least disturbance from the aisle. There was lots of legroom, as expected, and top notch extras, including noise-reducing headphones, bedding from Saks Fifth Avenue, premium toiletries and premium mattress toppers available on request (please, tell me, who is not requesting a complimentary 'mattress cloud'?). Food In addition to the expected champagne on arrival, the meals were excellent on my flight. The main meal is an event, with warmed mixed nuts, a main you can pre-order before you fly (I chose roasted salmon with hollandaise and pearl couscous) salad, bread and the aforementioned sundae. Still hungry after your movie is over? They offer midnight snacks, including an extremely melty grilled cheese sandwich, available anytime, and a snack bar you can help yourself to. The app It can be hard to stand out in a saturated airline market where most offerings are variations on the same thing, but United's app is where it truly shines. I've never come across such an efficient and user-friendly airline app experience. You can obviously plan and book using it, but it's once you arrive at the airport that it comes into its own. My gate changed, no worries, I got a notification. Boarding about to start? told me that too. In-flight I was updated about changes to our arrival time and upon landing, it knew my bag was about to come out onto the carousel before it was visible. There's also a terminal guide, meal and seat choices and delay and cancellation options but it's the real-time notifications, taking some of the stress and uncertainty out of travel, that gets my vote.
ABC News
a day ago
- ABC News
Three Scottish brothers near halfway in world record rowing attempt
Three Scottish brothers rowing across the Pacific Ocean have almost reached the halfway point in their 14,000-kilometre journey. They are aiming to break a world record by becoming the first trio to complete the trip, non-stop and unsupported, from Lima, the capital of Peru, to Sydney within 120 days. An ambitious goal amid broken gear, blistered hands, and extreme isolation onboard their custom-built $100,000 vessel. "The first five weeks were really, really tough," Lachlan Maclean told ABC News. "I think if we knew those first five weeks were gonna [sic] be like that, we maybe wouldn't have done it, to be honest," he laughed. It has been nearly 60 days since they set off and the challenges are ongoing. "We've had an ongoing problem with our primary water tank. It's not just been that though, it's been a bunch of other things. Autohelm [a type of self-steering system] was packing in. We had power issues from the solar panels. Been a myriad of technical issues," Ewan Maclean said. "Fortunately, Ewan's an engineer," Lachlan added. With no engine, sail, or support crew, the brothers are surviving on 500 kilograms of freeze-dried home-cooked meals, prepared by Jamie, including 75 kilograms of oats and a menu of high-calorie comfort meals. "The one sad realisation we had the other day is that we've kind of only got home-cooked food for maybe 80 to 100 days. And then we'll be relying on the store-bought stuff that we have as backup," Jamie said. "We've got a finite amount of gas, so we're probably going to be eating them cold as well," Lachlan said. "The last few weeks are going to be brutal." But despite the discomfort, morale and their sense of adventure remain afloat. "We've caught a couple [of] fish. We caught a wahoo yesterday, which we've been enjoying — we had so much meat off it," Ewan said. "Shooting stars every night. You'll see a dozen at least. We've had some kind of meteorites, especially earlier on in the crossing with a lot of bioluminescence," Lachlan said. "It's like the oars became lightsabres and you could see these little explosions of bioluminescence behind the boat. It's a really magical moment." With no toilet on board, the brothers have been using a bucket. They lost the spare backup in the first week. "Come to think of it, it's probably the only moment in the day that you actually get a little bit of a rest, because there's no other seats like that," Jamie said. "There's no other seat — you're either sitting on a rowing seat or you're standing, bouncing about the place." At the time of this interview, the brothers were approaching the Marquesas Islands, which are in the South Pacific Ocean, and are part of French Polynesia. "I think after the Marquesas we're expecting that we might get slightly stronger wind, maybe some slightly bigger conditions, which to be honest we're actually quite excited [about]," Lachlan said. "As long as it's going with us, we're excited about it because the boat is basically a large surfboard." Approaching rougher waters, Ewan was quick to outline the need for diligence. "Over the next coming weeks and as we get into Australia … this is where it could all go wrong," Ewan said. Overall, physically, the brothers say they feel really good. "We're all probably getting about four to five hours of sleep, but it's broken into two halves. So, you sleep for a bit, then you get up and row, and then you sleep a bit more, and then you row again. And then you're into the day shifts," Lachlan said. Ewan, Lachlan and Jamie are hoping to raise $2 million for clean drinking water projects in Madagascar. They've raised just over $180,000 so far. "We're actually really happy for where we are in the crossing. We're hoping that a lot of the fundraising will take place in the last, kind of, 10 per cent of the trip," Lachlan said. The brothers are aiming to arrive in Sydney Harbour in early August — if all goes to plan.
West Australian
a day ago
- West Australian
Nat Locke: They say getting lost is part of the fun … until you find yourself in 'Stab City'
Last weekend, in a bid to entertain their children for free, a friend of mine set out on a family hike in the Hills. Did they go during the long hours of sunshine on Sunday? No, they went on Monday when there were showers lurking ominously. But that wasn't the problem. The problem is that they got lost. By 'lost' I mean they couldn't find the exact trail they were meant to be on for a short period of time. They weren't 'send out a search party' lost. They were just at the stage where you start to get a bit frustrated and you raise your voices slightly and the kids ask helpful things like 'are we lost?' and you answer with 'NO, we're not lost. We just don't quite know where we are,' which is vastly different. Still, they made it out alive, by scrambling cross country down some rocky hillsides that were both steeper than they were comfortable with, and also slippery from the rain. It was, all in all, some good old-fashioned family fun. The sort of family fun that once made my brother say 'can we hurry up and have fun so we can all go home and watch Mad Max?' but I digress. I'm sure it comes as no surprise to you when I admit that I have gotten myself lost many times, although never in the Kalamunda vicinity, and I did spend many an afternoon traipsing through the bush there when I was preparing for the Cape to Cape some years back. No, it was way worse. I got lost in Limerick in Ireland, which sounds like it might be fun, but it wasn't. It was in 1998, the week before Easter, which is a pertinent detail because the Good Friday agreement was about to be signed by the IRA and the UK, and it just so happened that on the day I was catching the ferry from Holyhead to Ireland, a car full of plastic explosives was found at the Irish port we were supposed to be heading to. Fun. So the first thing I did when I finally arrived into Dublin station was to ask if there was a friendly counter where I might be able to leave my luggage for a bit while I strolled the streets of Temple Bar. You have never seen a more incredulous expression on anyone, ever. It turns out there aren't a lot of opportunities to leave your luggage anywhere when there's been a recent history of things going bang. So I jumped on the first train that was leaving, and that's how I ended up in Limerick. By this stage, I was getting a head cold so I popped my head into the first bed and breakfast that I chanced upon to secure my lodgings for the night, because apparently I am a Victorian squire off to the city on business. I then went in search of something to eat. But what I forgot to do was memorise the name of the establishment or the street upon which it was situated. Either of these facts would have been handy as I spent the following five hours trudging around the darkening streets of Limerick attempting to find my accommodation — and my belongings — again. I knew there was a clock tower nearby and I sighted it once but then took the wrong side street and wandered around a residential area for a while. I couldn't even stop anyone and ask for directions because I didn't technically know where I was going, just that I would know it when I saw it. Frankly, I'd rather be lost in the Kalamunda bush, mainly because I later found out that Limerick's nickname at the time was Stab City. These days I'm a far savvier traveller and using the roaming data on my phone won't bankrupt me, so I'd like to think it would never happen again. Because the sudden surge of adrenaline and mild to moderate panic is a genuinely unpleasant experience. All while trying to appear as though you're walking with purpose and definitely shouldn't be robbed — or stabbed — because of how thoroughly local you appear. Even though you've walked past the same McDonald's four times already. I cannot tell you how happy I was to finally find my accommodation which was actually quite crappy and inexplicably filled with nuns, but that's another story. At least I left Limerick (on the first bus out of there in the morning) with both of my kidneys. And if there's a silver lining to be found, at least I didn't have a couple of young kids asking me 'are we lost?' repeatedly.
