'Serious failure': Qantas passenger lays complaint over diverted flight ordeal

Author: NZ Herald,
Publish Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2026, 2:07pm

A Qantas passenger has described their experience aboard a diverted flight as a “serious failure of customer care, communication and decision-making”.

Flight QF281 departed Brisbane just before 11.30am NZ time yesterday, bound for Wellington.

However, the flight was diverted to Auckland after poor weather closed in over the capital, the airline confirmed.

Qantas told the Herald the plane then remained on the tarmac at Auckland Airport because of “operational and administrative complexities”.

In an emailed statement at 9.35pm, Qantas said customers had disembarked and would be reaccommodated on the next available services to Wellington, apologising to passengers for the experience and saying staff were working to get them on their way as soon as possible.

Qantas confirmed this morning that passengers have been reaccommodated on an Auckland to Wellington flight departing at midday.

However, a formal complaint made to the airline, which has been supplied to the Herald, paints a more chaotic picture.

The passenger wrote that the aircraft had aborted two landing attempts at Wellington before diverting to Auckland, where passengers were then held in the plane on the tarmac for close to four-and-a-half hours.

After they were finally released, a further one hour and 45 minutes passed before their bags were returned.

The passenger said there was no electronic communication from Qantas and no ground staff providing information about overnight accommodation or how passengers would reach their intended destination.

Concerns were also raised about young children on board, including unaccompanied minors, with the passenger saying keeping children confined to the aircraft for four hours was unacceptable.

The complainant said that by the time passengers reached a hotel, more than 12-and-a-half hours had passed since a meal had been provided.

The passenger said that the cabin crew on the aircraft were excellent, however, they too were not provided with information to pass on to passengers.

Passenger Sondra Bacharach told the Herald just before 10pm that while the airline had sorted accommodation for passengers, there had been no communication about the next step for flights.

“They’ve told us nothing about when and where we are flying next. There has been no food provided, we haven’t had dinner, only water,” she said.

“Flight attendants told us customs immigrations would not allow us to disembark and later told us there were visa issues for some people not being allowed back into Australia.”

She said while the staff had been wonderful, the lack of communication had been “frustrating”.

“There are two mothers in their 80s, we’ve had one meal since 9am and we are all really tired.”

Earlier, the stranded travellers were reportedly told that the flight would eventually divert back to Wellington or Brisbane, according to a passenger’s friend who spoke to the Herald.

“It’s just crazy they’ve spent the whole day in the plane, flown around New Zealand airspace and now might have to come back [to Australia],” she said.

“There was no proper explanation from Qantas on why passengers weren’t allowed to disembark [in Auckland].”

When first asked about the incident, Qantas did not elaborate on why the plane remained on the tarmac with its passengers still inside, when the situation might change, or where it would fly next.

“We don’t have that information, sorry,” the spokesperson initially said.