Air N.Z. flew to Auckland ‘in mistake’

Press, 29 July 1980, Page 1

Air N.Z. flew to Auckland ‘in mistake’

By’

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor

Two hundred and sixty, passengers 'who thought they were flying from Sydney to Christchurch, on Saturday were “hijacked” by Air New Zealand and flown to Auckland instead. The airline, “embarrassed and distressed” by what appears to have been a colossal breakdown in communications, con* firmed yesterday that it is making a full-scale inquiry into the incident.

The saga began on Friday when a strike at Sydney Airport grounded all flights. Passengers on a cancelled service to Christchurch were told to report for a special DCIO flight, TEI76D, the next morning.

According to all departure boards at the airport, ,

the destination of TEI76D was shown as Christchurch. All passengers held Sydney-Christchurch tickets and, when checking in, their bags were tagged with Christchurch labels. All pre-boarding announcements referred to “Air New Zealand flight TEI76D to Christchurch . . .” Passengers settled into their seats and fastened their safety belts unaware of the surprise that awaited them. The doors were closed, the engines started, and the aircraft eased back from the ramp. Then Captain Peter Grundy gave the traditional welcome to all on board “this flight to Auckland.” “There was nearly a riot,” said one of the passengers, Mr R. Stewart, yesterday. "It was the

first we knew that we were not going to Christchurch and a lot of people were very, very upset.” Mr Stewart, who was a passenger in the FT (frequent traveller) zone, said orie man got up out of his seat and demanded to be let off. A hostess tried to calm him, and the flight purser was called; but it was too late—the aircraft was taxi-ing for take-off.

Mr K. Cosgrove, of Timaru, who was also seat* ed in the FT zone, confirmed that many of the passengers were irate and vocal in expressing their displeasure when they realised that they were heading for. Auckland.

The tension on board was not eased when one of the flight attendants produced a passenger list

which showed everyone’s destination as "Auckland,” a clear indication that some brainless computer knew where the passengers were really heading hours before they themselves did.

An in-flight survey conducted by several passengers revealed that only three of 260 on board in fact wanted to go to the North Island.

Mr Cosgrove said one woman was so upset that she was in tears, . The situation was much the same in the economy section, according to Miss Kerry Swallow, of Philpotts Road. Miss Swallow and her fiance, Mr Brian Hooper, were to have been guests of honour at an engagement party on the Friday evening. This was postponed because of the

strike until the Saturday, but by the time they were ferried south from Auckland to Christchurch in a Friendship, that party, too, had to be called off. About half-way across the Tasman the crew were persuaded to transmit a message to the airline’s controllers in Auckland requesting that the aircraft be diverted to Christchurch.

“The captain acknowledged that the message had been sent, but we received no reply,” said Mr Stewart. The DCIO landed at Auckland at 5.20 p.m., but only some of the passengers could get on to domestic flights south and the others had to stay there overnight.

The airline was also the target for more criticism

from Kerry Swallow’s father, Mr F. Swallow, who turned up at Christchurch Airport to meet TEI76D at 2 p.m. on Saturday. He was told that as the aircraft was "required in Auckland” the flight had been diverted there.

In fact, the plane at the time was still on the ground at Sydney: Mr Swallow was aware of the diversion before the passengers were.

“What really upset me though was the lack of information about when Kerry and Brian would arrive from Auckland,” he said. "No-one could tell us how or when they would be arriving.”

Asked to comment last evening, the airline’s director of public and corporate affairs, Mr D. C. Saxton, confirmed that a "full investigation into

this most unfortunate business” was being made. He said initial inquiries revealed that the aircraft had been delayed by an engineering fault which, by the time it had been rectified, meant that the aircraft had to be diverted to Auckland to avoid further’ delays on another service.

Mr Saxton said the decision to divert was made early on Saturday morning and that this had been passed on to Sydney with instructions to advise all passengers of the change. The investigation would determine why this had not been done, he said. The airline was genuinely distressed and embarrassed by the incident, Mr . Saxton said, and he offered apologies to all who had been inconvenienced.