Passengers are fuming after being left on tarmac in “boiling plane” for four hours
<p>Qantas passengers are demanding compensation after their flight was diverted to a military base after a mechanical failure and were left on the tarmac for four hours.</p>
<p>Flight QF171 left Melbourne at 9 am and was bound for Wellington, New Zealand, but the mechanical issue meant its intended landing at 2:35 pm was aborted.</p>
<p>The plane was diverted to the Ohakea air base, which is 150kms north of the New Zealand capital, but passengers were unable to disembark due to no customs officials available.</p>
<p>Passengers were unable to leave the plane until 7pm.</p>
<p>"Sitting on the tarmac in the sun, getting extremely hot in the plane. Many passengers visibly distressed," one man wrote about his experience.</p>
<p>Those on board complained that the plane was too hot, and they went without food after 11 am New Zealand time, which was when breakfast was served on the plane.</p>
<p>Passenger Tracy Johnson spoke to<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/travel-troubles/117478058/passengers-stuck-on-qantas-flight-diverted-to-ohakea-air-base" target="_blank">Stuff NZ</a><span> </span>and said that she felt ill by the time they disembarked and that she couldn’t understand why passengers weren’t allowed to wait in a room at the air base.</p>
<p>"An elderly lady hugged me when we got off, she thought she was going to faint ... we all did," she said.</p>
<p>"We need compensation."</p>
<p>Passenger Ryan Newington from Melbourne said that people were “visibly distressed” on the flight.</p>
<p>"The cabin staff have been very kind and considerate which is helping, but lots of people [are] understandably frustrated."</p>
<p>New Zealand customs has since apologised for the delay.</p>
<p>"We needed to divert staff from the Napier office to attend, so obviously there's a timelapse before they can get there physically," said Terry Brown, group manager board of operations with New Zealand Customs.</p>
<p>"We did look to pre-clear the passenger process, we have pretty advanced information systems around the passengers that are on board the aircraft so were able to do that," he told<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/travel/2019/11/qantas-flight-from-melbourne-to-wellington-lands-at-rnzaf-base-in-ohakea.html" target="_blank">Newshub</a>.</p>
<p>Qantas has apologised as well.</p>
<p>"We apologise to our customers for the disruption but safety will always be our first priority."</p>
