This was published 1 year ago
'We felt like VIPs': Couple gets entire Air New Zealand flight to themselves
By Siobhan Downes
Anaru Ratapu and his wife felt like 'VIPs' after they were put on a flight that was repositioning crew.Credit: Facebook/Supplied
Two Air New Zealand passengers had a private plane experience when they were put on a special flight for crew.
Anaru Ratapu and his wife travelled to New Plymouth for a conference on Thursday morning, planning to fly home to Napier via Auckland that same evening.
But the 5.40pm flight from New Plymouth to Auckland had to be cancelled after the aircraft experienced birdstrike on landing into New Plymouth Airport.
A screenshot from flight tracking site Flightradar24 shows the direct flight from New Plymouth to Napier.
Ratapu said they initially thought they would be stranded, with flights to Napier fully booked out until Saturday.
However, an "awesome" staff member at the Koru Lounge at New Plymouth Airport helped find a unique solution.
It turned out the crew on the birdstrike-affected flight were also from Napier, which meant the airline would be operating a repositioning flight to get them back to base.
Ratapu said the Air New Zealand staff member managed to secure them seats on that flight.
"We jumped on there – we were the only passengers on the flight," he said.
"We felt like VIPs."
Ratapu said despite the lack of other passengers, the crew offered the full service on the ATR 72 aircraft – "they did everything they usually would, the lollies, biscuits and hot drinks, and safety briefing".
And despite the disruption, as the flight was direct to Napier, the couple ended up arriving home just an hour later than their originally scheduled arrival time, landing around 9pm.
"It took half an hour going from New Plymouth to Napier – we just went straight across."
Air New Zealand does not usually offer direct flights between the two cities.
Ratapu was full of praise for the airline, saying they had received "really good customer service and a cool experience".
An Air New Zealand spokesperson said they were "thrilled" they had been able to get the Ratapus where they needed to go.
"We're also incredibly proud of our team, who are always looking to go above and beyond for our customers every day."
Other passengers on the cancelled service to Auckland had been provided with overnight accommodation and reaccommodated on a new flight departing at 7am the following morning.
Repositioning crew and aircraft was a normal occurrence on the airline's network, the spokesperson said.
"We do this so we have the right aircraft and crew in place to operate our schedule and get our customers where they need to go.
"If the flight has crew onboard who are happy to operate and we have passengers needing to travel on the same route due to a disrupt, it's not unusual for us to reaccomodate them on these flights."
See also: From Royal yachts to private jumbo jets: How the Queen travelled to Australia
See also: The worst feeling: Why airlines downgrade some passengers
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