{"id":159458,"date":"2025-11-29T09:50:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T09:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/159458\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T09:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T09:50:07","slug":"airbus-a320-software-recall-nz-passengers-speak-of-chaos-hours-long-queues-as-issue-paralyses-airports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/159458\/","title":{"rendered":"Airbus A320 software recall: NZ passengers speak of \u2018chaos\u2019, hours-long queues as issue paralyses airports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Birthday plan \u2018out the window\u2019<\/p>\n

One Wellington-bound passenger said their day began with a text message at 9.30am warning of Jetstar delays, but this didn\u2019t prepare them for the scene inside Auckland Airport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked into a line that we could have been waiting another couple of hours for, so yeah, it wasn\u2019t great,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

By the time they reached the counter, every remaining Jetstar flight to Wellington was fully booked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a birthday plan for my daughter today and now that\u2019s out the window,\u201d they said. \u201cI\u2019m going to try to get a flight on [Air] New Zealand today \u2026 otherwise, I\u2019ll be waiting until tomorrow morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

They said Jetstar had not offered compensation so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, I\u2019ll pay money for a flight that I\u2019m not even going to take at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA Wellington-bound passenger said they would likely miss their daughter’s birthday, due to the delay. Photo \/ Calvin Samuel \/ RNZ<\/p>\n

Six hours in line<\/p>\n

For Christchurch-bound traveller Miguel, the delays were even longer.<\/p>\n

His 8.25am flight was initially pushed back by 30 minutes, then an hour, before being cancelled altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not so happy, definitely,\u201d he told RNZ, adding he has been queuing for \u201cmaybe six hours\u201d.<\/p>\n

Jetstar eventually booked him on a mid-afternoon flight, leaving him waiting in the terminal for most of the day.<\/p>\n

\"Miguel'sMiguel’s flight was initially pushed back by 30 minutes, then an hour, before being cancelled. Photo \/ Calvin Samuel \/ RNZ<\/p>\n

\u2018Five different staff told me five different things\u2019<\/p>\n

Another passenger, April, said the experience was overwhelming, especially as she was travelling solo and visiting Auckland for the first time.<\/p>\n

Her 11.50am Jetstar flight was rebooked, cancelled, then rebooked, before she received conflicting instructions about whether she could board.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had five different staff tell me five different things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy boarding pass was cancelled and I didn\u2019t know if I could still get on. I was really lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jetstar eventually reissued her flight for a later departure \u2013 but she abandoned it altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ended up rebooking with Air New Zealand instead, because I was just so confused. I\u2019ll just get a refund from Jetstar.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said staff were kind, but the queues were impossible for her to manage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got chronic pain, I can\u2019t stand in that queue. Someone said they\u2019d been waiting two and a half hours, another said six hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t do that at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AprilApril said her flight was rebooked, cancelled, then rebooked. Photo \/ Calvin Samuel \/ RNZ<\/p>\n

\u2018Overseas travellers caught in chaos\u2019<\/p>\n

A group of friends from Blenheim, returning from a long, multi-stop trip through Asia, said the Auckland cancellation was just the latest setback.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had about eight flights so far, and every single flight has either been cancelled or delayed,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n

Their flight from Melbourne to Auckland arrived late and the onward domestic flight was cancelled shortly before boarding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were at the back of the line \u2013 too many people. We missed our chance to get a flight \u2026 now we\u2019ve been pushed back to tomorrow morning.\u201d<\/p>\n

After three changes to their onward connections, they abandoned their plan to fly home to Blenheim.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of doing that, we\u2019re just flying to Christchurch and driving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA group of friends from Blenheim said the Auckland cancellation was just the latest setback. Photo \/ Calvin Samuel \/ RNZ<\/p>\n

\u2018Why is this happening?\u2019<\/p>\n

The widespread disruption stems from an urgent software recall affecting a large portion of the global Airbus A320 fleet.<\/p>\n

Airbus said intense solar radiation may, in rare cases, corrupt data inside a flight-control computer known as the ELAC \u2013 the system that translates pilot inputs into elevator and aileron movements.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe widespread disruption stems from an urgent software recall affecting a large portion of the global Airbus A320 fleet. Photo \/ Calvin Samuel \/ RNZ<\/p>\n

The fault was linked to an October 30 JetBlue incident, where a sudden uncommanded loss of altitude injured passengers.<\/p>\n

Regulators have ordered airlines to update or revert the software before operating the affected aircraft again.<\/p>\n

Some updates take about two hours, but aircraft requiring hardware changes may be subject to longer delays.<\/p>\n

Air NZ, Jetstar responses<\/p>\n

Air New Zealand has said all A320neo aircraft will receive the software patch before their next flight, but it is allowing other A320 flights to continue until 1pm tomorrow, with cancellations expected across the fleet.<\/p>\n

Jetstar passengers told RNZ they received limited information beyond repeated delay notifications.<\/p>\n

Despite the chaos, some passengers said staff were doing the best they could.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been really helpful,\u201d one stranded traveller said. \u201cIt\u2019s out of their hands \u2013 it\u2019s a global crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

More disruption likely<\/p>\n

With thousands of A320s affected worldwide, delays and cancellations are expected to continue throughout the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just going to sit here and see how long I last,\u201d April said. \u201cThat\u2019s pretty much all anyone can do today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 RNZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birthday plan \u2018out the window\u2019 One Wellington-bound passenger said their day began with a text message at 9.30am…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[104654,6776,6224,806,138,12413,100460,76,111,139,69,1118,105088,29459,27563,24178,8183,5815],"class_list":["post-159458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-a320","tag-airbus","tag-airports","tag-as","tag-business","tag-chaos","tag-hourslong","tag-issue","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-paralyses","tag-passengers","tag-queues","tag-recall","tag-software","tag-speak"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}