{"id":606711,"date":"2026-09-21T01:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T01:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606711\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T01:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T01:52:09","slug":"alleged-altercation-involving-two-air-nz-pilots-at-san-francisco-hotel-reported-to-caa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/606711\/","title":{"rendered":"Alleged altercation involving two Air NZ pilots at San Francisco hotel reported to CAA"},"content":{"rendered":"

However, the airline\u2019s chief safety and risk officer Nathan McGraw released a statement after the Herald published a story this afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are aware of a matter between two crew members off duty in the United States which is currently being investigated. There was no incident onboard the aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CAA would not comment on whether it was assessing the reported incident or considering regulatory action relating to either pilot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe consider all information brought to our attention, and determine whether any regulatory action is required,\u201d a spokesperson told the Herald.<\/p>\n

\"AtAt least two scheduled return flights from San Francisco to Auckland were cancelled as a result of the alleged altercation. Photo \/ Marty Melville<\/p>\n

\u201cAir New Zealand is responsible for employment matters relating to its staff, and CAA cannot comment on those matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the airline\u2019s pilots are members of one of two unions \u2013 the New Zealand Air Line Pilots\u2019 Association (NZALPA) or the Federation of Air New Zealand Pilots (FANZP).<\/p>\n

A FANZP spokesman said it hadn\u2019t received any relevant requests for services from members in the past month.<\/p>\n

\u201cFANZP provides comprehensive personal, legal and welfare support for all of its members when required,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident that Air New Zealand<\/a> has comprehensive policies and procedures in place to deal with any personnel issues that may arise amongst its employees.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US\u2019 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) referred questions to local authorities and the airline.<\/p>\n

NZALPA and the hotel have both been approached for comment.<\/p>\n

\"ItIt is understood the alleged incident unfolded in the lobby of a hotel in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

A Kiwi scheduled to return home from the US on the cancelled September 7 flight received an email from Air NZ\u2019s Customer Care team advising them of a delay of more than 14 hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to sickness, the pilot scheduled to operate your flight is no longer able to operate your service,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo get you on your way, we have arranged a replacement pilot, who is on their way to operate your flight to Auckland. Before they can do so, they are required to complete their mandatory rest period.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand a delay of this length is both frustrating and inconvenient, and we\u2019re sincerely sorry for the impact this unexpected disruption will have on your travel plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Affected passengers were rebooked on a September 8 recovery flight and offered accommodation support or reimbursement for any \u201creasonable costs\u201d incurred.<\/p>\n

Those who no longer wished to travel could request a full refund for their booking.<\/p>\n

The traveller described it as \u201ca very unfortunate and unusual situation\u201d, but said Air NZ had handled the disruption well.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered to your inbox every weekday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"However, the airline\u2019s chief safety and risk officer Nathan McGraw released a statement after the Herald published a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":606712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[68,1554,58454,1975,1124,15033,8666,138,55603,26501,93386,6735,671,29819,111,139,69,81,15267,22392,312,9939,61,1237,9938,80],"class_list":["post-606711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-air","tag-alleged","tag-altercation","tag-at","tag-authority","tag-aviation","tag-aware","tag-business","tag-caa","tag-civil","tag-francisco","tag-hotel","tag-incident","tag-involving","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pilots","tag-reported","tag-san","tag-says","tag-states","tag-to","tag-two","tag-united","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606711","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=606711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/606712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}