Passengers bumped from Virgin flight 'due to calm weather'

[alberttky 0]

Calm Wellington weather is being blamed for 20 passengers being bumped off their Brisbane-bound plane.

The Virgin Australia flight from Wellington on Saturday afternoon was delayed by two hours as flight crew waited for 20 of the 167 passengers to voluntarily surrender their seats.

The airline blamed "light winds" for the last-minute bump-off, which was needed to shed weight before takeoff.

Passenger Chris Eichbaum said people were surprised when cabin crew told them that, because of the lack of wind at Wellington Airport, people would need to volunteer to leave with their bags before the aircraft could take off.

Cabin crew pleaded with passengers to volunteer, offering a free night's accommodation and a meal in a Wellington hotel.

"They left in ones and twos, accompanied by sympathetic applause from those remaining behind as they did so," Mr Eichbaum said.

He was annoyed that passengers off-loaded had bought tickets in good faith and should have expected the airlines to meet their side of the deal.

"Airlines need to operate aircraft out of Wellington that can operate in all conditions," he said.

He was also unimpressed that passengers who waited two hours for the plane to take off on Saturday afternoon were not offered free snacks or drinks, apart from water.

Passengers were initially advised the off-load was required because of a runway landing change at Brisbane International Airport, he said.

But the explanation was later changed to Wellington Airport's runway not being long enough for the aircraft to take off in "the light wind conditions".

The Virgin Australia aircraft was also carrying Air New Zealand passengers under a code-sharing arrangement.

A Virgin Australia spokeswoman confirmed "the calm conditions" at Wellington Airport resulted in 20 people and their bags eventually being offloaded.

A Wellington International Airport spokeswoman said its runway length limited the takeoff weight of outbound aircraft.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman declined to comment.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/passengers-bumped-from-virgin-flight-due-to-calm-weather-20130805-2r8g9.html#ixzz2b3oXohrD

[Cire 0]

I must say that this incidence is quite rare (at least to me) where passengers are asked to disembark due to "calm weather". Without explanation, most ordinary people would not understand why the plane can't take off in calm weather.

[zamim 0]

Why not make a tech stop in Auckland?