Airline Passengers Basically Took A 13-Hour Flight To Nowhere & All They Could Do Was Laugh

Imagine boarding a flight and flying for 13 hours straight, only to end up right where you began.

That’s exactly what happened to airline passengers on an Emirates flight from Dubai to Auckland, New Zealand on Friday, when bad weather made it impossible for them to land at their destination.

The Emirates flight EK448 took off from Dubai International Airport at 10:30 a.m. but had to turn back almost halfway through the journey because of the massive floods in Auckland, reported Business Insider.

Heavy rainfall triggered a state of emergency on January 27 in New Zealand, where even Auckland International Airport had to briefly shut down all domestic and international flights.

Over 1,000 passengers were left stranded at the Auckland airport, and travellers were provided with blankets, water bottles and meals from volunteers, reported N Travel.

Meanwhile, flight EK448 was well on its way to Auckland when the crew was told to turn around, leaving passengers very annoyed.

According to FlightAware, the plane was in the air for 13 hours and 47 minutes, landing in Dubai close to midnight on Saturday, January 28.

Since the incident, passengers on board have been reacting by making TikToks and tweeting about the situation.

One TikToker, Mena, posted a video from the plane of the in-flight entertainment system showing the plane making the journey to the halfway point and then making a U-turn back to Dubai.

The caption over the video read, “my flight to Auckland decided midway 'sike, we going back to Dubai.'”

Since posting the video, which now has over 1.3 million views, Mena has been responding to the comments.

One commenter wrote, “it’s bc the airport flooded,” to which Mena replied saying, “most of us thought they meant there was a lot of water on the runway, not a lake inside the airport.”

Another person commented, “I really don't understand why they didn't divert to an airport in Australia,” which received over 5,000 likes.

“It was a big bummer for a lot of people, especially ones with plans like attending a wedding. I cracked up at the u-turn tho,” Mena wrote back to the commenter.

Some passengers were not nearly as understanding as Mena and were pretty upset about the inconvenience of the whole situation.

One passenger tweeted saying, “My sister, brother-in-law and two children (both under 3) are stranded in Dubai after @emirates flight #EK448 Travelled HALF WAY TO AUCKLAND and then returned to Dubai.”

“Emirates was meant to call this morn with info about a flight but NOTHING. @EmiratesSupport sort it out!” the tweet continued.

Another passenger tweeted, "Due to the flooding in #Auckland our @emirates flight today was cancelled."

"We were initially rebooked to a flight on 29 January at 16:50, that flight has been cancelled, and @emirates has now booked us to departure on 7 February. #totallyunacceptable."

Other passengers praised the cabin crew on the flight for how they handled a frustrating situation.

A passenger tweeted to Emirates saying, “many compliments to your cabin crew on EK 448 from Dubai to Auckland on 28/01. Flight delayed due to floods, but the crew in section F led by Manager Rebecca were courteous, warm, helpful & utterly professional. A long but pleasant flight. Kudos!”

"We regret the inconvenience caused to customers," the airline said in a statement to Business Insider. "Emirates will continue to monitor the situation in Auckland and issue updates where required."

Flight EK448 was rescheduled for Monday, three days after its original departure date. It departed at 10:51 a.m. and was still on its way to Auckland as of press time, according to FlightAware.

An updated statement on the Auckland International Airport website says that both domestic and international flights are back to normal operations, but delays are still expected as things “normalize” again.