Air NZ staff sickness leads to bag drop backlog at Auckland Airport

Air New Zealand staff shortages meant passengers on domestic flights out of Auckland Airport on Monday morning faced an extraordinarily long wait to drop off their bags. The airline said high levels of staff sickness meant there were fewer employees than normal to receive bags during the peak morning travel period, but the queues have since cleared. Earlier, a passenger shared a video showing a queue snaking well beyond the Air New Zealand check in and bag drop area. The passenger, who was on a flight to Wellington at 9am, said when they arrived at the airport at 8am, the line was “massive” and “not moving”. Fellow passengers in the queue were “looking around looking very worried”, as the bag drop is closed off 30 minutes before a flight’s departure. The passenger said around 8.20am, a staff member asked everyone who was on the Wellington flight to join another line, so they were able to make the bag drop deadline. Air New Zealand general manager airports Tessa Auelua said: “Unfortunately due to ongoing high levels of sickness, Air New Zealand had fewer employees than normal to scan and remove bags on the other side of bag drop during the peak travel period this morning at Auckland Domestic Airport. “Despite all bag drop kiosks being open, customers had a longer than usual wait to drop their bags. The team worked to prioritise bags in order of flight departure times to ensure customers could reach their flights. “We would like to thank customers for their patience.”<br/>