Auckland Airport apologises after passengers stranded, forced to sleep on floor

Auckland Airport has apologised after a group of travellers was forced to sleep on the floor of a hallway just metres from a departure lounge. The airport says leaving passengers out in the cold awaiting security processing is an unacceptable level of service. Early on Sunday more than 100 passengers were left stranded between their flight from Samoa and before their flight to Australia because the transit security screening point was closed overnight. The Airport’s general manager operations Anna Cassels-Brown told RNZ’s Morning Report that an alternative waiting department was being readied on Tuesday. “The key thing is, it is absolutely not a level of service that we want to provide,” Cassels-Brown said. “I am not happy that any of our customers had to sit in that hallway. I am not happy that elderly people or children were, it is completely below the level of acceptable customer service, and we are fixing it.” New Zealand’s borders reopened fully to all visitors in August.<br/>