Air New Zealand Passengers Stuck in Paradise

Well, if you’re going to be stuck somewhere – for three days – we guess this would be the place.

An Air New Zealand flight that was scheduled to leave Saturday from Honolulu to Auckland was stuck on the tarmac in Hawaii until this morning, delayed by what airline officials said were problems related to an engine sensor.

Twice the passengers were brought back to the airport to take their original flight, and twice they were turned away when the problems persisted. Air New Zealand gave each of the 227 passengers $850 as compensation, though some opted to catch another flight home.

"Due to the lengthy nature of this disruption, the difficulty we've experienced in adequately communicating with customers and the fact we have repeatedly let them down, we have made the decision that in addition to our unreserved apology we will also be compensating each customer," Air New Zealand said in a statement.

The Associated Press noted that one of the passengers, Tim Murphy, is the editor-in-chief of the country's largest newspaper, The New Zealand Herald. Murphy has been tweeting about the situation for the last two days.

Contacted by the AP, Murphy said Hawaii was “beautiful when you get out into it. Not so much when you're queuing perpetually and feeling like Tom Hanks living in the terminal!"