New Zealand-Bound Plane Flies For 13 Hours, Goes Nowhere

If you're going to spend 13 hours on an aircraft the very least you can ask is that you get off that plane at a different airport. It doesn't even have to be the airport you had wanted to go to in the first place, as long as it's not the same one you took off from, your rage would be kept somewhat in check.

That's not what happened to some folks in Dubai.

Passengers filed onto an Emirates Airline flight that was scheduled to fly to Auckland, New Zealand. Who knows what their plans were in New Zealand? Maybe they were going to go look at the field where Peter Jackson made a bunch of CGI orcs fight each other. Perhaps they were excited to go see the Sydney Opera House but got New Zealand and Australia mixed up.

It doesn't matter why they wanted to go to the land down under the Land Down Under, because they weren't going to get there.

Dubai's airport, a familiar sight to folks on this flight. (Getty Images)

The Flight Made It Halfway, Then Returned To Dubai

Flight EK448 left Dubai at 10:30 local time and got about halfway through its 9,000-mile trip before calling an audible and high-tailing it back to the Middle East.

The reason? Flooding.

Emirates released a statement to Business Insider.

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

Those folks crammed themselves on that plane for a 13-hour flight and have nothing to show for it. Well, except for a story and maybe an angry tweet directed at Auckland Airport.

Had they known they'd be returning to Dubai, I'm sure a lot of passengers would've opted to skip the flight have a few more drinks at the airport Chili's, or spend a few hours perusing the fine selection of gum and magazines at Hudson News.

Hopefully, at the very least, the drinks were free.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle