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Old 1st April 2008, 12:16 PM
Kurt A Kurt A is offline
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Default Air NZ passengers fumigated

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Air NZ passengers fumigated
Tuesday, April 01, 2008



Passengers on an Air New Zealand flight from Fiji found themselves being fumigated onboard their flight yesterday after it was discovered that the aircraft's biosecurity clearance had expired.

An Auckland man - who spoke to the New Zealand Herald on condition of anonymity - said two Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry officers boarded NZ21 from Nadi at Auckland International Airport yesterday morning.

"All we heard was that this was a MAF requirement. It was like how they used to do things on planes about 20 years ago, but I still thought it was pretty strange," he said.

A bio-security certificate prevents an airline from having to fumigate an aircraft every time it returns here.

The fumigation process left the man with a sore throat and caused a baby to gag and vomit.

The construction engineer said the MAF officers took five minutes to spray the plane before leaving the passengers to sit in "a thick fog" as they sealed the door shut behind them.

"It was pretty concerning to see that and there were other passengers having to hold their noses and cover their mouths," he said. "It was something akin to a sauna, not the heat but the look of the place and the longer it went on the foggier it became, it was ridiculous.
"Even now I have a real raspy throat so you could imagine what the effect would be on an infant."

Passengers were given no good reasons for the fumigation despite it being an out of ordinary occurrence. The man said he found out from one of the MAF officers, whom he bumped into while getting his bags, that the aircraft's biosecurity clearance had expired.

"The MAF guys were just doing their job but I think Air New Zealand should offer some kind of apology and get their act together, for God's sake.

"If they want to charge like a first- rate airline then they should behave like one."

Air New Zealand spokeswoman Di Paton said biosecurity certificates on its aircraft did expire "very occasionally". But she said the airline did not consider it had made a mistake in terms of not having its biosecurity clearances before passengers boarded, saying "these kind of things happen".

"In this particular instance it was by one day the biosecurity clearance had expired - a few hours, in fact. It's not really a mistake. It's just happened as a result of other things."

Ms Paton said Air New Zealand had not received any complaints but "would obviously respond to them" if there were any.

"It's not like we don't take this seriously, which is why we had the MAF people come on board."

MAF Biosecurity New Zealand spokeswoman Lesley Patston confirmed there was a "manual spraying" of flight NZ 21 yesterday morning.
"It's unusual but not uncommon that this happens, put it that way," she said. "But we can give assurances that it's still safe in terms of passenger health."


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Old 1st April 2008, 12:28 PM
Andrew M Andrew M is offline
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Hmmmm so why do they still have to do this all the time on Air Canada ?

When returning to Sydney we had to wait 10 mins while they sprayed the cabins ?
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Old 1st April 2008, 12:35 PM
David Knudsen David Knudsen is offline
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Not sure if it still happens, but it was done on a Air Vanuatu flight I was on in 1996, and Air Pacific flight in 1998. In this case it was just the flight attendants walking up and down the aisles at ToD spraying along the tops of the storage bins and under all the seats.
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Old 1st April 2008, 12:37 PM
Andrew M Andrew M is offline
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David: I remember it from United Airlines at least 15 or more years ago on every flight back to Australia.

Also like I said Air Canada did it upon landing in SYD two months ago!
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Old 1st April 2008, 01:01 PM
Gareth U Gareth U is offline
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Most airlines do have residual disinsection now for passenger convenience. I think this guy went too far with his concern and comments. It is a spray, approved for use by the World Health Organisation. After his five minutes of fame I reckon he will be glad he kept himself anonymous. I know of MANY 'first-rate' (to use his term) airlines that still do manual disinsection.

Disinsection spray is carried on all Qantas international flights I can think of - even though it may not be used.

Infact, we do a manual disinsection (on top of the residual one) INTO Mumbai, of all places. Dunno why. Seems odd when you think about what India is like.
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Old 1st April 2008, 01:06 PM
David Ramsay David Ramsay is offline
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It also happened on Sunday on an NZ flight from HNL via NAN. I believe the flight was operated by a Hawaiian Airlines 767 which was coming to Auckland for maintenance. Not being a regular here it did not have a biosecurity certificate so was fumigated on arrival.

From today's NZ Herald

Quote:
A severely asthmatic Wanganui woman suffered a potentially fatal asthma attack at Auckland Airport on Sunday after being forced to stay on an Air New Zealand plane while it was fumigated.

Terena Currey was saved by her inhaler and quick-thinking cabin staff, who brought her an oxygen tank.

She recovered, but was still wheezing and feeling the effects of the attack last night.

Ms Currey had learned of the fumigation only when flight NZ9 touched down in Auckland at 8.30am, after a journey from Hawaii via Fiji.

The fumigation was a separate incident from that reported in yesterday's Herald.

The aircraft used was a chartered 767 which does not usually fly to New Zealand, and therefore had to be sprayed manually.

Speaking from Wanganui, Ms Currey said she immediately alerted cabin staff to her concerns.

"I thought, that's not good. Because I can't handle any sprays at all."

She explained her condition, confirmed by her medic-alert bracelet, to the staff and asked to be removed from the plane before fumigation.

She told them her asthma attacks and anaphylaxis - requiring an adrenaline injection to treat - were potentially fatal. The staff agreed she should leave the plane, and were helping her off when two Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) officers arrived.

Cabin staff told the officers of Ms Currey's condition, but were over-ruled by one.

"He just said, 'Where's your doctor's letter?' I said it was in my bag, in the cargo hold. So he said 'No, you can stay on'."

The officer refused to reverse that decision. Ms Currey raced back to her seat, and the fumigation began, with a white mist floating over the passengers throughout the cabin.

She was "completely flattened" by the thick cloud of spray. She felt like someone was sitting on her chest, squeezing her lungs from the inside.

"It was a very sharp pain, with every breath. It was scary as hell. You're scared it's not going to stop."

Passengers were coughing, babies were crying, the stewards had rags over their mouths and Ms Currey was bundled under blankets by sympathetic cabin crew members, who eventually brought her an oxygen tank.

The attack was so bad Ms Currey could not walk for a time, and had to stay on the plane while she recovered.

Asthma Foundation executive director Jane Patterson said asthma was not a trivial health matter and killed almost 200 people each year in this country.

Ms Currey had made the point she was concerned, had the medic-alert bracelet to prove she was serious, and should have been allowed off the plane.

MAF director of passenger clearance Leanne Gibson said the ministry accepted and regretted Ms Currey had been put at risk. But the officer responsible had been following MAF guidelines - that passengers claiming medical conditions must produce a medical certificate - designed to stop entire plane-loads of passengers falsely claiming medical problems and exiting and aircraft before a spraying.

"So we've made it very difficult for the officers. And in this particular case, routine procedure has caused distress."

Ms Gibson said MAF would now review that process
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