Applause and exhausted cheers broke out as a Boeing Dreamliner's wheels left the runway at JFK Airport in New York on the weekend.
This had become a nightmare flight for the several hundred passengers of Air New Zealand's much lauded long-haul return to Auckland.
The flight had been repeatedly postponed and delayed for several days causing tempers to fray as all manner of inconveniences were suffered.
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There was more applause when the plane landed in New Zealand on Monday (NZ time) with its local and Australian passengers - this was premature as it turned out.
Connecting flights were missed and, for many, worse was to come when their bags failed to make the trip with them.
People missed family reunions, pet pick-ups, work returns and all manner of frustrations.
One elderly woman left her passport in the front pocket of her seat at JFK when she hurriedly disembarked, causing days of extreme stress.
Fortunately she was able to talk her way across the borders and back onto the flight apparently using her driver's licence as a replacement.
Air New Zealand launched its long-haul direct flight to New York, one of the world's longest non-stop air journeys, to great fanfare early last year.
The 17-hour trip has proven popular with Australians as well looking to shorten the length of these exhausting flights with minimum stopovers via the short hop to Auckland.
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But this all came unstuck last Thursday - New York time.
NZ1 was supposed to leave JFK Airport at around 7.30pm local time and was about 20 minutes late leaving the terminal.
Passengers boarded and it trundled through the dark and light rain before being diverted onto a secondary runway where it waiting, and waited. The engines were partly shut down to save fuel.
The plane captain finally announced the flight was cancelled and the plane was returning to the terminal because of storms along its route.
Passengers were told the flight would instead leave the next day.
They found their way to a baggage carousel (as shown in the video) and most waited until after midnight to collect their belongings.
A texted message from Air NZ said - "If you do not reside in New York, due to limited availability, we may not be able to source accommodation for you, so please retain your receipts for reimbursement consideration."
Those who received their bags early left to find yellow cabs to take them to any available hotels with late check-ins.
Then came the advice that Air NZ had found accommodation at a nearby hotel for remaining passengers at the carousel.
Shuttle buses took them, most finally reaching their rooms with their bags about 2am.
They weren't to know Crowne Hotel Plaza would be their home for the next two days - accommodation and meals paid for by Air NZ.
Most returned to JFK Airport early the next day to check on re-booked connecting flights, or that missing passport.
Then the 7.40pm flight was cancelled.
Advice was given about the needs of crew rest times not being met.
More shuttle buses transported passengers and their luggage back to the hotel.
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The new flight, NZ 6071 was to leave at 11am on the Saturday, then the departure was changed to around midnight.
An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said: "Last Thursday challenging weather conditions in New York caused the runway to close affecting a number of airlines.
"Unfortunately, due to these challenging weather conditions, Air New Zealand flight NZ1 from New York to Auckland was initially delayed two hours and then cancelled.
"Our teams worked tirelessly to re-accommodate customers and a recovery service, NZ6071, was due to operate 24 hours later.
"However, due to the roll-on effects from the weather conditions, including crewing requirements, the flight was further delayed.
"Our customer care team kept customers up to date with the latest information and offered reimbursement for any costs incurred, and the flight departed on Sunday.
"We appreciate this delay may have been frustrating for customers and we would like to thank them for their patience while we worked through the weather challenges."
Passengers were critical of Air New Zealand's claims of customer communication.
Courtney Mandel and Martijn Wingens from Melbourne were travelling with their 17-month-old twins and said communication was "very poor".
"Our flight was cancelled after sitting on the taxiway for two hours, we disembarked and were directed to a baggage carousel and waited for over two hours with no explanation," Ms Mandel said.
"They didn't have our pram available and we had to carry our exhausted and confused babies for over two hours.
"At 11:15pm I got a text message from Air NZ saying accommodation may not be available and to book your own hotel.
"We were so stressed and panicked, feeling stranded with our babies, in an unfamiliar place. We didn't know where we would go for the night or where our bags were which contained essential items for our twins.
"We were stuck in the hotel for two nights and nearly three full days, waiting for updates from the airline, unsure of when we would actually depart.
"Being stuck inside a tiny hotel room with two toddlers was incredibly challenging, with no where to go ..."
"We didn't have enough nappies for three full days, and Martijn had to taxi to a nearby chemist in an unfamiliar neighbourhood. There was no laundry available, so I had to wash my babies' clothes in the sink. This was a terrible situation for us.
"Luckily the other stranded passengers were super helpful, lending an hand to one another otherwise I don't know what we would've done.
"We're so angry because the flight was really expensive and besides a few meals we have had no compensation from Air New Zealand.
"The stress and anxiety this caused for our young family is very upsetting, and to make matters worse only one of four suitcases made it to Melbourne, including some essential items for our babies."
NOTE: The author, Chris McLennan, was a passenger on flight 6071.