Malaysia Airlines' passengers have spoken out in anger after their plane aborted two take-offs at the last minute on New Year's Day.
Travellers heading from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland had their journeys grind to a halt not once - but twice - on January 1. The passengers were put on another flight scheduled for the following day, which also aborted its take-off at the last second.
One passenger was so distressed, an ambulance was called.
Serjit Singh, a passenger who lives in Auckland's Red Beach, has now addressed the "harrowing" ordeal.
He described how travellers jolted forwards as the pilot abruptly slammed on the brakes. The second failed flight - which was on the exact same aircraft - caused "utter shock and disbelief" amongst the furious passengers.
"The exact same issue that was meant to have been fixed was not, and the lives of all passengers and crew on board were risk," Singh told NZME.
"I told the head steward I wanted to get off the plane immediately."
Singh said the passengers collectively refused to board the plane for a third time.
"We are not to be used as crash test dummies," Singh said.
After hours at the airport, the travellers were eventually put on another flight back to Auckland that afternoon, landing in New Zealand 24 hours later than expected.
"Malaysia Airlines apologises to passengers of flight MH145 that was scheduled to depart Kuala Lumpur for Auckland on 1 January 2020 at 8:45pm," a spokesperson for Malaysia Airlines told Daily Mail Australia.
"The flight was retimed twice due to an unexpected technical issue involving the aircraft system. In the interest of safety, the operating pilots decided to discontinue takeoff during low speed.
"After the second retiming, the airline deployed a different aircraft to service the flight. Hotel accommodation, meals and transportation were organized for all passengers affected while some were transferred on other available carriers.
"Safety is Malaysia Airlines' number one priority at all times and it regrets the inconvenience caused to its passengers."
