An Auckland school group returns after spending the night in Wellington due to a Jetstar flight cancellation.

Jetstar customers are frustrated after being kicked off their flight to make room for a group of stranded schoolchildren.

Dunedinite Mark McElhinney was due to fly to Auckland at 8.30am on Sunday, after spending the weekend in Wellington for Saturday's AC/DC concert.

The truck driver and his brother, who attended the concert with him, planned to fly from Auckland to Queenstown before driving to Dunedin to resume work on Monday.

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McElhinney said he did not know his flight from Wellington was cancelled until he went to check in at the counter. There, he was handed a letter informing him there was no space for him on the flight he had booked.

In the letter, Jetstar "sincerely" apologised for the inconvenience caused and offered him a $200 Jetstar voucher, to be used in the next six months.

SUPPLIED A group of primary school students had to sleep in Wellington Airport after their Jetstar flight was cancelled.

When he and a number of other customers in the same situation asked why there was no room for them, they were told it was because the airline had to make room for 72 people on the flight. These people were the parents, teachers and students Cornwall Park District School in Auckland whose flight had been cancelled the night before.

McElhinney and his brother were booked on a later flight to Auckland on Sunday, but they were uncertain what would happen after that. They had another flight to Queenstown arranged for Monday, but Jetstar had not organised overnight accommodation for them. They have been told to talk to the customer services desk about accommodation in Auckland when they arrived.

"The thing that's annoying me is the uncertainty," McElhinney said.

"It's not ideal."

'ADVENTURE AND LESSON'

The 70-plus group of primary school students, teachers and parents were forced to sleep overnight in Wellington airport after their Jetstar flight was cancelled on Saturday night.

The children, aged between eight and 10, were members of the Cornwall Park District School orchestra who had been on a school trip to play in Wellington.

They spent their downtime in the airport busking to keep their spirits up.

The school's head of music, Judy Inkster, said the incident was a "classic example of making the most of the situation".

She received an email from Jetstar saying their flight had been cancelled for "engineering" reasons as the group travelled to the airport to catch their flight home on Saturday night.

"I was gutted," Inkster said.

A Jetstar spokesman said the cancellation was "compounded by how busy Wellington was last night with the AC/DC concert, meaning all hotels and busses were booked out".

"We contacted around 60 accommodation providers as far north as the Kapiti Coast and six bus companies however none were able to assist with accommodation or alternative transport."

The spokesman said Jetstar's Wellington airport team arranged meal vouchers and made the group "as comfortable as possible in a private area at the airport for their overnight stay".

Jetstar said a manager stayed on duty with the group overnight and he students were transferred to an early Sunday morning flight back to Auckland.

"We're extremely apologetic to the students, their parents and their school for the inconvenience and we're refunding their fares for the cancelled flight."

The school ended up sleeping on the floor of an upstairs conference room at the airport.

"Somebody was snoring, but that was alright," Inkster said.

While waiting in the airport to find out their fate, the orchestra did some busking to calm their nerves.

"While we were waiting we decided to busk at the airport, and those children are very musical so that was a great calming influence for them," Inkster said.

The school's principal and deputy principal were also on the trip, which Inkster said was a success in spite of the transport hiccup.

"Things weren't made a big drama of. The parents were informed of what was happening, and then the children were informed. We treated is as a real experience."

"[The children] were safe, they were warm, and they were well-fed."

Parent Matthew Hooton, who was on the trip with his daughter, tweeted saying Jetstar had given the students had been given an $8 Subway voucher each, and they were loving it.

"They think it is marvellous!" he said.

Another parent, who did not want to be named, was not so impressed with Jetstar's service.

"The main lesson is that the kids should have sold more cupcakes so they could have flown Air New Zealand," he joked.