Airline passengers endured a 13-hour flight to nowhere after their plane to New Zealand was forced to turn back mid-flight

• An Emirates flight from Dubai to Auckland had to turn back halfway through its 8,824-mile journey.
• Passengers spent around 13 hours in the air, only to end up right where they’d started.
• The aircraft couldn’t land at Auckland International Airport due to major flooding and heavy rain.

Passengers spent more than 13 hours flying onboard an Emirates flight only to land right back where they’d started. 

Flight EK448 departed from Dubai International Airport at around 10:30 a.m. on Friday but was forced to turn back almost halfway through its 8,824-mile journey because of major flooding at its destination in Auckland, New Zealand. It landed again in Dubai shortly after midnight, data from Cirium and FlightAware showed.