Woman, 94, left in tears after Qantas bumps her off flight due to overbooking

A 94-year-old woman was left in tears at Sydney airport after Qantas bumped her from a flight she had booked to visit her 99-year-old sister-in-law.

Beryl Percival was meant to be flying to Port Macquarie on Thursday morning to see her relative, who lives in a nursing home.

It was a rare trip for Beryl, who despite being in relatively good health for her age, does not fly often.

But the 94-year-old woman was told she could not board her scheduled flight because it had been overbooked amid wild weather in Sydney.

Qantas has experienced scheduling delays due to strong winds in Sydney. Source: AAP
Qantas has experienced scheduling delays due to strong winds in Sydney. Source: AAP

Her niece, Megan Walsh, told News Corp she had been waiting for her aunt in Port Macquarie after driving for four hours before getting a tearful phone call.

Beryl was moved to a flight departing Sydney four hours after her scheduled trip. Ms Walsh said the flight delay meant her aunt would have significantly less time to see her sister-in-law.

"This was the last time she was going to fly up," Ms Walsh said.

"She said, 'I'm not sure I can do this again'".

Ms Walsh said she asked for a Qantas staff member to check in on her elderly aunt, due to the wild weather and disrupted flight schedules, but her request was not followed up.

In a statement Qantas said the flight Beryl was meant to be on had been downgraded to a smaller plane, meaning the flight had become overbooked.

"We had to swap out a larger aircraft for a smaller one, which meant Beryl travelled on a later flight," the statement read.

"Due to the strong winds in Sydney we've had to cancel flights and some of our aircraft are not in the right ports, which has caused some disruption to the schedule.

"We're working hard to get everything back on track as soon as possible and we thank our passengers for their patience."