Passengers who experienced a "terrifying" flight marked by turbulence and altitude drops were horrified to see after landing that the windscreen of the aircraft was smashed.
Haydn Draper and his wife Cassandra were on the 2pm flight 8835 from Hokitika to Christchurch.
Mr Draper told 1 NEWS they were flying over the Southern Alps when the plan suddenly dropped altitude.
"The water cups [on the tray tables] flew up into the ceiling, and I swear if I didn't have my seatbelt on, I would've ended up there too," Mr Draper said.
"I don't mind a bit of turbulence on a plane, it can be fun, but I thought I was going to die," he said.
When the flight landed, passengers noticed the cracked screen as they walked past the front of the plane.
Mr Draper said he tried to film the damage but Air New Zealand staff refused to let him.
He said once staff became aware that passengers were filming the shattered screen, passengers were held on the tarmac and asked to delete any footage that they had taken.
Mr Draper said he managed to quickly film the cracked windscreen from the tarmac and post it to his Snapchat story which Air New Zealand staff didn't check. He then saved the story and was able to share it with 1 NEWS.
In response to Mr Draper's claims, an Air New Zealand spokesperson said staff made passengers delete the footage because of strict tarmac restrictions.
"The captain spoke with customers after the aircraft landed in Christchurch to explain what had happened, and reminded them of the health and safety restriction preventing the use of mobile phones on the tarmac. This is due to both the potential proximity to aircraft being refuelled and numerous other potential hazards on an airfield," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also said the pilot followed standard operating procedure and reduced altitude after the cracking developed.
"An aircraft windscreen is made up of layers of separate panes of glass - therefore cracking in one layer in no way risked the integrity of the windscreen."
The windscreen has since been replaced and the aircraft is back in service.
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