NZ Refuse to Refund Cancelled Flight

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rayray

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Hi Everyone,

My sister in law was supposed to be travelling SYD->AKL tonight on Air NZ, but her flight was cancelled for technical reasons. Air NZ couldn't get any seats on any other carrier and have only offered a flight at midday tomorrow. She was only going for the weekend, so this doesn't really work.

She asked for a refund but was refused since "the ticket isn't refundable and she should apply through travel insurance" (which she doesn't have, and my understanding is that insurance wouldn't cover something the airline should pay). They offered to move her return flight back, or move everything by 3 days. None of these options work.

The Conditions of Carriage seem pretty clear to be that she's entitled to a refund. See Article 9 Schedules and cancellation of flights - Air New Zealand - Australia Site and Article10 Refunds - Air New Zealand - Australia Site

She's given up arguing with them, so next step is for me to argue on her behalf (after she calls up and passes to me). Am I reading what seems to be very clear conditions of carriage wrongly? Or is this Air NZ trying to get out of their obligations.

IMHO, a refund is the least they should do. If this was Europe they'd be on the line for much more.
 
It's taken about 90 minutes but I'm closer to a refund.
Air NZ has authorised the refund, but I need to get it through expedia (tip, don't use expedia). Expedia thus far have been unable to contact Air NZ to verify the refund. They claim they are on hold for a long time. When I call Air NZ I'm connected instantly. I even gave expedia the number and the menu options but no luck. Next time the agent comes back, I'll call Air NZ on another phone and they can talk via the speaker phone! Arg.
 
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Yep, I had major issues with Expedia customer service 3 years ago, trying to sort frequent flyer points issue out on an AA flight for QF points. Limited to no help at all.
 
Was the payment made by a credit card? As it was Expedia, I would imagine so. The simple way out may be to just initiate a charge back via the bank as the service was not provided. Expedia will then be out of pocket, and motivated to get their money back from NZ, whereas at the moment, they really couldn't care less, as they have been paid.
 
In the end, after getting Air NZ and Expedia to talk to each other through multiple phones, they agreed to the refund. Made very clear and explicit that it would be a full refund for the full amount (confirmed amount).

Air NZ just processed the refund today for only $60, hundreds of dollars short of what was agreed. Sis-in-law called up and got Air NZ to agree to the rest of the refund. But who knows what's going to happen with Expedia. It just shouldn't be this hard!

Anyway, let this be a reason not to book through third parties, especially for things that are simple and could be book directly.

I'm not really a fan of the credit card charge back unless it's a last resort. But would definitely be the next step.

Personally I would write a letter of complaint to Air NZ asking for compensation for the cancelled flight, and reimbursement for taxi fares. But SIL is just sick of dealing with them.
 
Was the payment made by a credit card? As it was Expedia, I would imagine so. The simple way out may be to just initiate a charge back via the bank as the service was not provided. Expedia will then be out of pocket, and motivated to get their money back from NZ, whereas at the moment, they really couldn't care less, as they have been paid.

I think Expedia would only be out of pocket for a chargeback if they were the merchant however I believe the airline is the merchant so the chargeback would be against NZ.

People who have booked through Expedia.BR report that their cc statement says "Qantas Airways Sao Paolo".

If here flight was delayed twice more she might've got $1K in compensation like these people did.

http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/travel-news/nz-says-sorry-very-public-61932.html
 
This is yet another reason to have a trusted (human) travel agent who in exchange for good business and loyalty will sort problems out like this and make them go away.

It is also another reason to avoid the 3rd party overseas websites for booking. If you are going to book online use that airline's website. At least the airline can take over the booking if there is a problem.

If you worked out how many hours you spent and then converted it into an hourly rate you would have spent more fixing the problem then it was worth.
 
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