Their airline said their flight had been cancelled – but it wasn’t

Stratton, who was travelling along with his spouse and associates, had made the two-hour drive from their residence in Pukenui, within the Far North, to Kerikeri.

The group was celebrating the beginning of the vacation at a bar close to the airport when, about an hour earlier than their flight was as a consequence of depart, they obtained a name from Air New Zealand, telling them the flight from Singapore to Phuket had been cancelled, and so they have been working to make various preparations.

Air New Zealand was approached for remark for this story, however an airline spokesperson would solely say they “will take this up directly with the customer”.

Thinking the itinerary could be sorted, the group continued on to the airport, the place they have been instructed they could not examine in, as their flights weren’t confirmed.

Stratton then obtained one other name from Air New Zealand, giving them the choice to be rebooked on flights the next day – this time with Cathay Pacific, with an in a single day layover in Hong Kong. The change meant their eight-night vacation could be reduce quick by about 36 hours.

“I said, ‘that’s not ideal, is there anything else?’ They were going to come back to me, and they never did.”

Given they have been already in Kerikeri, Stratton needed to know whether or not Air New Zealand would cowl their lodging for that evening, in addition to for the Hong Kong layover. A check-in agent instructed them to go residence and make contact with reservations.

Not eager to drive all the best way again to Pukenui, the group discovered lodging for the evening. In the meantime, Stratton sat on the telephone making an attempt to get by means of to Air New Zealand.

He was finally instructed because it was Singapore Airlines who had cancelled the flight, Air New Zealand would not be liable for further prices incurred on account of the change.

Frustrated, however pondering they might have the ability to declare on their insurance coverage, Stratton and the group ended up reserving their very own lodging for the Hong Kong layover.

The subsequent morning, they obtained a textual content from Air New Zealand warning that as a consequence of climate circumstances, their flight to Auckland could also be disrupted. Not eager to threat any additional disruption, they determined to drive, and Stratton referred to as Air New Zealand to cancel the home flights and request a credit score.

However, he was instructed there could be no credit score, as there was “no value attached” to the flights. Stratton argued it had price extra to ebook the journey from Kerikeri than if he had booked direct from Auckland, and the customer support agent finally agreed an quantity could be credited.

Upon returning to New Zealand, Stratton adopted up in regards to the flight credit score – and enquired once more about the opportunity of reimbursing their lodging prices.

Stratton stated he was as soon as once more instructed it was Singapore Airlines’ duty, and that he ought to contact them for a letter proving that they had cancelled the flight to point out his journey insurance coverage supplier.

Stratton then contacted Singapore Airlines, which stated it had no file of him travelling on the flight.

“I said, ‘what do you mean travelling – the flight didn’t go?’ And she said, ‘yes, it did.'”

Singapore Airlines confirmed to Stuff Travel the flight operated as per schedule.

Stratton went again to Air New Zealand, who seemed into it once more, and admitted they have been flawed in saying it had been cancelled.

The customer support agent Stratton spoke to stated that they had organized a credit score for the home flights, and that he ought to electronic mail the airline’s refunds workforce so they may take into account reimbursement for his lodging prices.

But Stratton stated he was annoyed at Air New Zealand’s refusal to assist all through the method, and that that they had merely handed the buck to the accomplice airline – for one thing that turned out to be their very own mistake.

“Normally if you get bumped off a flight, they make amends by making things easy for you and offering you some kind of voucher or refund of the flight,” he stated.

“We never got to have that conversation, because they maintained the flight was cancelled. If they’d said ‘we’ll fly you to Auckland tonight, put you up overnight, and fly you to Hong Kong tomorrow, and because of the inconvenience we’ll give you a $500 voucher each’ – we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation now.

“But they simply dug their toes in and stated, ‘no, it has been cancelled [by another airline], it isn’t our drawback, take care of it your self’.”

Consumer NZ campaigns manager Jessica Walker said in their view, Air New Zealand had breached the Consumer Guarantees Act by failing to provide services with reasonable care and skill.

When flights are cancelled due to something within the airline’s control, consumers can claim back costs, up to a set limit, under the Montreal Convention. Under this convention, consumers could claim against either this operating carrier, or the contracting carrier.

“Given Air New Zealand suggested the passenger it wasn’t their duty to cowl the prices of the change, we predict they’re additionally prone to have breached the Fair Trading Act,” Walker said.

Consumer NZ continued to receive regular complaints about airlines misleading passengers about their rights under the Civil Aviation Act and Montreal Convention.

Walker said they had written to Associate Transport Minister Kiri Allan, asking her to enact regulations requiring airlines to provide better information to consumers about their rights when flights are cancelled or delayed.