PHOTO
Consumer NZ's boss says Labour's airline policy should prevent travellers being lured in by a headline price then stung by extra fees at the checkout.
But Air New Zealand has indicated it already adheres to some of the requirements within the policy.
Labour promised that, if elected on November 7, it would force airlines to show full prices with fees included upfront, and automatically refund customers for cancelled or significantly delayed flights.
Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy said the Fair Trading Act already prohibited misleading pricing, but it was not clear.
He said Labour's policy would prevent so-called drip pricing: "Where businesses attract you in with a headline price and then add fees and taxes and levies and all sorts of things along the purchasing journey, so that what you end up paying is much higher than what you originally thought you'd be paying.
"Anything that can stop that is a good thing for consumers.”
Duffy also welcomed Labour's plans to expand access to airport facilities.
"People may not realise, but airlines - particularly Air New Zealand - own a lot of the infrastructure at airports ... things like baggage carousels and the gangways that lead out to the airplanes.
"That means that the airlines can stop competing airlines from accessing those facilities."
However, Duffy wanted clarification about the requirement for big airlines to automatically refund customers for cancellations and delays.
As it stood, airlines must compensate customers for costs incurred if a flight was cancelled or delayed for reasons within their control, he said.
"We'd be interested to understand whether this is actually an expansion to all cancellations and delays, or whether it would remain with this distinction between within the airline's control and outside the airline's control.”
Labour confirmed that under its policy, travellers would be entitled to a refund for a cancellation - even if it was caused by bad weather.
It was not proposing extra compensation for additional costs caused by a weather disruption, it said.
In a statement, an Air New Zealand spokesperson indicated the airline already followed some of these proposed rules.
On pricing, it said the prices customers saw on its website were in full, including GST and other airport and aviation charges.
"We don't use search history to determine fares. When there is a flight cancellation within our control, for things like engineering or crew sickness, we automatically rebook customers, with the option of a refund or credit instead."
The spokesperson said for cancellations the airline could not control, such as poor weather, it rebooked customers or offered a credit.
Labour also said it would require airlines to publish its performance around cancellations and delays, so customers could make informed choices taking reliability into consideration.
"We also publish our operational performance each month and have made significant improvements in punctuality," the Air New Zealand spokesperson said.
"Around 1 percent of our flights are cancelled for reasons within our control."
