The case could have implications for thousands of other travellers who were refused refunds by the carrier due to the pandemic.
Demand for the airline’s services dropped dramatically as the virus hit, and Air New Zealand was forced to slash its flights to save money.
The airline has refused to refund disgruntled customers for their grounded flights, saying that refunding every disrupted passenger would further threaten its already shaky financial position.
But a Northland customer has managed to get his money back after taking the issue to the Disputes Tribunal.
In a recently released decision, tribunal referee Nicholas Blake found the airline in breach of its own customer guarantee.
The customer, who did not want to be named, had four Air New Zealand flights between Auckland and Kerikeri in June and a return trip to Niue in July cancelled or re-arranged.
The airline cited “operational requirements” as the reason for cancelling his first flight in early June, while the second two flights, scheduled for takeoff in late June and July, were simply “changed”.
He was given the option to fly on a different service at each cancellation, but rejected the airline’s offer.
Under the airline's conditions of carriage, a passenger is entitled to a refund if they have bought a ticket and the airline cancelled the flight because of something within New Zealand’s control, or if the airline was unable to book the customer on another flight.
Mr Blake found that the customer’s flights were not delayed.
They were either cancelled or proceeded but no passengers were allowed to fly the service (as was the case with one of the man’s flights to Niue), or the flight proceeded but he could not board it because his first flight had been cancelled.
The customer was entitled to a refund because the changes were operational decisions which were within Air New Zealand’s control and the airline was not able to transfer his flight to another service, because he was not satisfied with the alternative flights offered and did not accept them.
On October 23, Mr Blake ordered Air New Zealand to pay a refund of $1699 for the flights.
The airline has 28 days to appeal the decision and a spokesman said it was reviewing its options.
Consumer New Zealand head of research Jessica Wilson said while the decision was good news for this customer, Disputes Tribunal orders were not precedent-setting so there was no obligation for other referees or courts to rule the same way.
She also said that in this case, the tribunal found the flight changes were within the airline’s control, not caused by the Covid-19 lockdowns, and so the airline was bound to provide a refund rather than a credit.
Taking a case to the Disputes Tribunal was certainly something for people to consider if they believed they had a strong case where the flight change or cancellation was a decision made by the airline rather than caused by a Covid-19 lockdown, she said.
