Flight change due to earthquakes

[TheRealTMA]

Have flown AirNZ many times and have been happy with the airline and flights.

We had booked AKL to Blenheim in late December then Blenheim- Wellington- Queenstown in early January as 2nd top fare level ( "Flexi time") but we have decided it's just silly to fly down to the earthquake area in December. Not so concerned with personal safety, more that the areas we planned to visit for NYE are earthquake affected and so will be the local roads, services and people. (NZ seismologists suggest there's a 32% probability of another quake above magnitude 7 in next 30 days.)

Air New Zealand would not agree to cancel the flights and refund the fares.

They maintained that the fare class does not permit changes nor refunds. (Technically true, but one would expect some consideration for the earthquake issues, and they have plenty of time to resell the seats.)

Given we paid a total in excess of AUD$1500 for the fares, to me, this, under these special circumstances, seems quite unreasonable. We are some 30 days our from the flights and they have had our monies for 30 days already to invest.

This seems unreasonable and unfair to us. Does not seem AirNZ is doing their country any favours.

We have had to formally cancel and will attempt to claim on travel insurance.

What do other AFFs think?

 

[Pushka]

Unless there is a 'do not fly' then I can't see either situation working for you. MrP was in AKL last week and felt aftershocks a few nights but it was pretty much business as usual except for the beach/island that's been isolated.

 

[NZflygirl]

I know they had something on their website about the earthquakes but I think the changes allowed were for a brief period. I think it would be really hard for an airline to accommodate travel cancellations up to 30 days out. I mean what's the difference between 30 days and 40 days, so where does that end?

In your situation the thing is Air NZ will still be flying into BLenheim on those dates at this point in time so will still be capable of holding up their end of the deal. I have flights in Feb and have not contemplated cancelling. Pretty sure they advertised allowing changes or refunds when they along with VA and QF stopped flying to Vanuatu over concerns regarding the upkeep of the runway.

I think FlexiPlus is an extra $10-20 above your flexitime fare and is refundable.

i hate reading T&Cs but the airlines are all different so it's important to read. I had to choose between buying a VA metal flight from NZ or VA for Feb as we are flying Scoot back from SIN so different ticket. I chose NZ purely for the adjustment I would be allowed to make if our flight gets in late. Still a seat + bag fare. VA I think you needed 24hrs so that was a no go for me.

I have noticed QF allow you to travel bank with a reissue fee which is a feature I like and have used.

Good luck with the travel insurance, I hope that comes through for you.

 

[Mattg]

I would have thought that with a fare called "Flexi Time" the airline might be a little... you know... flexible. No refunds or changes - seriously?

IMHO they should at least allow you to rebook on a different date.

 

[RooFlyer]

I can understand your reasons not to travel, but I'm afraid I'd come down on the airline's side on this one. Although there are 'earthquake issues', the fact that your post flight travel plans (driving) takes you into the affected area, as opposed to, say, westwards, really doesn't come into their concern. Although airlines do usually offer exceptions to fare rules in the face of disasters, you'd probably have to put yourself into a NZ based business point of view to see if travel 6+weeks after a major seismic event should trigger exceptions. The seismologist's predictions are irrelevant in the equation, I'd suggest.

Did you ask if they would allow re-scheduling, or was the trip date and location specific?

 

[AviationNZ]

I would have thought that with a fare called "Flexi Time" the airline might be a little... you know... flexible. No refunds or changes - seriously?

IMHO they should at least allow you to rebook on a different date.

Air NZ have two types of flexible products on their domestic network. One allows for changes on the actual day of travel (same route, same date), FlexiTime, the other others for changes at any time (can be different route, different dates) and fully refundable (FlexiPlus).

 

[NZflygirl]

I would have thought that with a fare called "Flexi Time" the airline might be a little... you know... flexible. No refunds or changes - seriously?

IMHO they should at least allow you to rebook on a different date.

Flexi time allows changes on the day eg fly earlier or later without any fees and you can change flights on the app easily.
Flexi plus allows for time, date changes also or cancellations/refunds among other things. The info is easily found during the booking process. It's only $10-20 difference between these 2 types of airfares if one wanted flexibility to that degree.

What I do sometimes is buy the cheapest flexitime or FlexiPlus on offer then change on the day to the flight I actually want which may actually be more expensive but I'm getting it for a cheaper rate.

The other 2 types of fares are seat, then seat + bag.

I've used all 4 of these fares depending on what's appropriate.

 

[TheRealTMA]

I can understand your reasons not to travel, but I'm afraid I'd come down on the airline's side on this one. Although there are 'earthquake issues', the fact that your post flight travel plans (driving) takes you into the affected area, as opposed to, say, westwards, really doesn't come into their concern. Although airlines do usually offer exceptions to fare rules in the face of disasters, you'd probably have to put yourself into a NZ based business point of view to see if travel 6+weeks after a major seismic event should trigger exceptions. The seismologist's predictions are irrelevant in the equation, I'd suggest.

Did you ask if they would allow re-scheduling, or was the trip date and location specific?

The issue is that we were planing 5 days in Blenheim and Kaikoura for New Year. Does not seem sensible to go to Kaikoura in the next few months and accomodation and services will still be affected by then. We were able to cancell the accomodation without charge.

I agree that AirNZ are withing their "rights" to not provide refunds under the "flexi time" fare rules, it's more that this is somewhat of an exceptional case and they would have not lost anything by refunding the fares since they were/would not be providing the services for which we had already paid, would have gained very good publicity for the airline and the country, and they have already had my A$1500 for 40 days to invest on the money markets.

Although we were was outside their change period (Nov 15), they offered to "credit" the A$750 for the first flight to be used on AirNZ within 12 months, but we have no plans for return to NZ in 2017. The flights out they would not credit but would allow a destination change. They offer to change the flights a change fee plus any fare difference. So for for a spend of some A$900 for two tickets BLH-WLG-ZQN they would allow a change to AKL-ZQN at fee for change of flights but no extra fare costs. Only problem here is that the direct flight only cost us A$320, not the A$900 we had already paid and they do not offer any refund. So for $200 insurance excess and $320 in extra fares, we can now make a formal claim on TI for the A$1700 already paid.

 

[Pushka]

I'm not sure travel insurance will cover this though as there have been no alerts from the Government and you can still get there.

 

[TheRealTMA]

I'm not sure travel insurance will cover this though as there have been no alerts from the Government and you can still get there.

They said they would over the phone, but let's see when we put in a claim.