Online bookings and travel insurance
Aug 11, 2010, 2:56 pm
#31
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Wellington
Programs: QFWP (LTSG), NZ (Jade), TG ROP (Forgotten), OZ (Silver), AA (Cardboard), EK (Lowest of the Low)
Posts: 4,669
Aug 19, 2010, 3:27 am
#33
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: AKL
Programs: NZ Silver
Posts: 1,817
Who else got stung by the insurance today? Man it grinds my gears. Am guna have to take up my own time and someones at NZ tomorrow to get it refunded.
Hope the money they make out of it is worth the number of pieved off customers.
Hope the money they make out of it is worth the number of pieved off customers.
Aug 19, 2010, 9:41 am
#34
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: BLQ / TRG
Programs: NZ*E, UA*1K, QF Plat
Posts: 1,071
It crossed my mind while looking for a distration while being bounced around Indian roads, does the insurance cover you wanting to change the time of your flight? For example to take an earlier flight on the same day?
Would this make a cheap ticket with the $20 insurance option effectivly a fully flexi?
Would this make a cheap ticket with the $20 insurance option effectivly a fully flexi?
Aug 19, 2010, 2:25 pm
#35
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Dunedin, New Zealand
Programs: Air NZ Airpoints
Posts: 192
It crossed my mind while looking for a distration while being bounced around Indian roads, does the insurance cover you wanting to change the time of your flight? For example to take an earlier flight on the same day?
Would this make a cheap ticket with the $20 insurance option effectivly a fully flexi?
Would this make a cheap ticket with the $20 insurance option effectivly a fully flexi?
From http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/domes...and-conditions:
...What the policy covers
Unforeseen events beyond your control
QBE will refund your costs due to an unforeseen event beyond your control...
Unforeseen events beyond your control
QBE will refund your costs due to an unforeseen event beyond your control...
...What the policy does not cover
QBE will not pay any costs that relate to:
a change in your financial circumstances or desire to travel...
QBE will not pay any costs that relate to:
a change in your financial circumstances or desire to travel...
Sep 28, 2010, 1:57 am
#37
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: AKL
Programs: NZ*S & Koru, QF, VA, Accor, Marriot
Posts: 314
Oct 8, 2010, 5:26 pm
#38
Join Date: Mar 2005
Programs: LH SEN
Posts: 404
even worse for non-NZ residents
This insurance opt-out is also implemented for non-NZ residents who make a booking on airnewzealand.co.nz, but this insurance is not even applicable for non-NZ residents, according to the terms and conditions. Very misleading.
Jan 28, 2015, 2:35 am
#39
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: AKL
Programs: NZ Silver
Posts: 1,817
My favourite topic
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/indu...g-investigated
Air New Zealand is being investigated by the Commerce Commission over alleged "drip pricing" tactics that have got its Australian counterparts in hot water.
Customers who book with the airline using the web or a mobile phone are shown a headline airfare, then have other charges added as they click through the process.
One of these is a domestic travel insurance charge, typically $10 for a one-way domestic flight, which is added on an "opt-out" basis, meaning it will be added to the airfare unless customers choose otherwise.
Customers who book with the airline using the web or a mobile phone are shown a headline airfare, then have other charges added as they click through the process.
One of these is a domestic travel insurance charge, typically $10 for a one-way domestic flight, which is added on an "opt-out" basis, meaning it will be added to the airfare unless customers choose otherwise.
Jan 28, 2015, 8:11 pm
#40
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: New Zealand (most of the time)
Programs: Air NZ Elite *G, Honors Gold, IHG Platinum Elite
Posts: 6,118
Stuff are the only people referring this as "drip pricing". The Commerce Commission themselves have made it very clear they do not consider Air NZ's pricing to be a "drip pricing" issue, which involves costs that can't be avoided - like ticket companies charging a booking fee that is unavoidable.
Jan 29, 2015, 2:07 am
#41
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 1,617
Stuff are the only people referring this as "drip pricing". The Commerce Commission themselves have made it very clear they do not consider Air NZ's pricing to be a "drip pricing" issue, which involves costs that can't be avoided - like ticket companies charging a booking fee that is unavoidable.
A couple years ago I noticed Air NZ had a "special" package offer on their US web site that quoted a certain headline price but absolutely wasn't available to customers at that price since a mandatory booking fee was added.
To their credit they did change the page and remove the fee within 72 hours of an email to them. That saved themselves a DoT complaint, a likely fine and consent order. (Apparently we know how to write effective DoT complaints since all have resulted in fines and consent orders)
The travel insurance default practice is slimy, but at least the charge is avoidable.
Around the recent holidays I noticed some other NZ businesses the Commerce Commission should seriously look at slapping around -- hotels. Several hotel chains were advertising headline rates on various sites that 1) included GST but 2) didn't include a unavoidable "special event fee" buried in fine print well down the page. The extra, mostly hidden surprise fee was on the order of $45 a night at some Queenstown properties. The Millenium/Copthorne chain was one of the offenders iirc.