Air New Zealand Air Points - A problem for ANZ Customer Relations

I will try to keep this short so it doesn't sound like a trip report instead of a request for help.

I am UA 1K and I had put together a * award trip on UA and ANZ for myself and my daughter. I did a lot of research before putting this trip together. The trip left 7/8 and went BDL-ORD-LAX-ACK-BNE. In BNE we had a 1 hour and forty minute connection time to a VirginBlue flight to Cairns and then to a MAC Air flight to Dunk Island. I talked to a travel agent and was told I should make the connection without a problem. I did not get travel insurance because it is not customary in the US and I was willing to take the risk of a weather delay or making some kind of a mistake myself.

When we arrived at LAX to check in we were told that our flight ANZ 6 was delayed for two hours because of a fueling problem at LHR. We were actually given a letter to that effect. We were also told that in order to make our connection in BNE we would have be reticketed on ANZ 1 which left two hours before flight 6. This was done and we arrived in ACK at 5:15 AM on 9/8. We had four hours until our flight 135 to BNE was scheduled to depart. The plane to BNE was at the gate an hour before departure time and we boarded on time. We then sat and waited. The pilot came on and said we were waiting for 14 passengers on flight 6 to make their connections. The plane left ACK 57 minutes late and arrived into BNE 40 minutes late. On the flight we realized we would have difficulty making our connection. We mentioned this to the flight attendant and she said someone meeting the plane would assist us. Upon deplaning there was noone from ANZ to meet the plane and we were funneled into customs. At that point we had no choice but to rush to try to make our Virgin Blue flight at the domestic terminal 3 Km away.

We arrived at the Virgin Blue counter 15 minutes before scheduled departure but they would not let us board. They said there was no space available to Cairns until the following day. At that point we forfeited the VirginBlue AU $250 tickets and were looking at losing our AU $450 tickets to Dunk Island and our $1900 resort package at Dunk Island. At this point I had my first conversation with ANZ where I was told that ANZ had no responsibility for flights connecting with VirginBlue and that they could delay their flights for any reason without compensation and my only hope for compensation was travel insurance. By this time my daughter was crying and I was a wreck.

In a panic we went to Quantas and were told there were 2 seats available to Cairns in time to make our flight to Dunk Island. It turned out they were business class seats, but we bought them at AU $1400 rather than lose everything.The Quantas people were quite helpful and said they would have helped us in a similar situation and coudn't believe ANZ left us to fend for ourselves. The flight to Cairns was fine and we made our connection to Dunk Island without a problem.

On Dunk Island I had my second conversation with ANZ customer relations and it was a repeat of the first. I was told that ANZ could delay a flight for any reason even if it caused me to miss my connection and it was my RESPONSIBILITY to have travel insurance and that anyone who didn't have travel insurance was an idiot, or words to that effect. They did offer a NZ $100 fight credit.

In reading posts on this forum I find that most PAX get little satisfaction from ANZ Customer Relations even when they write. I do feel wronged by this airline who made me miss my connection so that their delayed passengers could make their connections. I intend to push this complaint up the food chain as far as I can get. Do any FTers have any suggestions or a name to write to. Thanks in advance
Paul

Well, to be honest, anyone who has any connecting flights from one country to another and doesn't take out travel insurance is .......well, silly shall I say?

I think you got bad advice from your travel agent. Dont suppose you have it in writing and could take it up with them?

I know its a bit late, but I wouldnt advise such a short connection on a separate ticket for an important (eg expensive accomm booked) trip - especially when more than one prior sector and includes long haul. The chances of something going wrong is too high IMHO.

Firstly, sorry to hear about such an annoying experience Brattflyer, what a nightmare.

Having said that, it seems to me that there are 3 issues at stake here:

1) AirNZ customer relations department is not the best. IMHO they are by far the weakest point of the entire airline.

2) Always, ALWAYS get travel insurance if travelling internationally!

3) I'm sorry to say it, but I think you are actually at fault here. If you book completely separate tickets with short connecting times between them, you are opening yourself up to significant risk. I accept that it is annoying that AirNZ knew to book you and others onto NZ1 to make your connection, and yet still held your BNE flight for others who remained on NZ6. However, AirNZ do not have a responsibility for your separate domestic flights.

2) Always, ALWAYS get travel insurance if travelling internationally!

Telling someone to "Always, ALWAYS get travel insurance if travelling internationally" is naive and a bit of disservice ...

For the incident described by the original poster, travel insurance probably wouldn't have been of any use. Very few travel insurance policies available to US residents include coverage for "missed connections". And with those policies that do include it, the "missed connection" coverage is typically limited to cover some costs if and only if the cause of the delay is an accident or bad weather or a few other specific conditions. Listening to bad advice from a travel agent and counting on getting through baggage claim, another country's immigration and customs and making a tight connection to another carrier on another ticket in a different terminal isn't a covered event.

Some might think forget the "missed connection" coverage (or lack thereof), since other travel insurance "trip interruption" or "travel delay" coverage provisions would have protected the original poster. Once again, most travel insurance policies available in the US wouldn't have provided any relief. Trip interruption benefits typically are only paid upon trip interruption caused by sickness, death and a few other nasty cases. Furthermore the few policies that cover "travel delay" typically only pay out on airline delays if they are greater than something like 5 hours and only if certified by the airline. An Air NZ flight arriving only 40 minutes late usually wouldn't merit coverage even on the few policies that include "travel delay" coverage.

Unlike in NZ and AU, travel insurance isn't commonly purchased by consumers in the US because US consumers seem to recognize that it's a bad deal for them. (Perhaps one day maybe the masses will figure out the same thing about US rental car Collision Damage and Loss Damage Waiver add-ons).

Now back to the post that started off this thread ...

Let's see ... someone started on the East Coast of the US, flew all the way across the US, then to New Zealand then on to Australia and ended up in BNE only 40 minutes behind schedule. That doesn't amaze me. While I prefer to always arrive on time, I understand that things can happen and delays aren't completely out of the ordinary, especially on such a complicated journey.

What I do find amazing is that someone would, without a back-up plan, count on getting to the other side of the world, through baggage claim, another country's immigration and customs and making a connection to another carrier on another ticket in a different terminal in a situation where delay of 40 minutes could screw it up. Amazing.


Brattflyer, I'm sorry to read of your troubles however you wrote: I was willing to take the risk of a weather delay or making some kind of a mistake myself. . Well, you made a mistake yourself. Air NZ might not have helped matters but the ultimate responsibility is with you.

Telling someone to "Always, ALWAYS get travel insurance if travelling internationally" is naive and a bit of disservice ...

I disagree. Note that I never said that travel insurance would necessarily have covered the original poster in this case.

. [/i]. Well, you made a mistake yourself. Air NZ might not have helped matters but the ultimate responsibility is with you.

Sorry, I haven't had time to respond to the critics. Now I will and I want to make one thing clear. I researched and agonized over this connection for over a week before I booked the tickets, it was not an impulsive act. I finally booked the tickets on the advice of two travel agents who assured me (not in writing) that:
* Delays on this particular route were a rarity, and
* that I should easily make my connection with the One hour and forty minutes between flight
* and the ANZ flight attendant who assured me I would be helped when I realized we might have difficulty making the fconnection.

If I can't rely on their statements then who should I rely on. I would have made this connection easily except ANZ delayed the flight. This gets me back to my original question. If ANZ can delay any flight for any reason and not have any responsibility, then what's to prevent any airline from doing the same thing? And, given the above how much time should I have allowed for the connection, 2 hours? 4hours? 1day? Again, I took a risk and I lost but I don't want to let ANZ completely off the hook like most of the other posters seem to. Again, as one other poster noted, they put me on the earlier flight so I would make my connection and then delayed the subsequent flight to put the passengers who were on the delayed flight onto my flight. Despite what other FTers say, this is wrong.

Your relying on dodgy advice of travel agents is hardly Air NZ's fault.

Air NZ's responsibility ended when they delivered you to your destination (on that ticket). While it would have been nice if NZ had offered something extra they were in no way obliged to - indeed as you say you took the risk of missed connection.

It seems you took 45 minutes to get from intl terminal to domestic at BNE - at the very least I would be on the phone to Virgin Blue in this period to see if there was any chance that flight could be held.


they put me on the earlier flight so I would make my connection and then delayed the subsequent flight to put the passengers who were on the delayed flight onto my flight. Despite what other FTers say, this is wrong.


So you are quite happy for NZ to move things around so you make your connection but dont want them to move things around when they do similarly for others? That doesnt make sense to me.

If ANZ can delay any flight for any reason and not have any responsibility, then what's to prevent any airline from doing the same thing? And, given the above how much time should I have allowed for the connection, 2 hours? 4hours? 1day?

That's an excellent question - I've often wondered the same thing myself. Is there any industry guideline on this sort of thing? I often combine NZ's international and domestic fares, but with an overnight stop in between, which I think is fine, but if one flight was delayed overnight would I have any recourse?

I guess that up to a point you need to decide what is an acceptable level of risk...

This gets me back to my original question. If ANZ can delay any flight for any reason and not have any responsibility, then what's to prevent any airline from doing the same thing? ANZ, and any other airline, can delay any flight for any reason. As for not having any responsibility, that depends. For itineraries that include international flights the Warsaw and Montreal Conventions usually apply. Those conventions limit the liability of carriers for death or bodily injury, damage or loss of baggage. The Warsaw convention also provides for claims for damage caused by delay (but not by flight cancellation). An airline may be liable for damage unless it took all reasonable measures to avoid the damage or it was impossible to take such measures.

I imagine few claims for delay under the convention are made across the world. If a claim is made, "reasonableness" is for the legal system to decide, not the passenger. 40 minutes late? Good grief!

There's also the time, hassles and costs involved in any action along with the fairly low limits. The point of the conventions really wasn't to endow passengers with any rights but rather to help airlines by setting common (and fairly low) limits to claims.

Now you can go tilt at windmills (and likely lose). Or learn from the experience and get on with something else.

Again, as one other poster noted, they put me on the earlier flight so I would make my connection and then delayed the subsequent flight to put the passengers who were on the delayed flight onto my flight. Despite what other FTers say, this is wrong. Correct. They probably shouldn't have put a whinger like you on the earlier flight. :rolleyes:

I *MIGHT* have booked such a tight connection if it were from NZ to NZ but definitely not otherwise and certainly not with customs and a terminal change and an LCC that most likely does not interline bags. Sorry if I offend the well educated and qualified TAs around but to trust a TA who most likely has not set foot anywhere near BNE to give you such advise was asking for big trouble. Travel insurance would have been useless here - no one in their right mind would insure such a tight connection! Honestly, I would not bother writing to NZ, it is simply not their problem.