Air New Zealand Air Points - Question About Booking Tickets on Air NZ Website

I live in the US and recently purchased tickets on the Air New Zealand website (http://www.airnz.co.nz/). I needed to make a change to my reservation, and when I called the Air NZ number in the US to make the change, the agent told me that I was not allowed to use the New Zealand website to book my tickets. She informed me that there is a location on that website that says "worldwide sites" and that you have to click on it and tell it that you are in the US.

Can somebody explain this to me? Is it going to be a problem that I booked my ticket on the "wrong" website?

Additionally, I need to make another reservation for future travel. I looked up the fare on both websites, and it was considerably higher on the US website ($185 US) than on the NZ website ($144 NZ). Why is that?

AFAIK there is no valid reason why you cant use the New Zealand website, and as you point out it is known to be cheaper.

The agent referenced something form the terms and conditions and said that I needed to physically be in NZ in order to use the NZ website.

(As an aside, I found the New Zealand site to be more user-friendly.)

The website terms of use (http://www.airnz.co.nz/website_terms_of_use.htm) does indeed have the following

Jurisdiction

Unless otherwise specified, the materials in the site are presented solely for the purpose of promoting the products of Air NZ. This site is controlled and operated by Air NZ from its offices in New Zealand. Air NZ makes no representation that materials in the site are appropriate or available for use in your location. Those who choose to access this site from other locations do so on their own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws, if and to the extent local laws are applicable.

This website is only for use by customers within New Zealand. The website and its features, including the functionality and fare/flight searching facilities, should not be used or accessed by people outside New Zealand. If you are accessing this website from outside New Zealand, please visit the Air New Zealand website for your country.

Since the SITI rules were abolished a couple of years ago I'm not sure how this could stand - but then I am not a lawyer. Were you able to make the changes you wanted? Unless you told them, how would they know it was purchased outside the country?

Unless you told them, how would they know it was purchased outside the country?[/QUOTE]

They figured it out because I needed to pay a change fee (+ the difference in fares). Since I made my original purchase on the NZ website, that purchase was in NZ dollars, while the change fee was in US dollars, and I guess that tipped them off.

So I'm not sure if there is going to be a problem or not. (I'm waiting for a confirmation that the change was made.)

I don't understand why I should have to pay more money for the same seat because I am booking from a different location.

Airlines tend to price differently to target different markets, I guess that's now common practice.

I think the best way to solve your problem is to ring the reservation center in New Zealand. You just have to pay a little toll call charges and there are plenty of IP call providers available in the US that won't cost you too much.