I was traveling last week and needed to change the return flight which was flexible, but it was not showing as being able to be changed online.

I called the Reservations number and got a belligerent woman who insisted that was because I had checked in for the return flight which I had not. Asked her to uncheck me in and she could not or would not and said it was an $80 fee to change on the phone.

So I asked to speak to a supervisor, long delay, no supervisor but now she said the fee would be waived and I could have the return flight for only another $80 fare difference. While waiting looked on Jetstar and it was $80 less so told her to cancel it.

Then tried to book the Jetstar one and what a pain, they must have been having IT issues. So looked on AirNZ web site and the seat was $50 less than what they refunded, which made me wonder about the $80 fare increase I was quoted.

I have noticed there is never a refund to change flights, I had not imagined a premium would be charged over what is showing on the web.

Next time I will cancel and rebook, but I'm interested to see if this is a one off or others have had the same experience, the fare I mean not the employee with a bad attitude!