Yes, looking at the ‘Refunds for a Suspended Flights’ thread it looks as though some people in my situation have obtained refunds using the DOT rule, but my request has been unsuccessful thus far.

The reply to my request to clarify with Air NZ’s legal team came back VERY quickly, and was seemingly from a customer services representative. I doubt there was any consultation with the legal department in this time frame (someone else in one the the two threads referenced the CSR ‘checking with legal’ in response to this issue). The CSR simply stated that the legal team had reviewed the policy.

I suspect therefore that Air NZ has now adopted as policy the the position (possibly after some refunds snuck through the net??) that you only get a refund under DOT rules if you are a US citizen or purchased the ticket in the US, and this policy has been distributed to the customer service team to apply immediately to refund requests.

As far as I can tell this (assuming it is in fact Air NZ policy) is in breach of the DOT rule. I have therefore submitted an online complaint/comment to DOT, and informed Air NZ that I have done so. Will report back if anything comes of it.