Air New Zealand has admitted it made a mistake when it tried to charge two US tourists $13,000 to change their flights after one of them received a grave medical diagnosis.

Todd and Patricia Kerekes flew business class from New York to Auckland in January. The return tickets cost $37,500. They intended to stay until April, but six weeks into their visit Patricia was diagnosed with cancer of the gallbladder. Their surgeon advised them to head home immediately, so Todd contacted Air NZ to have their flights moved up.
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"And it was a whole series of long pauses, and I couldn't tell whether they were conferring with co-workers or working at it on the computer, or what it was. But I would go through a whole series of 15- to 30-minute hold periods, and sometimes the people would come back and basically tell me something I didn't want to hear, like it was gonna cost me NZ$13,000 to change my flight.

Todd said he was "momentarily stupefied", saying the new seats were only about $100 more expensive than what he had already paid. "It was just such a large amount, it did not seem like the flights could possibly have gone up by that much. What they were charging me was four times what the increase in the cost of the flights were." In his four-hour effort to get a more reasonable price, Todd said he was cut off three times, never offered any compassionate options and was not once asked for documentation or proof of his wife's diagnosis.
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A couple of holidaymakers have accused Air New Zealand of a lack of compassion after they were charged over $13,500 to change flights for a family medical emergency.

Todd and Patricia Kerekes, 60 and 75, were visiting New Zealand from the US on a tour of the country when they had an unexpected diagnosis that cut their three-month holiday short. Six weeks into the trip, Todd Kerekes said that his wife suffered increasing discomfort and was booked into a gallbladder examination in Christchurch. During what should have been “routine” gallstones surgery, the couple were delivered some unwelcome news: a cancerous growth was detected. The referring surgeon advised them to “curtail their travel plans” and return to the States for an “urgent” follow-up.

However, when they went to bring their flights forward, they were asked to stump up an additional US$8374 ($13,500) to fly last-minute, two months earlier than planned. This change was almost half the price they had paid for the original return flights.
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The couple said they did not have travel insurance. However the accommodation and travel booked for the remainder of their trip had refunded them when they explained their situation.
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