AirNZ not cancelling flights - they are moving them!
 

I have a MEL > AKL flight that was booked for MAY 24 2020. That flight was cancelled and AirNZ simply moved my booking to MAY 26.
I simply want a refund, but they seem to make it very hard to get one.
I purchased the ticket via GOTOGATE (purchased on a UK credit card, via UK GOTOGATE) who advise me to go direct to AIRNZ, AIRNZ advise to go via GOTOGATE. Im in a do nothing loop now.
Thinking of just doing a charge back, but would rather just have airnz cancel the fight properly rather than move my booking to a date that is no use to me. Anyone had any luck in this situation?

OTA is responsible in this instance and are being avoidant by sending you to NZ – making you whole is Gotogate's responsibility.

OTA didnt change the flight, AIRNZ did, so why should they be responsible in this instance?

AirNZ seem to be one of the worst at trying to keep customer money at all costs.

Until airport control of the first sector the TA manages all aspects of the ticket. When a flight is cancelled before airport control of first sector of the ticket the TA is the sole contact point for the customer.

Basically when book through a TA the TA clips the ticket for their customer management services, so they are ones who have money to provide the service. AirNZ has not received the portion of ticket price which handles customer management.

Have heard TA push back on this as they need to refund all the money including their fees, so they are hurting even more than airlines at the moment. They have provided all their service and now have to refund the money. While the airlines are yet to the provide the service and can manage the loss more through not flying the flight.

This is why I almost never book through OTAs. You are always best to book directly through the carrier as they are generally much easier to deal with.

That may be true about NZ. But bottom line - this is an OTA ticket, it must be processed by the OTA.

Is this a one way ticket MEL-AKL? Where are you now?
Air NZ is currently operating MEL-AKL twice weekly Saturdays & Tuesdays. That's why they moved you Tuesday 26 May.
Tickets are for sale (only Works at AU$424), but travel now subject to AU & NZ government permission.
You need to go back to OTA and tell them the schedule change is not acceptable and you want a full cash refund to the original form of payment. Credit card charge back may be an option (will depend on country/credit card issuer/when purchased)
Having a on line travel agent in the middle makes it 100 times harder. They may have a fee for changing/cancelling ticket. https://www.gotogate.co.uk/

It is always the passengers responsibility to ensure they have the correct passport/visa/documentation to travel. That the governments have changed the rules are after ticket purchase is not the airlines problem/cost.
So if the airline does not cancel the flight you are subject to the ticket t&c's and any airline waiver that may be in place on the day of the flight.
As others above have commented, for a simple trans Tasman flight I see no reason to use an OTA [OTA=computer programmers - not real travel agents]

Good luck! (you need it)

The OTA is the one that sold you the ticket, their supplier is Air NZ. Air NZ has nothing to do with the monetary specifics of your ticket, only the agent who took your money is responsible for that. The only thing Air NZ is responsible for is the actual quality of the flight service once you check in for your flight.

OTAs are very hard to deal with when it comes to refunds... in my case Air NZ cancelled my flight, they have issued a refund but I am still waiting for a refund from the OTA who took a $100 charge UPFRONT as a processing fee and in addition to that they say it will take 2-4 weeks for the refund to post. They refused to process the refund without the charge.

Air NZ refunded me for my upgraded seat purchase but only after I argued with them about it for 10 minutes straight, however, I have already received the refund for that within 4 days so that at least is great.

Im in the UK, so luckily we have lots of good consumer protection from our credit cards and a bunch of regulations, seems if youre in NZ your stuck with crappy vouchers!?!.. so worst case ill just do a charge back on my credit card. FYI I booked a British Airways flight with OTA and had NO ISSUE moving the flight without involving the OTA. Note this is GOTOGATES response.In all cases you may also turn to the airline for assistance with your request. For the EU, the Regulation 261/2004 applies and the airline shall assist you without referring you to the travel agency even if you purchased the flight tickets on the travel agency’s website.

If we assist you with your claim for a refund, it is still the liability of the airline and the airline is responsible for your claim. If you have made your ticket purchase with us, the airline will make a refund to us and we will process the payment to your original form of payment after receipt.

In Sweden, where our headquarter is based, the Consumer Protection Agency has made a public statement on the airline’s obligation to assist their customers and not refer them back to the travel agencies. If you turn to us for assistance, we will do our best to assist you but we are limited to the rules and restrictions of the airlines.

you are lucky that AIRNZ cancelled your flight, they simply moved my booking to a new flight, which is why i am stuck presently.. had they actually cancelled my flight instead of their weird workaround, i would have made some progress..

AIr NZ have moved your flight dates
You need to go back to OTA and tell them the schedule change is not acceptable and you want a full cash refund to the original form of payment. Air NZ is still flying MEL AKL.
For a flight from MEL to AKL would think that would be subject to AU consumer law, but as you booked via a UK/EU OTA makes it messy

Yeah messy is correct :-)
In the UK if you book something on Credit Card and the company doesn't deliver the promised service then you can simply initiate a chargeback (there are no legal teeth to it really, but ive had great success with it), if chargeback doesnt work then we have credit card section 75 protection, which does have legal teeth, but is more involved.

Ill go back to GOTOGATE and re-iterate the schedule change is not acceptable, but they are already said that AIRNZ is NOT offering cash refunds, only vouchers. Grr messy!

Ive had refunds and re-bookings(on my terms) from both Qatar and British Airways, I've struggled with AirNZ and Ryanair (Ryanair ive successfully received a refund via a credit card chargeback), i never though AirNZ would be in the same basket as Ryanair, but there you go.

Given that value of chargebacks most probably not worth AirNZ chasing them. But would be interesting to see what would happen if AirNZ said the chargeback was in error as per the terms the person agreed to, it was a credit for the situation where the cancellation was outside of AirNZ's control and the charge back in essence boils down to doing a charge back because don't like the T&Cs. The T&Cs cover this situation, so AirNZ is doing exactly what they promised to do in the contract, so its not like AirNZ is not following the contract they have delivered what they promised to do.

Why is it messy? TAs particularly OTA always complicate things, it is a given that OTAs will make things messier. May be a cheaper ticket in but you are much more on your own when an irrop happens. Why should the airline give you customer support when the TA has taken the the money for customer support before passing the money on to the airline? When your OTA told you to contact AirNZ I don't think they sent AIrNZ the customer support money that they took.

The T&Cs for the ticket you brought said credits when cancellation for reasons outside their control. There are fare buckets which offered a refund when then there was a cancellation for any reason.

And BA at least from what I have heard is asking Govt for money and complaining about 14 day isolation period as it is going to hurt business. While AirNZ is yet to actually click go on its loan from the NZ govt and they aren't complaining publicly, calling for the 14 day isolation to be stopped. When things start to open up again I kinda like the concept of airlines still actually being there, solvent, and actually able to start flying again. Each airline it solving the solvency issues in different ways.

The main requirement for getting your money back through the UK chargeback scheme is evidence that there's been a breach of contract - obviously i have the contract with GOTOGATE who cant provide the service or a refund (because of AirNZs stance of no refunds). Chargeback is good for me, but a pain for GOTOGATE and AirNZ (more paperwork) hence i would have liked a "clean" cancellation and refund.

AirNZ are generally being rubbish with refunds, but at least they are now being forced by DOT etc to follow the rules in other parts of the world.

The NZ laws to protect the consumer are rubbish basically, if AirNZ cant provide the product or service then you should get your money refunded, simples, having T&C's saying no refunds if its out of their control is terrible... No service = no money.. not some voucher that maybe unusable (im UK based so have no idea when ill be back to NZ), or useless if AirNZ go bust (Thai airways have just filed for bankruptcy as an example)

Anyways, NZ (and by virtue AirNZ) are out of step with the rest of the world.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/...ectid=12332776

I had seat only fares Wlg -Akl (July) booked In Feb. Notified yesterday that the times had changed by an hour or so both legs. I was able to bring both flights forward by a week no charge, suits new plans perfectly. Happy with this outcome.