We regret to have to inform you that Air New Zealand has recently notified us that it has canceled your round trip flight tickets between the U.S. and New Zealand that you purchased through us. The reason, according to the airline, is that they advertised this fare by mistake . Here’s an excerpt from their notice:

“Due to human error, there was a discrepancy with the fare price advertised and unfortunately we’re unable to proceed with any tickets issued on this fare error. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused and Air New Zealand has authorized a refund. Most tickets will be VOIDed so your credit card should be updated shortly with the removal of the charge. In Canada, a refund will be processed to original form of payment. Again, we sincerely apologize for this mistake and we thank you for your understanding.”For affected customers who want to rebook with Air New Zealand , Air New Zealand has offered to honor many of their fares that were advertised correctly and that were in effect at the time you made your original purchase.

This ticket cancellation and the consumer protection steps (i.e. refunds, demonstration of mistaken fare, etc.) that Air New Zealand has taken do, in our opinion, conform to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Enforcement policy , which covers flights beginning or ending in the U.S., or having a stopover of 24 hours or more in the United States.

Very regrettably, fare mistakes by airlines similar to the Air New Zealand one do happen from time to time in the business. So your understanding is greatly appreciated.

For those customers who may be wondering why they are only just now being informed of this cancellation, we can inform you that we were dependent on when Air New Zealand notified us, and, as soon as we were notified, we had to take some time to assess the matter out of business prudence.

Dear ME:

This responds to your communication regarding Expedia.com and Air New Zealand. The U.S. Department of Transportation seeks to ensure that all airline passengers are treated fairly. Complaints from consumers are helpful to us in determining whether the airlines are in compliance with our rules and to track trends or spot areas of concern that warrant further action.

I will forward your complaint to the companies and ask them to respond directly to you with a copy to us. I will review the companies responses.

If my review of your complaint and the responses from the companies discloses a potential violation of our rules, our office may pursue enforcement action. Generally, our office pursues enforcement action on the basis of a number of complaints which may indicate a pattern or practice of violating our rules. Your complaint may be among those considered and may lead to appropriate enforcement action including the assessment of civil penalties. However, our office has no authority to order compensation for individual complainants.

I have entered your complaint in our computerized industry monitoring system, and it will be counted among the number of complaints filed against these complanies in our monthly Air Travel Consumer Report. This report allows consumers and air travel companies to compare the complaint records of individual airlines and tour operators. The data in this report also serve as a basis for rulemaking, legislation and research. Consumer information for air travelers, including the Air Travel Consumer Report and our pamphlet Fly-Rights, a Consumer's Guide to Air Travel, can be found on our website: www.transportation.gov/airconsumer.

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.