TVNZ1's Breakfast host John Campbell has called out Air New Zealand's chief revenue officer Cam Wallace this morning over his reasons as to why passengers on cancelled flights weren't being refunded or communicated with.
Mr Wallace said he was "disappointed" some customers were dissatisfied with Air New Zealand, and he apologised on Breakfast this morning.
However, he appeared to put onus on the customers who bought "non-refundable" tickets.
"So there's different fares people purchase, and what we're talking about is the non-refundable fares which we've offering for credits."
Mr Wallace explained that the customer determines whether their ticket is refundable when they buy them.
"I like and admire you, but boy that sounds like BS to me," Campbell responded. "When you purchase the tickets they were non-refundable because you couldn't refund them if you couldn't fly for some reason, right, that didn't include a pandemic? The flights being cancelled by no fault of anyone's?"
In response, Mr Wallace said, with its credit system, Air New Zealand was "trying to provide the maximum amount of flexibility so they don't lose their money".
"We also do have some compassionate policies around people who are experiencing extreme financial hardship and we've actually refunded over 15,000 non-refundable tickets because people have called up, they've made a case to us and we've said 'yes, these circumstances we will show compassion and we will refund the fares'."
Fair Go spoke with officials at the national carrier to see what they had to say to the fed up Kiwis. (Source: Other)
As countries closed their borders during the Covid-19 pandemic, airlines throughout the world have suffered, cancelling large numbers of flights and reducing networks.
New Zealand's national carrier, Air New Zealand, has laid off 4000 staff so far.
But the airline has come under fire for its refusal to refund the vast majority of its customers for their cancelled flights, instead offering credits for future flights.
The airline has met with Consumer NZ over the issue.
Consumer says a law change is needed to make it easier to get refunds instead of credit.
People have complained about delays in getting through to call centres and a lack of clear and consistent information.
Mr Wallace asked customers to have patience and support.
"We've been overwhelmed by this crisis and we're trying to find our way through it."
He added that Air New Zealand would be using the Government's $900 million loan provision in the next two to three months.
Many were given credits instead of refunds for flights cancelled by Covid-19, then had trouble using the credits. (Source: Other)
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