Cancellation risk triggers travel cover warning

It was possible the negotiating parties had painted themselves into a corner, wanting to move towards an agreement but not wanting to ‘‘lose face’’, Geare said.

‘‘My personal hope is that this is a brinkmanship game and neither party expects or wants there to be a strike over Christmas.’’

If the strike did go ahead it would be the fault of both parties, not just the union, he said.

‘‘Both parties are involved in the strike even though one party calls it.’’

Geare said he had no inside information about the situation.

Workers involved in the industrial dispute are seeking more than a 3 per cent pay increase offered by the airline, as well as better overtime pay, more annual leave and free car parks, the airline said.

The AMEA said the pay offer was unfair at a time when the airline was making substantial profits.

The airline said the average income of the maintenance engineers, logistics and other staff to strike was $115,000 and about 170 of them earn more than $150,000.

Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon, meanwhile, earned more than $4 million in the year to June 30.

The airline’s general manager of customer experience, Anita Hawthorne, said it was working on contingency plans to keep flights operating, but if strike action went ahead some disruption would be inevitable.

At this stage no flight delays or cancellations were in place for the days of the proposed strikes and normal fare conditions remained. Some Air New Zealand customers who could be affected by a planned pre-christmas strike may not be covered by travel insurance.

‘‘Travel insurance is designed to cover unforeseen accidents and disruptions related to and during a period of overseas travel. Because the strike has been announced publicly, it is no longer an unforeseen disruption,’’ the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) said.

The strike was first announced on December 7.

Anyone who bought travel insurance after this date may not be covered for issues caused by any of the proposed industrial action, ICNZ said.

Anyone who purchased travel insurance before December 7 would still have cover in line with their policy documents, it said.

The ICNZ was also warning travellers that if they cancelled or changed their travel to avoid the proposed strike before it went ahead, insurance would not cover costs.

Insurance company Allianz Partners said affected travellers should try to minimise expenses when rearranging their journeys due to strikes.

They should also keep all receipts for any additional transport, food or accommodation expenses, it said.

Comparetravelinsurance.co.nz director Natalie Ball said on Friday that travellers who had comprehensive travel insurance before the strike action was known should be covered.

Depending on the policy, travellers should also be able to claim new flight costs and flight change fees under ‘‘additional travel expenses’’, she said.