Refunds law review welcomed

AUCKLAND: Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran maintains the airline would not be operating if it had refunded everyone who had flights cancelled but says he welcomes a review of law covering refunds.

The airline is under renewed pressure over hundreds of millions of dollars of customers’ money it is holding and Consumer NZ says it needs to review its hardline policy on refunds.

While other airlines have refunded all ticket types if passengers want their money back, Air New Zealand is sticking to its policy of refusing to repay nonrefundable tickets, except in special circumstances, even though prospects of flying overseas soon remain dim.

This could mean the airline has use of the money for years.

Mr Foran says the airline was not trying to be difficult and was building more flexibility into dates from credits, which in most cases it offers instead of refunds.

‘‘As I’ve been saying during the year, course I’d love to refund everyone, but if I refunded everyone then what were we going to do in terms of keeping the airline operating? It’s not Air New Zealand trying to be difficult, it’s not Air New

Zealand hiding behind anything.’’

At the start of last year, Air New Zealand had more than $1 billion of revenue in advance — mainly unused tickets — on its balance sheet and this had fallen to $828 million by June 30. — The New Zealand Herald