Air New Zealand has set up a team to review refund on compassionate grounds for customers who hold a credit because of Covid-19 related travel cancellations.
Customers can ask for a refund if they can no longer travel due to ill health or financial hardship caused by the pandemic. Photo: Supplied / Air New Zealand
Customers can ask for a refund if they can no longer travel due to ill health or financial hardship caused by the pandemic.
The policy has been in place since the start of the pandemic, and the airline said a large number of people had re-booked using their credits.
But it recognised travel was still out of reach for some people and wanted to remind them of potential refunds.
"Compassionate refunds are for those people who are unable to unable to travel due to ill health or financial hardship or they are incapacitated and unable to travel in the near future," Air New Zealand chief sales and customer officer Leanne Geraghty told Morning Report.
It applied to all ticket types on travel disrupted due to Covid-19.
"There would be no formal documentation required, but we would hope that most people would come through when they are truly in compassionate circumstances and need our help," Geraghty said.
"There will be an assessment of each case as our customers phone through and make contact with us. We're definitely not saying we're in a situation where we can freely refund everybody's tickets."
"We are definitely not saying we are refunding everyone on the books ... we are simply reminding customers we have a compassionate policy available should their circumstances have changed" - Leanne Geraghty
"We're now a year on from the start of Covid-19 and know that for many, circumstances have changed. None of us knew how long this was going to last, and how deep the impacts would be," she said.
The dedicated 0800 747 800 phone line is available between 8am-7pm Monday to Friday and people can also email [covidrefunds@airnz.co.nz covidrefunds@airnz.co.nz ].
The airline said passengers who booked through a third party should contact their travel agent in the first instance to arrange a refund.