It was the airfare which seemed too good to be true – and as it turned out, it was.
Air New Zealand was forced to cancel tickets for a return flight from Atlanta to Auckland then Sydney offered for just $670 on Tuesday – a quarter of the usual cost.
The airline told customers they would be cancelling the tickets because they had been mistakenly advertised at such a low price.
American Jennifer Lutz bought tickets through travel booking website StudentUniverse but then received a call saying her tickets were no longer valid.
American Jennifer Lutz bought tickets through travel booking website StudentUniverse but then received a call saying her tickets were no longer valid
She then contacted Air New Zealand who told her a ‘human error allowed the fares to go out’
Air New Zealand was forced to cancel tickets for a return flight from Atlanta to Auckland offered for just $670 on Tuesday – a quarter of the usual cost
She then contacted Air New Zealand who told her a ‘human error allowed the fares to go out’, the New Zealand Herald reported.
‘I’m really disappointed, mostly because they didn’t make any effort to try and rebook or honour the fares,’ she said.
‘I feel like as a company they could have handled that much, much better. I really have no interest in booking with Air New Zealand again after that experience.’
Frustrated customers took to Twitter to vent after having their supposedly super cheap flights customers.
‘What kind of incompetent company is Air New Zealand that cancelled my tickets after 24 hours of being bought,’ one person said.
‘Air New Zealand very sad to see our dream vacation to New Zealand cancelled less than a month away with zero explanation,’ Liz Zellner said.
‘[Air New Zealand] how can you just cancel a flight just because I got a good deal on it? You made a mistake. Honour the tickets!,’ another disgruntled customer wrote.
Customers who bought their tickets through Expedia received an email saying ‘Air New Zealand had an issue with the pricing of their tickets’.
Frustrated customers took to Twitter to vent after having their supposedly super cheap flights customers
Customers who bought their tickets through Expedia received an email saying ‘Air New Zealand had an issue with the pricing of their tickets’
‘Due to the error, Air New Zealand have taken the decision to cancel all tickets affected by this,’ the email read.
‘The airline now begun [sic] to process all refunds back for affected tickets to the original form of payment used to make the booking, and the funds will be available to you within ten business days.’
Another customer said an Air New Zealand customer service representative told them they had received more than 1000 calls regarding the ticket cancellation.
In a statement, Air New Zealand said the cheap fares were ‘a result of a genuine human error in the data entry process’.
‘They have been cancelled and customers will receive a full refund from their travel agent.
‘In addition to full refunds any legitimate “out of pocket” expenses that the customers may have incurred will also be reimbursed.’
Another customer said an Air New Zealand customer service representative told them they had received more than 1000 calls regarding the ticket cancellation
In a statement, Air New Zealand said the cheap fares were ‘a result of a genuine human error in the data entry process’