Air New Zealand is boosting the size of its Contact Centre and Social Media Customer Care teams to deal with a surge of customer queries and travel changes.
Air New Zealand Senior Manager Customer Care Doug Grant says this is an unprecedented situation and as a result, the airline is dealing with a very high volume of customer enquires through the Contact Centre and social media channels.
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“We have brought in additional staff to assist and are actively prioritising customer queries. To ensure urgent cases are dealt with as quickly as possible, we strongly encourage customers to only contact us if their flight is departing within the next 48 hours.”
Doug Grant, Air New Zealand Senior Manager Customer Care
Flexibility for customers
As announced yesterday, Air New Zealand is offering fare flexibility for customers affected by Covid-19 travel restrictions.
Customers with international flights affected by Covid-19 government-imposed restrictions due to depart up until 31 March 2020 will be eligible to:
- Hold the value of their fare in credit for twelve months from the time of ticket purchase
- Receive a refund
- Amend the date of their flight without change fees. The normal fare difference will apply.
Customers purchasing domestic tickets should consider purchasing our Flexidate or Flexitime fare products which provide greater flexibility should they need to change their travel plans.
Standard fare rules continue to apply on all domestic tickets unless they form part of an international itinerary including a destination impacted by government travel restrictions.
“We really appreciate the patience and understanding of all our customers at this difficult time. The entire Air New Zealand team is focussed on providing care and support for our customers,”
Doug Grant, Air New Zealand Senior Manager Customer Care
Reduced capacity
The airline placed itself into a trading halt today to allow it time to more fully assess the operational and financial impacts of global travel restrictions.
On its long haul network, Air New Zealand will be reducing its capacity by 85 percent over the coming months and will operate a minimal schedule to allow Kiwis to return home and to keep trade corridors with Asia and North America open.
The Tasman and Pacific Island network capacity will significantly reduce between April and June. On the Domestic network, capacity will be reduced by around 30 percent in April and May but no routes will be suspended.
Full details of these schedules will be advised in the coming days.
Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran says that while airlines face an unprecedented challenge, Air New Zealand is better placed than most to navigate its way through it.
“The resilience of our people is exceptional and I am consistently amazed by their dedication and passion for our customers,”
Greg Foran, Chief Executive Officer
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