What can you do to recoup costs if your flight is cancelled due to war?

With fuel costs on the rise due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Air New Zealand will be consolidating several flights to maintain the overall affordability of its service. 

Although it’s not clear at this stage exactly which ones are getting the axe, the airline says the move covers the period between the 16th of March and the 3rd of May. However, David Coombes from House of Travel expects further cancellations could be on the way, and not just for Air NZ.

“We’re in unusual circumstances, travel is going to be disrupted for a while. I anticipate this won’t be the first scheduled change across the system. This is a fuel price and availability issue, which will impact all carriers.”

Luckily for the more than 40,000 passengers who are expected to be affected, they’ll be able to ask for a refund, as the move is under Air NZ’s control. Even if the disruption only extends to having your flight switched to a different time on the same day, you can still ask for your money back, and potentially more.

In the case of domestic flights, the Civil Aviation Act allows you to claim additional expenses which were reasonably spent on getting to your destination, such as meals and accommodation.

International flights are a bit trickier, with your exact rights depending on where in the world your destination is, and who you’re using to get there. At the very minimum, though, you should be able to get your money back for the flight itself.

Less fortunate are those whose flights have been impacted for reasons deemed outside the control of the airline, such as a weaponised drone crashing down near Dubai Airport. As there’s not a whole lot that Air New Zealand can do about that, only passengers who bought a refundable ticket are guaranteed a refund in the case of a delay, with those who don’t, liable to find themselves settling for credit or a rebooking. 

According to Consumer NZ, an outright cancellation could arguably be seen as a failure to provide the service, with the advocacy group saying you could, at the very least, ask for the unused part of the ticket to be refunded. However, trying to claim back costs in this case will likely be unsuccessful, as will attempts to cash in on travel insurance, with policies often containing clauses for exactly this sort of thing. 

Kevin Blyth of ALLIANZ Travel Insurance explained why to rova: “Most, if not all, insurers in New Zealand would not cover acts of war. The standard exclusion is across all insurers, and it’s written into the general exclusion section of the policy. The way to look at it is the scale and unpredictability of war-related disruptions can make it quite difficult for insurers to assess and manage the financial risk.”

You could be forgiven for finding all this a bit confusing, with Consumer NZ pointing to ongoing legal uncertainty over whether airlines are required to clearly inform passengers that they’re entitled to a refund. Despite a 2023 law change, the decision to compel a company to do so rests with the Aviation Minister, with Consumer’s chief executive Jon Duffy contending that no action has been taken on this since.

“The law is complex, and most people don’t fully understand it. People want airlines to tell them their rights when their flights are disrupted. The minister should not ignore them. He already has the power to fix this," he says.

Disrupted passengers are being left out of pocket because they're not being given the information they need from their airline. Sometimes they are even actively misled.

In an attempt to resolve the matter, the advocacy group recently presented a petition with more than 10,000 signatures to demand a change. First launched back in the relatively peaceful time of October 2022, world events may just give a big boost to their demands.

Image credit: Eva Darron on Unsplash