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Home » Law In Travel » Air New Zealand In Trouble Over Misleading Consumers
Air New ZealandLaw In Travel

Air New Zealand In Trouble Over Misleading Consumers

Matthew Klint Posted onJuly 19, 2019November 14, 2023 5 Comments

a plane taking off from a runway

A prominent New Zealand lawyer has filed a complaint against Air New Zealand for misleading advertising, prompting a swift policy change.

Barrister Michael Wigley is not new to the world of airline law. In 2015, he lodged a complaint against Air New Zealand over opt-out insurance. That led to a formal warning against the carrier by New Zealand regulators.

His latest attack: misleading information on the Air New Zealand website about flights selling out. Wigley noticed, while booking on his mobile phone, that several flights flashed the sign, “Flight Selling Out” in an attempt to induce consumers to book immediately.

But upon further examination of the fine print, he found this explanation:

Selling out means be quick – there are fewer than 5 seats at these prices.

The key, of course, is “at these prices”. See, airlines have several fare buckets within a single class of service. In the case of economy class, there are more than a dozen fare buckets and even within a single bucket there may be multiple fares.

Let me illustrate with an example. Take Auckland to Christchurch. Air New Zealand may file a K-class, or G-class, or S-class, or T-class (and so on) fare. An algorithm controls how many seats are allocated in each of these fare classes and that number is dynamic. In fact, it may change dozens of times within a single day.

So “flight selling out” may mean the flight is totally empty, but there are only five seats left in K-Class. In other words, it could something as simple as five seats left at $69 but then then there are 9+ seats left at $76.

Bottom line, Wigley contended it was misleading to consumers. He told the New Zealand Herald:

Hardly anyone reads the small print on a major booking portal like this. Marketers such as Air New Zealand know it. The airline’s management and board know it.

Air New Zealand Agrees

And rather than fight it, Air New Zealand simply agreed.

In hindsight we believe “fewer than five seats available at these prices” would better reflect the message we are trying to convey to customers. We are progressively amending both our mobile and desktop booking flows.

CONCLUSION

Credit goes to Air New Zealand for admitting to its misleading messaging and taking steps to immediately correct it. My only question is how long did Air New Zealand mislead consumers in this way?

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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5 Comments

  1. Sexy_kitten7 Reply
    July 19, 2019 at 2:08 pm

    For those of you wondering, he did not file a complaint as in a lawsuit. He filed a complaint with the NZ Commerce Commission, which appears to be equivalent to the US FTC.

  2. James Reply
    July 19, 2019 at 7:44 pm

    People in southern hemisphere seems to be more polite and friendly rather than in the land of freedom and democracy and guns and oil…..

    Better education perhaps?

    • Christian Reply
      July 19, 2019 at 10:35 pm

      But we have so many oily guns, strictly to protect us from democracy…

    • Callum Reply
      July 20, 2019 at 4:46 pm

      Education is notoriously poor. It’s better people.

  3. colleen Reply
    July 19, 2019 at 9:51 pm

    Thanks for the clear explanation. Very helpful.

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