A family stuck overseas after an airline cancelled their flights claimed they had no choice but to return to New Zealand in business class, taking out a $25,000 loan to pay for the tickets.  

But when they later launched a Disputes Tribunal claim to force the airline to refund the hefty sum, the tribunal referee found economy tickets were available after all and tossed out the request.  

The family and the airline cannot be identified, due to blanket Disputes Tribunal rules which prevent the identification of any party. 

According to the decision released last week, the family of three had purchased return tickets to an overseas destination with a connecting stopover flight. They left New Zealand in December 2022, but their first flight was delayed. 

The family ended up missing their connecting flight but were rebooked and there were no further hiccups with travel to their holiday destination. 

However, when it came time to return to New Zealand weeks later, the trio discovered their tickets had been cancelled. 

The family launched a claim in the Disputes Tribunal when the airline refused to pay the cost of the business class seats. Photo / NZME 

The family had been marked as “no shows” after they missed their connecting flight on the first leg of the trip and the airline had automatically cancelled the return leg. 

After “hours of conversations” with the airline and their travel agent, the pair were flown part of the journey home but had to make their own arrangements for the connecting flight back to New Zealand. 

With other commitments, the family were in a rush. They claimed their travel agent said all economy tickets had sold out on the only flight back to New Zealand that would arrive in time. 

The family then took out a loan to pay for the three business class tickets, totalling $25,737. 

The tribunal heard the airline accepted its mistake in cancelling the return leg. 

Tribunal referee Lucy Whineray ruled the airline had breached its contract with the customer and ordered it to pay the costs incurred by the family - but only to the value of the economy seats. 

“I say this because the airline acknowledged that a mistake was made which meant that the family could not fly home as planned.” 

Whineray ruled it was “more likely than not” that economy seats were available. 

“The travel agent did not appear at the hearing so the only objective evidence to support the family’s claim that only business class was available are the emails which were sent after the family got home.” 

In one of those emails, the travel agent clearly states there were economy seats available at the time. 

“This contradicts the recollection by the family that they had no option but to buy business class seats.” 

The airline was ordered to pay the family $2909. 

Ethan Griffiths covers crime and justice stories nationwide for Open Justice. He joined NZME in 2020, previously working as a regional reporter in Whanganui and South Taranaki.