In response to increasing levels of illness in the community, Air New Zealand says it is reintroducing its Covid Flexibility Policy until 31 July, offering customers the flexibility of opting into credit if they are no longer able to travel.

Air New Zealand Chief Customer and Sales Officer, Leanne Geraghty, says the airline is hearing from a large number of customers who are falling sick with Covid or other winter illnesses and can no longer travel.

She says the carrier is also seeing higher-than-usual employee sickness leading to flight cancellations.

Geraghty says as a result, the airline is temporarily bringing back its Covid Flexibility Policy, which allows customers travelling around New Zealand or overseas to cancel their travel if they are unwell and either put their booking into credit or change their flight and have their change fee waived.

She says the decision is the “right thing to do by the airline’s customers”.

“With more than 670,000 customers booked to travel with us in the next two weeks alone, it’s likely that some will find themselves in a position where they can no longer fly due to illness or looking after unwell family members,” Geraghty says.

“This change will give them the flexibility to change their plans, so they don’t miss out on their holidays or being reunited with friends and whānau, and they can still get to where they want to be at a later time.”

As a result, customers booked between now and 31 July can hold the value of their fare in credit for 12 months from the time they requested their credit.

“With sickness and wild winter weather disrupting flights over the past few days, our Contact Centre team are under an enormous amount of pressure and are doing everything they can to help our customers at this time,” she says.

“So we thank our customers for being patient and understanding while we work through these challenges.”

Geraghty says customers are encouraged to only contact the team if their flight is departing within the next 48 hours and to check out Air New Zealand’s Travel Alerts page before getting in touch.

Customers who booked through a travel agent or third-party online agent should contact them directly about making changes to their bookings or credit validity, according to the carrier.