Air NZ cancels flights sold too cheaply

Travellers who booked flights with Air New Zealand have been told their bookings won't be honoured – because the airline sold the fares too cheaply. On Tuesday, US time, fares for travel from cities in the United States to New Zealand were mistakenly made available through third-party websites and travel agents for about 10% of their intended value. This meant that some one-way fares were available for travel from the United States, to New Zealand for about US$100. Legally, in New Zealand, consumers cannot force companies to sell them goods or services at a price that was accidentally set too low. An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said it apologised for the error. "These fares were available at that price as a result of a genuine human error in the data entry process. They have been cancelled and customers will receive a full refund from their travel agent. The US Department of Transport regulates flights to and from the United States, and we are following their guidance on mistake fares. She said the loading of "mistake fares" was an occasional issue for all carriers given the manual processes involved. "In addition to full refunds any legitimate out-of-pocket expenses that the customers may have incurred will also be reimbursed."<br/>