02 March 2024 , 20:27
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A couple on a wonderful holiday to New Zealand were charged $8,000 (£6,320) to change their flight home after they learned the wife had only four months left to live.
Todd and Patricia Kerekes, 60 and 75, from New Hampshire had flown business class from New York to Auckland in January, keen to start their four-month holiday. However, just six weeks into their break Patricia fell ill and the couple were given a devastating diagnosis - medics said she had terminal gallbladder cancer.
On their doctor’s recommendation, husband Todd called up Air New Zealand to change their flight home to the first one available.
“Right away on the first call I told them my wife was gravely ill, and we were on holiday and we needed to go back home,” Todd told Radio New Zealand. Customer service were of little help, he said, instead demanding that the couple pay roughly $8,000 to return home to the US.
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Air New Zealand apologised for the treatment Todd recieved from customer service (AFP via Getty Images)“It was a whole series of long pauses, and I couldn’t tell whether they were conferring with co-workers or working at it on the computer, or what it was,” Kerekes added. “Sometimes the people would come back and basically tell me something I didn’t want to hear, like it was gonna cost me $8,000 to change my flight.”
The $8,000 charge was almost half of their original fare, a return flight in Business Premium costing $23,000 - despite Todd telling the airline it was an emergency and he did not care where they sat on the plane.
“I was expecting a change fee,” Kerekes told the New Zealand Herald, “I was shocked.” But after four hours on the phone with the airline, and getting cut off three times, he was left with no option. The representatives never gave “compassionate options” nor asked for proof of his wife’s diagnosis, Todd said.
“They weren’t rude or unkind, but they were simply like, ‘Look, this is the way it is and there’s nothing we can do about it.’ And I was like, it was surprising to me that in a situation where I was that they couldn’t be more helpful,” Kerekes told RNZ.
He said his experiences with Kiwi people had left him unprepared for the brusque treatment he received from the airline. “I grew up in New York, outside of New York City, and New Yorkers are unfriendly. We just tend to be brusque,” Todd Kerekes said. “But Kiwis are downright nice to the point where people were arguing with us that people aren’t really as nice as we thought they were.”
“It’s not right by any standards, and it’s definitely not right by Kiwi standards.”
He also blasted the lengthy call that was required to make the changes. “I resent having that four hours taken away from whatever time I would have spent [with] her, and I do not appreciate the aggravation that my wife had to go through for this,” he said.
Eventually the couple agreed to the $8,000 fee and got their new seats back to New York on February 26. Air New Zealand has since apologised for the inconveniences the Kerekes faced and even gave a full refund to the couple.
“It’s clear we fell short of expectations and our compassionate care policy was not followed in this case,” Air New Zealand general manager Alisha Armstrong said in a statement obtained by RNZ. “We have reached out to Kerekes to apologise and issue a full refund for the additional costs incurred to change their original flights.”
“Our compassionate fare policy is in place to support our customers in times of unexpected medical emergency or bereavement to book a last-minute flight or provide flexibility to easily make changes to existing bookings.
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“Once again we apologise for how this case was handled and our thoughts are with Mrs Kerekes at this time.