Flight attendants working aboard the airline’s Boeing 777 and 787 long range aircraft will stop work on Thursday and Friday after failing to agree on terms over pay and conditions.
Photo: camfoto/123RF
It is “business as usual” at Air New Zealand despite a number of flight cancellations affecting thousands of passengers as a result of strike action.
Flight attendants working aboard the airline’s Boeing 777 and 787 long range aircraft will stop work on Thursday and Friday after failing to agree on terms over pay and conditions.
Flight Attendants’ Association president Craig Featherby said his members would rather not strike but the union had tried everything to reach a deal with the airline to no avail.
Have you been affected? Get in touch with us at: iwitness@rnz.co.nz
Featherby said an original plan for three days of strike action was reduced to two.
Air New Zealand chief customer and digital officer Jeremy O’Brien told Morning Report it had proactively contacted all customers affected by the flight cancellations and offered alternative flights across its airline as well as its partner airlines.
The “vast majority” had been offered travel dates within a few days either side of the strike action.
Flights most affected were heading to North America and Asia, he said.
O’Brien said he appreciated that not all offered flights would suit every customer and a full credit or refund was available for those in that situation.
They could also claim “reasonable costs” involved with the disruption, like if accommodation was impacted by the changes.
O’Brien said disruptions to flights were “part and parcel” with what happen for airlines operating around the world.
“This is no different than other disruptions that we manage on an ongoing basis. It’s just part of business as usual.
“The key thing for us is when we know that we’ve got a disruption to the schedule that we go out and offer as many alternatives and options as possible to the customers and in this case, the whole business is rallying around and been able to do that.”
Questioned if industrial action by its flight attendants was a bit more than “business as usual”, O’Brien said the cause of disruptions was irrelevant for customers.
It was more about what the airline would do to get them where they needed to go, he said.
Air New Zealand respected the flight attendants right to strike and it was reacting as a business – which meant focusing on what options were available to customers, he said.
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