Today I set off to attend the Art Deco Festival in the Hawkes Bay. I had been before and having had such a good time previously, it seemed like a good idea to repeat the experience.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing (or flying, should I say) this time. While driving out to Auckland airport, Air New Zealand rang to say that my flight had been cancelled … but they had rebooked me on the next one a couple of hours later. When I got to the airport, I found that I hadn’t actually been rebooked … in fact, there was a note in my booking saying that I would be rebooked but I hadn’t been.
The earliest flight they could put me on was was mid-afternoon, meaning that I’d miss some of the performances that I had wanted to see. I asked if I could cancel the trip but was told that I’d only be refunded for the flight that the airline cancelled. I would forfeit the return flight even though it was booked as a round-trip as domestic flights are priced as two one-ways. That seemed ridiculous in the situation of a short stay.
After some polite protesting, I was put on standby for the flight that I should have been rebooked on. Fortunately I got on.