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I booked a ticket online on Etihad Airways on Feb 1st, for a vacation trip to New Zealand for my family ( wife & 2 children ). The departure flight from Singapore was on 9th April, arrival in Auckland on 10th April, the return flight was from Christchurch to Singapore for the 22nd morning. I had gone to Auckland, New Zealand a few days earlier for work, the family was to join me on 10th April after which we were to fly to South Island, New Zealand. I received the email confirmation which had the itinerary and the tickets for the family on Feb 2nd, it was mentioned that the flight to Auckland and from Christchurch to Singapore was not a direct one, it would fly via Brisbane, Australia with a stop-over of a couple of hours.
I secured a Tourist visa’s from New-Zealand Embassy in Singapore for my family in early March. Car Rental (AVIS ) & Hotel reservations were secured in advance in all locations we were to stay ( Auckland, Omaru, Dunedin, Te-Anau, Queenstown, Wanaka, Frans Josef, Bleinhem, Kaikourra & Chrischurch ).
On the scheduled day of departure to Auckland, my family reached the airport two and a half hours in advance as they approached the Etihad check-in counter, they were told that they would not be issued boarding cards. The staff at the airport was un-cooperative and non-responsive. The reason given to my wife was that we did not have a Australia visa, she did tell the airline staff that we were flying to NZ and not Australia, the airline has a stopover which is outside out hands.
My wife showed the Airline itinerary and the ticket issued by Etihad Aiways to the staff, asking them to show her where the visa requirements for Australia were mentioned, given we were going to New Zealand !! Despite a lot of discussion, the staff was non-committal. As I was in Auckland, my wife woke me up at 1.30 am to discuss the matter with me.
At that juncture there was no option for us but to book a fresh direct flight to New Zealand. I asked my wife to request the airline staff to cancel the Etihad ticket, simultaneously I had to buy fresh tickets of a different airline (Singapore Airlines) to fly directly to Christchurch, given the flight of 9th to New Zealand ( Auckland had already gone ). The cost of the fresh ticket ( ~S$ 6000 ) was more than double the cost of the ticket I had booked with Etihad ( ~S$ 2800 ), given the last minute nature of booking. I had to do this as Etihad has no direct flights to New Zealand.
The airline staff at the Singapore airport gave us the telephone no’s and contact details of the city office to contact for a refund of the ticket. My wife went and met the concerned staff who asked us to write an email to them with the case details which she did promptly. We received a response from Etihad Airways approx. 10 days latter where they refused to refund us the money.
I have a job which requires for me to travel to many parts of the world on business as well as pleasure, we do transit from airports in many continents, if there are transit visa requirements, it is brought to the notice by the airline taking the booking. In this case Etihad did not give any indication of this. In their response where they denied a refund for the ticket amount, they refer to FAQ’s and terms and conditions in their website, I have visited the site and did not find anything about transit visa requirements for people travelling to New Zealand, there is a section of Transit visa for UAE, Travel to USA, Travel to Australia. I was not travelling to Australia, I booked a ticket to New Zealand, the airline’s travel plans took us through a break journey in Australia, they have the onus of telling their customer if there are transit visa requirements.
Here I am having spent money on two tkts, one which my family has not travelled on for the airline’s fault !! The second ticket had to be bought at more than double the cost, the roaming charges for telephone called between Singapore – NZ, the mental agony, 2 very disturbed children who cried their heart out at the airport when they found out that they could not fly to New Zealand which they were looking forward for months to come…… I am inclined to take this matter to the consumer court of Singapore. Can I get any assistance ?

Naveen Shukla
Singapore

[disnoke]

well they let you know it was not going to be a direct flight but a stopover in Australia, so you should have made sure to check if they were going to be in transit or like in the us were they do not have a transit zone and you have to clear immigration before to travel through.

Unfortunatly in their terms and conditions it's cleary marked that you are responsible for the required visas, below you can find that part of their conditions.

It would be a beter commercial decision to refund part of the ticket but that's ofcourse up to them

"You may require a visa for travel to some destinations to and via which you are required to travel due to the booking you have made through the Etihad Websites. It is your responsibility to obtain such visas required for travel. You must also have valid passport for the duration of the travel and the expiry date of your passport must be acceptable to all the countries you enter. More information on the passport and visa requirements is available at the embassy of the country or countries you will be travelling to, and at the closest Etihad office.

The fares quoted may not include the individual charges such as departure taxes, passenger service charges, airport taxes, imposed by airport or aeronautical authorities of the countries you are visiting. You will be required to pay them directly to the charging authorities.

You are also advised to check with your doctor whether you are required to undergo immunisation prior to entry or stopover in the countries to and through which you will be travelling. Some countries require that you have adequate travel insurance. It is your responsibility to ascertain these requirements and to fulfil such requirements."