A man who waited 4.5 hours on the phone to Air New Zealand, then gave up, says the airline needs to introduce a permanent call-back service.
The company's facing the wrath of fliers unable to reschedule flights with customer services.
Yesterday morning alone, six Air New Zealand flights into Auckland and four flights out were cancelled as the school holidays began.
The airline does not allow online changes to some bookings. Customers are redirected to call the 0800 number, forcing them to spend hours on hold.
Traveller Brian Robertson finally cancelled his booking last week after failed attempts at regional airport service desks, and multiple phone calls.
Air New Zealand has declined to be interviewed on Morning Report - in a statement it says about 1 in 3 customers are now calling before they fly, and calls average 50 per cent longer than pre-Covid.
It says it has hired an additional 170 customer service staff this year and will hire another 70 in the next couple of months.
But the company accepts it is a frustrating time for customers and stressful for staff.
RNZ asked why Air New Zealand doesn't offer customer call-backs - and why it prevents online changes to some bookings - but it did not answer the questions.
