I received Full Refund from Air New Zealand for flights to USA

Debra from Milson

To help others here is how I got a Refund for flights with Air New Zealand to the USA. First off ANZ cancelled flights to San Francisco before the Lockdown. Last week they cancelled my 5 booked flights and gave us a credit so I phoned the airline at 11pm Sunday night and ask for a refund using the following:- went to the US Department of Transportation website and under Refund - Cancellation found the following "If your flight is cancelled and you choose to cancel your trip as a result, you are entitled to a refund for the unused transportation – even for non-refundable tickets." Used this statement in phone call as we were covered as anyone travelling to or through USA is covered. The person I was talking to went away and asked and came back with must be USA citizen(don't think this is necessary but my husband is) so said that and they said yes they would give us a refund so asked for that in writing which he typed up and sent to me while I waited. This morning the refund was credited back to my credit card. May be something similar under EU Rules for other countries. Another option is that 2 days after Air New Zealand cancelled all flights the Changed their Conditions of Carriage to include Pandemics/Epidemics to exclude refunds. Can provide further info on this and how to find out if people want that info.