Football Ferns skipper Ali Riley’s parents paid Air New Zealand $27,000 to come to watch their daughter play but say they’re dismayed by the airline’s customer service.

The couple flew business class from Los Angeles to Auckland before the opening game of the Fifa Women’s World Cup, a surprise win for the Ferns, but have struggled to get through to the airline’s contact centre with questions over changing travel arrangements.

John Riley and his wife Bev Lowe say a bad experience trying to change an Air NZ domestic flight from Los Angeles and on the ground here made them nervous about switching the date of their return international flight. They had booked that for August 3 but this might have to be pushed out, given promising signs by their daughter’s team which is still a chance to make the 16-team final games which start on August 5.

The couple tried to call the airline’s contact centre about flexibility for their return flight, but had to wait so long at one point they gave up.

Following Business Herald inquiries on Friday, the airline contacted them and they’ve been assured they can change the return flight following the crucial game against Switzerland on Sunday. That could result in the Ferns making it through.

But the couple say they’ve been bruised by the experience and wanted to highlight poor customer service they endured and have been told some other Air NZ fliers are facing.

Air New Zealand domestic manager and Fifa lead Iain Walker said the airline had apologised to the couple.

‘’We’re really disappointed we weren’t able to help them out in the first instance, it’s not the experience we want for our customers. We wholeheartedly apologise for causing unnecessary stress.’’

Walker said staff would contact them again on Monday to make any return flight changes, hopefully as a result of a New Zealand victory and progress into the final rounds.

International flight changes could be complex involving different currencies and ticketing rules. The airline was training more staff to deal with inquiries about US travel. He said it was disappointed in its initial response to the couple.

Contacting Air New Zealand has been a problem that emerged early in the pandemic. The airline has rebuilt its call centre capability after many staff were laid off when Covid hit and Walker said call centre answer times averaged six minutes in the past month. But about 10 per cent of callers were still waiting 20 minutes or more.

Ali Riley after the Football Ferns' victory over Norway. Photo / Getty

‘‘They always tell us to call the same numbers’

Lowe said after problems changing a domestic flight they wanted to check the process for changing international she called the contact centre.

She said she tried calling again several times, but was put on hold for a “long time”.

When she finally reached an agent and asked why she couldn’t change the flight online she was told that since the flight was booked overseas she would need to talk to someone else.

“She said that she would transfer the call ‘internally’ and to expect a moment of silence, but then in two minutes someone would come on the line. I waited for at least 20 minutes again or longer (I stopped looking at my watch), and hung up.”

She said it was the same experience as having dialled externally. The couple have been travelling around New Zealand and had tried the in-person approach at Wellington Airport as they departed for Nelson.

“However, the person at the desk said that he didn’t have the authority to make a change.”

Before being contacted today, Lowe said the couple had found it frustrating that Air NZ staff could see their ticket reservations, but no one could or was willing to help.

“They always tell us to call the same numbers that we’ve been calling unsuccessfully except for the one time,” she said.

“While we still have to decide about the return flight, we are dismayed that it will not be an easy process from our current experience to make a change to our business class ticket,” she said.

John Riley – who moved to the United States from Christchurch in 1969 with a scholarship to MIT and became an economics professor at UCLA - said he had always travelled on Air NZ when he could but had been badly let down.

“I loved Air New Zealand – I really believed in them.”

Ali Riley started playing for the Ferns in 2007 and the couple were always happy flying Air New Zealand on trips out here previously from Los Angeles but they had been put off flying with the airline now.

Walker said the majority of international tickets could be changed online but couldn’t in this case due to “a few complexities behind the scenes”.

“We take examples like this and feed them back to the team to see how we can prioritise them online but also upskill more of our contact centre teams to be able to prioritise them.”

Business Premier customers or elite Airpoints members were usually prioritised when they call the contact centre.

‘’We are looking at why they weren’t handed over immediately to the right person,’’ said Walker.

The couple say they booked about a month out for flights where prices have sky-rocketed during the past 18 months and have been pushed up further by the World Cup. The big fan base for the US team travelling here was also driving up demand.

‘’We are seeing busy flights coming in for the event.’’

Grant Bradley has been working at the Herald since 1993. He is the Business Herald’s deputy editor and covers aviation and tourism.