TAANZ has launched its Election 2026 Manifesto, which calls on all political parties to commit to three protections for New Zealand travellers.
These are backing TAANZ accreditation as a frontline defence against booking scams; requiring airlines to communicate passenger rights in plain language; and preserving travel businesses’ ability to recover card payment costs.
. . . Scams
New Zealanders lost nearly $3 billion to scams last year and shopping scams, the category travel bookings fall within, now account for half of all reported cases. TAANZ is calling on government to actively promote TAANZ accreditation as New Zealand’s verified mark of trust.
“Accredited travel advisors are the one signal a fraudster cannot fake” says TAANZ ceo Julie White. “As AI makes scams harder to spot, government has an opportunity and a responsibility to point New Zealanders toward the advisors who are already regulated, bonded and accountable.”
. . . Aviation Charter
TAANZ is also asking incoming MPs to commit to an Aviation Consumer Charter (modelled on Australia’s Aviation Customer Rights Charter) requiring airlines to proactively explain passengers’ rights in plain language at the point of disruption.
Travellers’ rights currently sit across three overlapping regimes, says TAANZ—the Civil Aviation Act 2023, the Consumer Guarantees Act, and the Montreal Convention. White says the confusion is routinely left for agents to untangle on airlines’ behalf, at the point of maximum traveller stress. “This isn’t about new compensation entitlements, it’s about clarity,” says White. “Airlines set the fare rules and hold the funds, so airlines should be the ones explaining passengers’ rights, not leaving advisors to do it for them.”
. . . Surcharges
As part of the manifesto TAANZ is also pushing back on a blanket no-surcharge ban proposed under the Retail Payment System (ban on merchant surcharges) Amendment Bill which is returns to Parliament.
TAANZ is calling for a permanent, explicit travel-sector exemption covering in-store and on-line bookings. Travel is routinely booked up to three years out, locking in card processing costs, currency exposure and chargeback liability over a far longer window than any other retail sector. Without the ability to recover these costs, smaller agencies risk losing merchant terminal access with the cost ultimately passed on to consumers through higher fares, it says.
“A blanket ban designed for a one-off retail purchase simply doesn’t reflect how travel is sold,” says White. “Without an exemption, the businesses that lose out first are New Zealand’s smaller, independent agencies—and the cost gets passed straight on to the travelling public.”
