Jetstar tried to charge newly-crowned New Zealander of the Year Kristine Bartlett hundreds in fees after she realised her flight home was booked for the wrong day.
Ms Bartlett, a Wellingtonian, was in Auckland for the awards, held on Thursday night. But when she arrived at the airport on Friday, the 68-year-old was told her flight wasn't until a month later on March 23, reports the Sunday Star-Times.
Jetstar initially tried to charge her $232.50 to change her booking, despite there being plenty of empty seats on Friday's flight.
"It's very expensive," she told the Star-Times. "I was terribly shocked."
The mix-up appears to have happened because the days of the week in February and March fall on the same dates, thanks to February being exactly four weeks long.
Jetstar told the paper its staff forgot about a policy which allows flights intended for February, but accidentally booked for March, to be changed for free. It gave Ms Bartlett a full refund of both the fee and her initial ticket price - $99.
Ms Bartlett was honoured for helping secure a pay rise for 55,000 low-paid, mainly female care and support workers.
The Government signed a $2 billion settlement on the case on April 18, 2017.
Newshub.
