Air Vanuatu

✅ Trip Verified | We were booked to go to Vanuatu on Tuesday 24 October. Our check in was delayed 1 1/2 hours due to ‘mechanical issues’. Then delayed another hour for it to then be cancelled. We waited around for another hour for you to sort accommodation for us. We were then stuck in Auckland waiting for a new flight with no car, no warm clothes etc. Our new flight time was Thursday 26 October at 1.30pm. This was also then delayed until 8pm. Another day of us waiting around in Auckland. Just as we were getting ready to head to the airport for check in, we found out the flight had once again been delayed! We had had enough by this point and our travel agent ended up getting us on a flight to go back home. Throughout this whole ordeal we have had zero communication or updates from Air Vanuatu, only through our travel agent who was also having trouble getting any answers. We understand there has been a cyclone but we have wasted three days of our holiday waiting around for flights and answers! We were looking forward to this holiday only to have to cancel it. We won’t be flying Air Vanuatu again, purely because of the lack of communication and willingness to give us any answers or updates on what was happening with our flights. Very disappointing!

✅ Trip Verified | Changed flight details 3 times to only cancel the flight 2 hours before leaving the airport. The airline has left us high and dry with no other information since informing us of the cancellation at 11:30am. It is now 1am the following day. Office is not available outside of business hours and when you can get in touch with them, they can’t tell you anything. Terrible communication and professionalism. Phone line actually cut out mid conversation and they didn’t bother to call back, and that’s when I could get through! Language communication barriers weren’t helpful either and their support team seemed clueless and unable to help at all. We were told by Flight Centre that they are planning a flight on a Monday. This is 3 days after the original departure date. Our holiday was only for 5 nights. I can’t understand how an international airline could have no leasing arrangements with Qantas as they are affiliated with them and the flight numbers are NF and QF. To cancel an international flight with no further communication or support is disgraceful. To not have an emergency flight organised for the next day is really unethical and unfair on paying customers. To make customers wait 3 days for a flight is unacceptable. Terrible customer service. I won’t ever trust Air Vanuatu with my holiday again. What a roller coaster ride. We booked through flight centre and flight centre were not updated by the airline with all of their changes on multiple occasions. We had to ring our travel agent about the cancellation as they had no idea. No one has any idea about anything. Great customer service is gone.

✅ Trip Verified | Cancelled flight for 25 hours then re scheduled flight two hours late, by the time we got to Vanuatu and resort it was 4.00am. 1 accommodation day wasted. Return trip - sat on tarmac 1.5 hours late, 1 toilet only due to one being broken, line up to use, still broken on return trip. Qantas in partnership booked through Qantas for this airline. We went into Air Vanuatu to pre select our seats so our family were all together, when we got on the flight we were all separated. I was in an aisle away from my husband and our other 4 members were moved elsewhere. Disgusting. Losing one day gave us only 5 days and was very tired on the first day. Poor form, anything related to Qantas seems to be very poor of late.

Not Verified | Our flight was cancelled when we were in the check-in queue. The customer service was dreadful and there was no advice on when the flight would be reinstated. We booked with another airline after realising that the flight would be grounded for at least three days (the airline only has one plane). We are still waiting for a refund. The Air Vanuatu website says that the wait for refunds is 'indefinite".

Not Verified | Air Vanuatu cancelled our flights. Promised a refund, never received. Lots of emails promising a refund, but it's all lies. Every email thanks us for our patience and they will sort the refund. Now they dont ever bother to answer out correspondence. Look like we have lost $4360.

✅ Trip Verified | Air Vanuatu the nightmare that never stops. Flew from Fiji to Vanuatu on April 11th and they off loaded our luggage without telling us. When we arrived they informed us we could fill in a missing luggage form and that maybe they’d be able to bring it over in the next couple of days. Our flight to Sydney was scheduled for April 14th and that only gave them 3 days to sort it out. We proceeded to have to come in every day, to their office in Port Vila as well as the airport to ask for the compensation that was clearly stated on their website. 7000 vatu a day per person for a maximum of 3 days. They didn’t want to honour this as they claimed the policy had changed but wasn’t updated yet on the website. After repeatedly showing up they finally accepted to pay for 2 days. In the end they weren’t able to bring our luggage over so we requested for it to be sent to Sydney as our terrible nightmare of a vacation was nearly over. However one day before departure they cancelled our flight. The one Boeing they use for international flights had mechanical problems. Customer service is horrendous, they’re unhelpful, hang up the phone and told us what’s the big deal? It’s only one extra day. The big deal was that our luggage was still not with us, imagine not having access to clean clothes for 4 days in a hot country. Do not book this airline.

✅ Trip Verified | The delay was almost twice as long as the flight time itself. Barely any announcements or updates were made. Poor families with children aimlessly waiting in the boarding area. They have a notorious history of delays. Sometimes they outsource to others like Naru Airlines. Do yourself a favor and take Aircalin or any other carrier instead. This company hurts Vanuatu’s tourist industry.

✅ Trip Verified | Terrible customer service. We were due to fly for a 7 day holiday on Saturday, the night before (Friday) we got an email that simple said "Your flight has been cancelled there will be a further update on Monday" There was no support or information on what we should do. On Facebook they kept saying to call the team for assistance, yet no one could get an answer. Since then emails have gone unanswered or they rudely respond with one line and no answer to your actual question. We ended up not being able to have our holiday yet we had paid for everything. Travel insurance doesn't cover mechanical issues, the airline should. Trying to get our refund has been impossible, they said the time frame for a refund is indefinite. It's been 8 weeks so far. I've never experienced such terrible customer service and sadly on something that has left us very out of pocket!

✅ Trip Verified | Air Vanuatu is, by a long shot, the worst airline I have ever traveled with, and I will never spend my money on this airline again. It started with our flights from Auckland to Port Vila being cancelled, Air Vanuatu not notifying us and relying on us to fix it, having to spend hours trying to sort out their mistakes. We did that and finally arrived albeit from Auckland to Nadi, 7 hour delay before flying Nadi to Port Vila. We are currently sitting in Port Vila domestic terminal for a flight to Tanna that has been delayed by another nearly 3 hours and again, we were not advised of this until we went to check in for our flight. We were offered nothing by the airline to comfort us during the delay, we are sitting in an overcrowded, run down and boiling hot airport terminal. Air Vanuatu’s customer service staff are great, and I seriously feel sorry for them having to bear the brunt of Air Vanuatu’s leadership’s useless qualities. Get out of the aviation business if you are not committed to your customers and fixing your mistakes. I will never travel with Air Vanuatu again, and likely not to Vanuatu again, which is so sad as it is such a beautiful country, just terrorised by such a pathetic excuse for an airline.

✅ Trip Verified | This is the worst airline I have ever experienced. For my flight from Port Vila to Tanna. during Check-in, the whole process was chaos, their staff do not even bother to ask passenger to wait in line, just people keep jumping the line. Their staff just said the flight will be canceled, not providing any reason. Then I ask staff from another airline, they said due to the weather condition, Ok, I can understand this. Then, they keep the status of the flight delay "not cancel" for three whole days, making you can not cancel/reschedule through your OTA channel. They do not even send you an email to say sorry and confirm the flight was delayed. I had to go to their office 3 times to receive a formal confirmation letter that my flight was canceled. The first time I go to their office, their staff even took more than 30min to confirm my flight was canceled due to weather conditions, in fact, all flight was canceled in port Vila that day. then, the second time and third times I go to the office, their staff is extremely rude, just saying they knew nothing and will contact me later. what is even worse, for rescheduling, they will reschedule my flight from Port Vila to Tanna from 11-Feb to 16-FEB, and do not bother to change my return flight. I ask them, based on your schedule I will arrive in Tanna at 1330 16-Feb, my return flight at 1330. They do not care. later, said that they can arrange my return flight on 26-Feb. I ask them to cancel the fight, they just hang up. They were against my will and put me on the fight on 16-Feb. I apply for an involuntary cancellation, but they reject anyway, please avoid choosing this flight, if you wish to travel in Vanuatu, travel in a group, like 4-5 people, charter a plane, it's only about 30% more expensive