The lawyer, who has flown with Air New Zealand since 1980, had been a paying Koru Club member since 1996. She is a paid-up member of the club until March 30 2020.
Sharma told the court she was dependent on Air New Zealand's services for work-related travel, to maintain contact with members of her family and for holidays and recreation.
"As a result of the respondent's ban, on 18 and 19 July 2019 she was forced to drive approximately 13 hours to attend one of her son's birthday celebrations in Invercargill," her statement said.
Air New Zealand barred Sharma from its services for a year from July 2, 2019, after a Koru Club Lounge dispute spiralled.
Sharma had a one-year ban of Air New Zealand's services imposed on her in July 2019. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Sharma said she was travelling from Nelson to India in December 2018 with her family when they were challenged on their eligibility to be in the Koru lounge.
On her understanding, their business class tickets entitled them to use Air New Zealand's Nelson Koru Club Lounge, Sharma said.
They were allowed to wait in the lounge for the two hours before their domestic flight from Nelson to Auckland with Air New Zealand, before travelling on a business class flight from Auckland to India with Singapore Airlines.
But while waiting in the lounge, Sharma said staff challenged the family's eligibility to be in the lounge.
Sharma and her husband were Koru Club members, but none of their six children were. Members are allowed to bring a maximum of one guest under the Koru Club policy.
A later report said New Zealand staff who dealt with Sharma found her behaviour abusive and offensive.
"The report described the applicant and members of her family as being very loud, disruptive, and intimidating during their dealings with the lounge hostess over their entitlement to use the lounge.
"Members of the applicant's family called the lounge hostess stupid and racist, and mocked and loudly mimicked her voice when she greeted other passengers entering the lounge."
At one point a member of the security staff was called to the lounge and offered to call police.
The report said Sharma was known to staff at Nelson Airport for "engaging in intimidating and bullying behaviour in order to get her own way every time she travelled through the airport".
Sharma was later emailed and warned about her alleged behaviour.
The following April, she emailed Air New Zealand's chief executive Christopher Luxon, saying there was no justification for the warning letter she received.
Sharma's correspondence to the airline continued and in June 2019 she was unable to check in online for a flight the following day.
Air New Zealand imposed a one-year ban on July 2, 2019.
Later that month, Sharma filed for a mandatory interim injunction on the ban, alleging the ban breached the airline's contractual obligations to her as she had booked and paid for several flights she could not use.
In his judgment, Justice Davison said Air New Zealand's approach was thorough and had tried to preserve its relationship with Sharma.
