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Some Air NZ Chinese stewardesses plan to reject the airline's offer of credit cards for meals when they are in Auckland, because they say there are too many restrictions.
The Herald reported yesterday that an internal Air NZ memo promised Chinese crew their pay review would be given top priority and they would be issued with credit cards instead of cash for meals. Other Air NZ crew received their away allowances in cash.
Two Air NZ Chinese stewardesses have since told the Herald the crew intended to reject the credit cards, instead of cash.
"They are putting so much restrictions to make it hard for us to use the credit card and make it impossible to spend the full allowance which is rightfully ours," one stewardess said.
"We cannot have two main courses for our dinner, we can have only six apples for a three-day trip and we cannot buy any milk powder or honey - otherwise, the airline will deduct the money from our pay."
Air NZ's Shanghai manager Darrin Curtis explained the policy in an internal email to his crew, saying: "Six apples over a three-day layover is perfectly acceptable ... but I would say 25 apples would be unreasonable. It would be very hard for someone to eat 1kg of honey during a short layover, (but) it would be reasonable to, say, eat 250g. The policy is all about what is reasonable ... in terms of the type of purchases you make and the quantity."
But another stewardess said Air NZ's demands were "completely ridiculous" and said she would be rejecting the airline's offer of a credit card.
Air NZ's public affairs general manager Mike Tod said paying expenses in cash to crew was a "historical practice" which the airline decided not to perpetuate when setting up the Shanghai base.
"If there are some crew who are unhappy with the new system, which reflects common practice in companies around the world, we are happy to have discussions about retaining the status quo for them," he said.
Commenting on the airline's Shanghai manager's email to the crew, Mr Tod said it was an attempt from him to demonstrate what might be reasonable and unreasonable practice when claiming expenses.
