Air New Zealand will refund passengers caught up in the airport levy increase, as new emails show the Samoa Airport Authority filed the tax in a way that charged travellers far beyond what was publicly stated.

The developments come after SAA publicly rejected a Samoa Observer story that travellers were being charged more than $280 in airport levies, calling it “incorrect and misleading.”

However, the new emails show the $100 aerodrome facility charge, known as the Z3 tax, was filed by SAA through IATA’s Ticketing and Billing Settlement system. The filing applied to departures, arrivals and transit passengers for tickets sold from 19 March 2026 for travel from 1 April 2026. 

This meant the charge was applied across multiple parts of a journey.

After airlines raised concerns, the filing was changed on 21 March 2026 to apply only to departures and transit passengers, with arrivals removed. 

Air New Zealand said passengers ticketed between 19 March and 22 March, when the wider charge was in place, will be refunded and that it will make every effort to process claims. 

The emails show airlines quickly questioned why a departure tax was appearing across multiple segments of a ticket.

In one message shared among agents in the new emails, frustration was clear. “SAA GM is something else. Our poor business won’t survive.”

The correspondence also shows the Civil Aviation Division indicated the ministry had not been advised or consulted on how the levy was being applied.

A source familiar with the matter said the handling of the rollout, including the lack of consultation, was “arrogance.”

While SAA maintains the levy applies only to departures, the emails show passengers were charged more broadly.

The case raises questions about how the levy was implemented, who approved it and how many travellers were affected.