It started with a visit to the Koru Lounge before a family trip to India.

It led to insults, disputed accusations of racism, complaints to Christopher Luxon, and a ban from flying.

And, finally, it has ended amidst revelations of secret recordings, “unruly passenger” reports, and a finding of exaggerations and flaws behind Air New Zealand’s investigations into a customer.

The saga of Nelson lawyer Anjela ​Sharma’s dispute with the national airline has been ruled on in a lengthy decision from the High Court which uncovers how passengers are dealt with when issues arise.

READ MORE:
* Travel etiquette: Would you ditch your partner in economy for a free upgrade?
* What tastes better at 30,000 feet, and what to avoid
* How to tell the difference between Air New Zealand’s planes

“This case is unfortunate as neither party has acted in a manner that is without fault,” says the decision by Justice Kiri Tahana.​

Ultimately, she decided that while “some factual aspects of Ms Sharma’s claim had merit”, Air NZ had not breached its terms of carriage in banning her for 12 months.

“While Air NZ could have addressed Ms Sharma’s legitimate concerns in a more constructive and direct manner, that failure does not then result in its decision to ban her being arbitrary, capricious or made in bad faith.

“Nor was it so unreasonable that no reasonable decision-maker could have made it.”

In December 2018 Sharma, her husband, and six children aged 15 to 26, were travelling to India for a family holiday.

They were travelling business class on Singapore Airlines, a member of the Star Alliance with Air NZ. Before they flew, one of Sharma’s sons saw on the Star Alliance website that Singapore Airlines business class passengers had lounge access at Nelson.

But while they were initially directed to the Koru Lounge at Nelson Airport, there was a dispute whether the family was allowed to be there.

When a staff member checked Air NZ’s handbook, it said they were only entitled to access the lounge in Auckland, not Nelson, because the tickets had been bought through Singapore Airlines. This was despite Sharma and her husband being Koru members.

A team leader asked to speak to Sharma outside the lounge, but she said she wanted to have the discussion inside.

Things got loud, embarrassing and humiliating, according to evidence. Eventually, the family was allowed to stay, but tension remained.

A staff member gave evidence “the family made derogatory comments about her when they were in the lounge calling her stupid and a racist”. The family and another passenger (who was a friend of the family) gave evidence denying there were derogatory comments made.

As the family’s trip continued, Air NZ was escalating things.

The team leader filed a complaint, and accused Sharma of being “trouble every time [she] travels from Nelson unfortunately and she accuses us of being racist, which is totally unfounded.”

Eventually, an “unruly passenger report” was produced, and a warning letter sent to Sharma.

A copy of the letter was forwarded to staff with a covering email saying the family had entered the lounge without permission. This was incorrect.

In another document, Air NZ said some family members were flying premium economy. This was also incorrect.

From the warning letter on, the family’s travel was monitored, says the decision. They could only check-in manually, and were asked for ID.

At one point, a Nelson-based Air NZ manager was asked about Sharma. She replied: “I have never in my life met such a nasty woman, who lies through her teeth.”

By now, Sharma was complaining about her treatment. She wrote to the airline’s then-chief executive, Luxon, pointing out factual errors, questioning the check-in restrictions and describing the family’s treatment as “inhumane” and of “an element of corporate bullying and harassment”.

In another letter to Luxon Sharma described a Nelson-based Air NZ manager as “an ice queen” who was “on a venomous mission” against her, and had “written defamatory comments about us that creates a knee-jerk reaction from ground staff”.

After two other trips and conversations with staff, Air NZ produced another “unruly passenger” report, in which Sharma’s behaviour was described as “intimidating, threatening and abusive”. She was banned for 12 months in 2019, and her flights cancelled.

Sharma sought an injunction to overturn the ban in 2020, but was unsuccessful. Eventually, the case was argued in full during a seven-day hearing.

It emerged Sharma had recorded some of the interactions with Air NZ staff, a fact she had told the company. But it didn’t ask her for a copy of the recordings.

The judge found that had Air NZ listened to the recordings, it would have discovered some of the claims made by staff about the conversations with Sharma “exaggerated the malice”.

But she also found Sharma was “willing to accuse staff of acting in a hostile and aggressive manner when they had not so acted”.

Neither Sharma nor Air NZ wished to comment for this story.