JetAbroad - how does this scam work?

[j3jjsjs]

There hasn't been a post about JetAbroad in over six years. They are still in business and up to their old tricks.

I searched for my flights. I booked. I paid. I got an email with a Jetabroad 7-digit confirmation number. It listed all of the flights in my itinerary.

The next day, I got one e-ticket for the shortest leg.

I haven't gotten anything since. No more e-tickets. No contact.

I've tried to get in touch with them with their online form. Nothing. [email protected] is misconfigured and doesn't work.

I've tried to phone. But there's no option to speak to a human!

It's been two weeks and the trip starts in four. Very much at the point of booking elsewhere and trying to recover my funds through other means.

 

[Franky]

There hasn't been a post about JetAbroad in over six years. They are still in business and up to their old tricks.

I searched for my flights. I booked. I paid. I got an email with a Jetabroad 7-digit confirmation number. It listed all of the flights in my itinerary.

The next day, I got one e-ticket for the shortest leg.

I haven't gotten anything since. No more e-tickets. No contact.

I've tried to get in touch with them with their online form. Nothing. [email protected] is misconfigured and doesn't work.

I've tried to phone. But there's no option to speak to a human!

It's been two weeks and the trip starts in four. Very much at the point of booking elsewhere and trying to recover my funds through other means.

I would be doing the last immediatley...

 

[Kerrodt]

If you know they are “still in business and up to their old tricks”, why on earth would you book flights With them?

 

[kelvedon]

Paid by cc? Instigate charge back ?

 

[Forg]

If you know they are “still in business and up to their old tricks”, why on earth would you book flights With them?

Probably booked, experienced dodgy result, then searched after.

 

[DC3]

Can’t say that I ever recall hearing about this company, although I’ve since googled them. I take it that people would use such sites, based on price alone.

As always, it’s a case of buyer beware, as it’s not just about what appears to be a good deal. However, I hope that it gets resolved for the OP.

 

[MikeG]

Try [email protected]

I was able to get a credit when I had to cancel my non refundable ticket.

they seem ok but their comms is fairly limited

 

[love_the_life]

Did you book though NZ or the AU sites? The AU site seems to have a contact form etc. Have never used the company so don't know.

 

[MikeG]

AU. That said spent most of yesterday trying to confirm with qantas that the credit exists and by all accounts it does not, so maybe there is substance to the scam claims.

 

[ferntree]

Honestly, years ago I learnt the hard way only ever to book direct with the airline.

Online only agencies like BYOJet are masters of the art of "bait and switch", and frequently impose a 100% cancellation fee even where the airline doesn't.

It just isn't worthy the risk or the potential drama.

 

[ramamba]

I used them last year for a booking that i couldnt do on 1 ticket elsewhere (QF/AY to Europe with regional connections in both Australia and Europe).

Don't remember if the price was the cheapest, but it was worth it having it all booked through. AY e-ticket came through approx 30 mins after their first "order confirmation" email. Couple of months later received another email notifying of AY changing the timing of one of their flights. Booking was always traceable via AY/QF and travelled with no issues.

I thought they were a bona fide TA with a shopfront somewhere in Chatswood.

 

[p--and--t]

Sample only of 1:1. Used the AU site about 2 years ago, got the best price I could find on a complex open-jaw multi-sector, experienced no problems.

But then I had no need to contact them after the booking was made so no idea what their followup support is like.

 

[ferntree]

Sample only of 1:1. Used the AU site about 2 years ago, got the best price I could find on a complex open-jaw multi-sector, experienced no problems.

But then I had no need to contact them after the booking was made so no idea what their followup support is like.

That just about sums it up, I'd say.

Of course not every flight booked thru an on-line agent goes pear shaped: it's just that they're more likely to, especially if something goes wrong. In my case, an itinerary change left me only an hour (instead of three) for a transfer (domestic to international) transfer at Sydney, Jetstar to BA).

The agent on the phone insisted that 1 hour was enough (which it wasn't, especially as we would need to collect baggage and re-check ouselves and baggage in with BA).

Happily, because of the way the agency had cobbled together the flights into a sort of "faux intinerary", we were able to just ignore the Jetstar flight (sacrificing what we had paid) and book that leg again, separately, on an earlier flight with Qantas.

 

[Renato1]

Honestly, years ago I learnt the hard way only ever to book direct with the airline.

Online only agencies like BYOJet are masters of the art of "bait and switch", and frequently impose a 100% cancellation fee even where the airline doesn't.

It just isn't worthy the risk or the potential drama.

I've had the opposite experience.

So far I've booked four flights with BudgetAir.com.au, and they got me tickets much cheaper than I could have gotten by going direct through the airlines. The only issue with using them is that it may often be impossible to do seat selection or buy additional luggage through the various airiines' sites. On two flights though, BudgetAir staff in the Netherlands did contact the airline and get seats allocated to my wife and me.

And after a four hour delay in Lisbon last year, BudgetAir contacted us to tell is they were sorry to hear about our delay, and that we could make a claim for 400 Euros each from the airline, and suggested we contact their associated lawyers to make that claim.

Maybe I was very lucky in picking this organisation.
Regards,
Renato

 

[doctau]

I booked with JetAbroad about Easter last year for a Germany-Colombia multi-leg open jaw that no-one else would sell me at a vaguely reasonable price. The fare components were two half-returns, but everyone priced them as one-ways except Jet Abroad, for some reason I haven't been able to figure out.

The airline re-timed one of the flights earlier, so substantial changes were needed on the inbound part, and although emailing backwards and forwards was a bit slow, they were very helpful in getting me a better flight routing then the airline originally offered.


I think that all these types of OTAs are definitely cases of "your milage may vary". Cheap prices but you can never tell if they are playing games like delayed ticketing, shifting the ticketing to a different POS country (which airlines don't like), and whether problems will occur. Disclaimer: I work for an OTA these days, one that for long complicated reasons wouldn't sell me the fares I wanted either, despite being a valid thing to sell.

 

[moa999]

shifting the ticketing to a different POS country (which airlines don't like)

Interesting.
I also think airlines charging different prices for POS, or IP Address, or computer type is poor behaviour.

Personally would have thought Jetabroad would be one of the better OTAs - Australian based and IATA member.
I'd be more concerned about some of the offshore OTAs who often appear the cheapest on the fare comparison sites

 

[ferntree]

Interesting to hop over to Product Review to see a selection of customer reviews:

Jetabroad reviews

Jetabroad (Booking Service): 2.3 out of 5 stars from 775 genuine reviews on Australia's largest opinion site ProductReview.com.au.

www.productreview.com.au

Almost all eithjer 5 star or 1 star, in roughly equal numbers, but more recent posts much more predominantly 1 star ... seems to support the view that when everything goes smoothly they're a bargain ... but just wait until something goes wrong ...

I notice in particular the couple who had their Munich-Paris flights stuffed up, and the company rep blaming it on the coronavirus!'

Customers posting to Trustpilot are more damning:

https://au.trustpilot.com/review/jetabroad.co.nz

 

[moa999]

Customers posting to Trustpilot are more damning:

https://au.trustpilot.com/review/jetabroad.co.nz

Although the AU site is far more positive

Jetabroad is rated "Average" with 3.7 / 5 on Trustpilot

Do you agree with Jetabroad's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 2,625 customers have already said.

au.trustpilot.com

Certainly seems they don't have enough staff to deal with the corona virus issues.

 

[ferntree]

Exactly.

I had (for obvious reasons) to cancel a return flight I had coming up to Guilin (China). Because I'd booked direct with Cathay Pacific I could have cancelled on-line, but I chose to phone the airline (just to make sure). I was kept on hold for no more than 5 minutes, cancellation was done on the spot, a few days later the refund appeared in my credit card account.

Don't want to think what I'd be going thru if I'd used an OTA....

 

[p--and--t]

Just an observation and opinion.

[Note: I had no issues with Jetabroad, nor a couple other OTAs and got a great price for trips that were trouble free and very happy (except one who added some unexpected extra charges at the end of the booking)]

While I love a discount, being a risk averse person, I would personally be hesitant using an OTA in the current turmoil for expensive flights unless you can get a guarantee from them they will ticket immediately.

Just guessing, but I would imagine many OTAs run on razor thin margins and survive on volume and some of them sketchy/limited support. If there are a tsunami of cancellations around the place over the coming quarter then I expect the cash-flow cupboard will run bare and one or more may go under.

From a vague memory, there are reports elsewhere on AFF of a different OTA that went under where passengers hadn't been ticketed and refused boarding by the airlines.

Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.