Jetstar Blues

[straitman]

A few more Jetstar woes :!:

December 30, 2006 01:07pm
Article from: AAP
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BUDGET airline JetStar cancelled its first Melbourne to Honolulu flight overnight after a breakdown of an important engine part.
The airline declined to identify the specifics of the problem but said the fault had been spotted during final procedural checks as passengers commenced boarding the flight.
"As part of the Qantas group we don't go into specifics of maintenance," Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said.
"There were some mechanical problems which required a part repair and a fair bit of maintenance overnight."
The 270 passengers on the flight, due to depart at 7.40pm (AEDT), were booked into hotels for the night before flying out early this morning.
"Obviously its regrettable, and the fact it's a first service makes it very regrettable," Mr Westaway said.
But disgruntled passenger Christopher Montebello said passengers were disappointed that they had been kept in the dark about why the flight was cancelled.
"I'm disappointed in the way that the people were treated," Mr Montebello said to ABC radio.
"We spent two and a half hours waiting for the plane ... (before being told) there was some sort of technical problem and then, from the technical problem, there was no answer.
"People need to know what's going on, not ferried and pushed and shoved through the lobbies in and out of international services."
Jetstar operates two Melbourne-Honolulu services a week using the three-year-old Airbus 330 aircraft.
The service was launched yesterday, two days after the airline started its Sydney-Honolulu service.

Any comments from Industrybuff :?:

 

[rhjames]

And for the poster that mentions about the 30 min cutoff for checkin and he arrived at 29 mins before to fly JQ BNE SYD - what planet is he is !!! JQ has never flown BNESYD in its 31 months of operation !

Industrybuff
Perhaps you can explain JQ6537 Brisbane to Sydney 14:15 arrives 16:45 (off the Jetstar website!!!!) Don't tell me it's a Qantas plane. It has a JQ number and as far as I'm concerned that makes it a Jetstar flight. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if not it seems that you're the one writing "a load of garbage".

I agree with some of the comments following your note - if you want cooperation with people on this site, I suggest you learn some communication skills. (don't ever try working in Asia) Telling people they are "pathetic" and "write a lot of garbage" is not going to get anyone to take you seriously. You made some good points, but they were unfortunately over-shadowed by your style.

if the price is right you will fly JQ - you got that one wrong. I regularly pay more for flights just because I don't have time available to risk unreliability, and I need flexibility. I think I've flown jetstar twice since they started.
"I guarantee that I will end up sitting next to any one of you in a JQ flight in the future"
I wouldn't take any of your guarantees seriously. In fact I can almost guarantee that you will never sit next to me on a JQ flight. Not that I'm against JQ - I just need something different to what they are offering.

 

[dizey47]

Regarding Jetstar, let's not forget that they are a discount carrier. They are set up with a business model that assumes that no one needs refunds. Not entirely ethical, but it's "legal "...

As for cancelling flights, it's more common than overbooking. Common example? AirAsia...they cancel flights left-right-and-centre in order to cram up their planes. Or so I hear.

This particular flight (2.30pm) on Christmas day was cancelled 2 years in a row. At least the 1st year they rang early (a bit too early 5.30am) in the morning to advise of the cancellation. It is worse to turn up 1 hour before your flight to be told it is cancelled and that you have to wait more than another 4 hours extra (more than 5 hours in all) for the next flight. Not the way someone wants to spend their Christmas Day. If this flight is lightly booked why keep putting a flight on at that time Christmas Day. All I can say is that there were a lot of upset people and very hard on the people with children. If they have to cancel, do it earlier and let people know in advance. I would travel DJ from Maroochydore all the time if they had more flights per day, it is not always convenient to take an early flight or for the people picking me up the Syd end. JQ has three times a day to choose from as well are more availability for sale fares. The fare that was paid for the cancelled Christmas flight was a lot more than $59, and you don't get that price often. Perhaps they should sell some cheaper tickets like they do during the year in slack periods for Christmas day, like DJ did this year in their happy hour.

 

[Wunala Dreaming]

Industrybuff
Perhaps you can explain JQ6537 Brisbane to Sydney 14:15 arrives 16:45 (off the Jetstar website!!!!) Don't tell me it's a Qantas plane. It has a JQ number and as far as I'm concerned that makes it a Jetstar flight. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if not it seems that you're the one writing "a load of garbage".

rhjames, it is my understanding some of the JQ6000 series flights you have noticed on JQ.com arrivals/departures are for passengers connecting to JQi services out of Sydney from Brisbane. For example, JQ6525 (QF525 BNE-SYD) connects with the SYD-HKT service and the flight in question (above), JQ6537 (QF537 BNE-SYD) connects with the Sydney to Denpasar (Bali) flight.

When passengers book, for example BNE-SYD-HKT, they are offered a selected domestic Qantas flight from BNE to SYD (on which they use to connect to the Jetstar International coughet flight from Sydney).

So basically, Jetstar marketed codeshare seats are available on selected Qantas domestic flights that connect to Jetstar's international flights and this is what you are seeing (say JQ6537 which is QF 537) when looking at arrivals and departures on the Jetstar.com website.

Jetstar International will be flying from Brisbane to Sydney towards the end of March 2007, with the introduction of KIX-BNE//SYD.

Hope that clears things up!

Regards

 

[rhjames]

Thanks for the clarification. My point remains - JQ does have flights Brisbane to Sydney. Industrybuff shot off his mouth in a pretty disagreeable way and got it wrong. Bolman - perhaps you can advise which flight you referred to - just to confirm to Industrybuff that you are from planet Earth (since your origin was in question)

 

[Dave Noble]

Thanks for the clarification. My point remains - JQ does have flights Brisbane to Sydney. Industrybuff shot off his mouth in a pretty disagreeable way and got it wrong. Bolman - perhaps you can advise which flight you referred to - just to confirm to Industrybuff that you are from planet Earth (since your origin was in question)

I agree that the post by Industrybuff was fairly objectionable but in his statement "JQ has never flown BNESYD in its 31 months of operation !" , he is actually factually correct ( as far as scheduled passenger services go ). The BNE-SYD services are not operated by JQ but by QF with a JQ codeshare

Dave

 

[flyer4703]

industrybuff

Sounds a little d00t - ish. Didn't he make some interesting comments about our call centre friends before being d00ted?:shock:

Think you could be right about that Reggie

 

[Wunala Dreaming]

Originally Posted by Wunala Dreaming (Well actually rhjames!)

Thanks for the clarification. My point remains - JQ does have flights Brisbane to Sydney. Industrybuff shot off his mouth in a pretty disagreeable way and got it wrong. Bolman - perhaps you can advise which flight you referred to - just to confirm to Industrybuff that you are from planet Earth (since your origin was in question)

Except it wasn't originally posted by me, but rhjames :!:

Bolman, I'm also interested to know of the BNE-SYD JQ flight you are referring to.

Thanks

 

[rhjames]

Help - perhaps I'm suffering from Christmas and a bit slow. What is "d00t-ish"?

 

[flyer4703]

Doot used to post to this site, after making some inappropriate remarks I believe his membership was revoked.
Industrybuffs post was very "dootish"

 

[rhjames]

Doot used to post to this site, after making some inappropriate remarks I believe his membership was revoked.
Industrybuffs post was very "dootish"

Thanks - perhaps I wasn't the only one that missed this. Now it makes sense.:idea:

 

[rhjames]

As for the credit card refund issue. Every airline is pretty pathetic when it comes to refunds. In june this year I cancelled a QF FF redemption that had $349 of taxes. Since booking and the day I cancelled it I had left amex for dust and switched to a visa card with a better points earning opportunity (my right by the way as a consumer).

Industrybuff !!![/quote]

I don't have much of an issue with slow refunds on cancellation. I do have an issue with an accounting stuff-up and waiting 2 months for the money. Qantas accidently charged me twice recently, and refunded within 24 hours. Jetstar booked and charged me four times on the same flight and I'm waiting 2 months. This is unacceptable - waiting to hear from them following a letter. Fair trading is the next step next week if they don't rectify this.

 

[straitman]

I don't have much of an issue with slow refunds on cancellation. I do have an issue with an accounting stuff-up and waiting 2 months for the money. Qantas accidently charged me twice recently, and refunded within 24 hours. Jetstar booked and charged me four times on the same flight and I'm waiting 2 months. This is unacceptable - waiting to hear from them following a letter. Fair trading is the next step next week if they don't rectify this.

I would have thought that a quick claim via the CC issuer would have been the quickest and most appropriate way to get the money back.

 

[clifford]

I don't have much of an issue with slow refunds on cancellation. I do have an issue with an accounting stuff-up and waiting 2 months for the money. Qantas accidently charged me twice recently, and refunded within 24 hours. Jetstar booked and charged me four times on the same flight and I'm waiting 2 months. This is unacceptable - waiting to hear from them following a letter. Fair trading is the next step next week if they don't rectify this.

Didn't you get your credit card company to query it?

Catches the rogues out every time, and gets your money back to you within a couple of months.

 

[rhjames]

Didn't you get your credit card company to query it?

Catches the rogues out every time, and gets your money back to you within a couple of months.

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll try this tomorrow.

 

[Dave Noble]

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll try this tomorrow.

The 1st thing that a Debt Card company will ask is whether you have spoken to the vendor about it since they will only tend to get involved if there is a dispute over the charge. If the airline has said that they will refund it, then they probably will not get involved

Dave

 

[rhjames]

The 1st thing that a Debt Card company will ask is whether you have spoken to the vendor about it since they will only tend to get involved if there is a dispute over the charge. If the airline has said that they will refund it, then they probably will not get involved

Dave

Thanks for the suggestion. You're probably right on this. My main concern is the time delay when it's totally their fault. I will give Fair Trading a ring and see what they say. $400 for a few weeks doesn't really matter to me, but it could have been $4,000, and may be happening to others for large amounts. I feel strongly about following this through.

 

[Rampage]

my experience writing to Jetstar customer relations was that it took more than 4 months to get a response .. wasn't a very helpful one either.

and on their website.. I find it to be very problematic. One recurring problem - if you are browsing flights to make a change, it locks in the highest price, and even if you chose a lower priced ticket, it still remembers the higher price of the other ticket (even though you havent committed to this ticket!)

 

[rhjames]

Rampage - your response is some months after my last posting, but let's keep this one going. I eventually received full repayment after being charged four times for the same flight. I'm yet to receive a response to my letter to Jetstar.

I have no need to use this airline - as Qantas platinum I get to use the lounge anyway. I think they are a low cost service, and you get what you pay for. However, be warned, anything outside a very basic booking will almost certainly end in a mess. I wouldn't dare ring to confirm a booking - your likely to get charged for the same seat 3 or 4 times, and no hope of a quick correction.

I am a strong supporter of Qantas, but I have no respect for Jetstar, and I recommend that if the price can be matched, go elsewhere.

If anyone is charged a number of times for the one flight due to a Jetstar error, be assured that it will take weeks for Jetstar to correct their error. I recommend immediate action with the Department of Fair Trading. This will need a letter to Jetstar immediately, which will get no response. Give them about a week, and get back to Fair Trading. I let mine go, as it was only a few hundred dollars, which I got back after about 8 weeks. On principal, I should have gone to Fair Trading, newspapers, morning television, Alan Jones, - the whole works. Unfortunately, overseas commitments left me little time, but I suspect Jetstar is doing well on the short term money market with this scam.

 

[ethernet]

Reading this makes my eyes water.
The distinction is between a voluntary cancellation, vs one that did not occur. No consideration = no contract.

If you are charged for goods and services that you did not order or receive, and I am especially thinking of glitches and refused transactions, demand your money back straight away (and have all the times, dates and reference numbers available). Their problems are not yours - and if they say 'weeks' firmly ask to be escalated to someone empowered to fix it. Politely remind them if it does not appear back in 48 hours you will dispute the charge with the card company directly, because they, the merchant were unable to reverse a mistaken charge, and being unreasonable then makes their actions indefencable. Or be reasonable and ask for other compensation for their error - like $50 or so off the successful booking - or a written apology, personally signed by the IT manager.

If you are a US citizen, utter the words racketeeering and mail fraud, and take the many US options available. Only be reasonable enough, to confirm that you are not trying to scam them (yes people try this)

Looking behing the scenes, modern booking systems - any post 1960 - have record locking, to handle asynchronous events, and a thing called journalling, which means screwups should NEVER occur (just think back to when you were NOT charged for an ATM withdrawal - it never happens). There are also supposed to be competent people to handle exceptions. If they skimp here, then it is fair they wear all the disputed chargebacks, until they come up with a risk system. YOU have the whip hand, because IF the booking did not proceed , then the charge is flat out fraudulent.

In the computer biz, this is called 'write ahead', where the computer anticipates a bit, and yells back 'done' when it has merely been written to a queue, and will be done soonish (if an accident does not happen to the queue). For various reasons the PFY's in computer central, are mostly only qualified to push the reboot button, with no idea of the consequences.
Their managers are little better - try asking for a technical explanation of the glitch, and how many occurred that day. Remeber, for auditability reasons - the evidence in black and white will exist. Glitch is codeword for incompetence, in management speak.

Remember, your problem is not unique, and they have had dealings with fair trading, and hothead laywers, who often successfully sue airlines for acts of stupididy. (Be warned, some airlines are unreasonably digging their heels in - and rolling back Chapter 11, so you can get paid is not a walk in the park).

If people are being charged often, not rarely, and the problem is systemic, then somebody has a lot of explaining to do. Finally if it is YOUR mistake, don't think you will get far - they have heard them all before.