Jetstar pricing practices - are they illegal?

[nutwood]

I’d be interested in opinions on this one. I’ve been considering some Jetstar charging practices and would like to hear any others that people consider dodgy. I understand the compromises you make when you go with a LCC but I’m finding some recent experiences concerning.

1. Changing a flight purchased with a Max bundle. Should be a fully flexible fare, with no change fee. When I went to change it on-line, there’s no option to do so, only option was cancel. Have to contact them. They happily did the change and then asked for payment which was more than twice the difference in fare. Explanation: Price must have changed since I looked or I was looking at the wrong fare class. Solution: Cancel flight and re-book at $110 less than the price they quoted for changing.

2. Unable to book online because of some incompatibility between our internet connection and Jetstar. Rather than address problem, they offered to do the booking. Payment requested $500+ higher than online price. Explanation: prices must have changed, better book now or they may go higher. Solution: Use alternate internet connection and book at original prices.

3. Unable to complete online booking due to “unspecified error” when trying to pay. Contact Jetstar. Same as 2. Same explanation. Same solution.

4. Changing an economy fare, in addition to change fee and difference in fare, they also re-charge any seat options that may have been paid for. Why? They have already been paid for? Minor point, but a reasonable question.

My feeling is that agents charging considerably higher prices when customers are unable to book on-line is not very kind, but pressuring them to purchase and telling them incorrectly that the prices have changed is borderline on illegal, along the lines of bait and switch marketing. By the time you reach the payment stage, you have invested considerable time into the process and there is pressure to accept whatever figure they present.

An interesting point is that, unlike other web-chats, there appears to be no facility to save a copy of a conversation with Jetstar, other than taking screen shots. Certainly, in one of my interchanges with them, the agent terminated the chat. The record was gone. The conversation in question is covered in 2) and is the reason the exact difference in price is not given. I questioned the difference in price and asked why my original question regarding our inability to book on line was not being addressed and they simply killed the discussion.

 

[serfty]

There seems to be a common theme in seemingly always to 'value add' here.

I have come across reference to Jetstar doing this in other places as well. Maybe the agents gets a commission.

 

[nutwood]

There seems to be a common theme in seemingly always to 'value add' here.

I have come across reference to Jetstar doing this in other places as well. Maybe the agents gets a commission.

I feel value adding goes with the territory when you book with Jetstar and I'm comfortable with that. They sell the base fare very cheaply and make it up with the extras.
My concern comes when they are deliberately misleading. In my example #1 above, the base fare I paid was $94 for LST-MEL return. I then added another $170 for max bundle each way. Total $264.
When I came to alter the dates, I was unable to do it it online. The only option "manage booking" gave was cancel. As per above, I went through the web chat process and received a request for an extra $196. I was still logged into the Jetstar booking site and could see that the total return price had increased less than $100 from my original booking.
At this point it becomes questionable. Instead of possibly telling me that on-line has access to lower prices or assisting with the actual problem I called about, the agent insisted I was looking at the wrong fare class, the wrong times, that the prices had possibly shifted due to less seats being available. Basically anything to get me to accept that I was wrong and to pay the price requested.
I eventually disconnected the chat, cancelled the original flight and purchased afresh at about $200 for the flights and $170 for the bundles. Total $370. The information the agent was giving me was demonstrably false.
I see a scenario where Jetstar only allows agents access to the more expensive classes and pays them a commission. That way, any time anyone calls in with a booking problem, the agents are keen to handle the booking and it gets put through at the more expensive price. I hope I'm wrong but I cannot see any other reason why they'd be so eager to help make a booking but so reluctant to help solve the booking problem that the client called about.

 

[**TBA**]

At this point it becomes questionable. Instead of possibly telling me that on-line has access to lower prices or assisting with the actual problem I called about, the agent insisted I was looking at the wrong fare class, the wrong times, that the prices had possibly shifted due to less seats being available. Basically anything to get me to accept that I was wrong and to pay the price requested.

You've obviously had a frustrating experience! How annoying!

The JQ call centre have access to the same fares, but they are not the same price as online. This is to incentivise people to book online. They shouldn't be hundreds of dollars different though. Maybe they don't know how to search for flights properly.. That would be embarrassing if it were the case.

 

[dajop]

Do Jetstar charge extra service fees for booking offline (like everyone else)? Is this a factor?

 

[AIRwin]

Do Jetstar charge extra service fees for booking offline (like everyone else)?

See "Call Centre booking fee":
Fees and charges | Jetstar

 

[nutwood]

Do Jetstar charge extra service fees for booking offline (like everyone else)? Is this a factor?

I wondered if this was the case but was told not. If they were charging a fee to handle the booking and not disclosing this, that would be equally unethical. Possibly there's a service fee built into every fare but if that's the case, this should be disclosed when they offer to make the booking.

 

[mbeder]

A question for the experts here. I'm flying SYD-HNL. Tickets booked in December 2018. I was offered the opportunity to upgrade to 'Business' for $300 a couple of weeks later, which I did on-line. Just checked the seating now and there's no BC seats available (TBH, I thought I'd selected the seats when I actioned the upgrade). My fare class is starter max. I called the call centre, explained the issue, and apparently there's no seats available despite my upgrade which they can see. I was also told that my money is non-refundable. I was also told that you can't select seats if you upgrade on-line?! Feels like a bit of a bait & switch ploy on their part! As I fly today, I'll check again at the airport, but don't hold out much hope. Anyone experienced this before? Is their any recourse?

 

[AIRwin]

I was also told that my money is non-refundable.

Credit card charge back if you still don't get what you paid for on the flight...

 

[mbeder]

Credit card charge back if you still don't get what you paid for on the flight...

Bugger, I used a Jetstar voucher that I had lying around!

 

[Hvr]

Bugger, I used a Jetstar voucher that I had lying around!

How did you pay for the voucher?

Another question; have you lost your pre-chosen economy seat? I'm assuming that it was a good one and would be quickly snapped up if set free.

 

[mbeder]

How did you pay for the voucher?

Another question; have you lost your pre-chosen economy seat? I'm assuming that it was a good one and would be quickly snapped up if set free.

Paid for the voucher with the ANZ Black FF card. Luckily my original seats were held.
Am heading to the airport shortly and will see if anything can be done by check-in staff. Wish me luck!

 

[moa999]

Just because no seats are selectable doesn't mean there aren't some free (they could be blocked).

But if you do get downgrade I'd be demanding a new voucher at the airport.

 

[nutwood]

Paid for the voucher with the ANZ Black FF card. Luckily my original seats were held.
Am heading to the airport shortly and will see if anything can be done by check-in staff. Wish me luck!

Am wishing you luck, because I suspect you'll need it. Seems pretty clear cut, they offered you an upgrade for a price, you accepted the offer and paid for with a voucher. If they don't honour the upgrade, they need to return the voucher. Be very interested to know how you get on.
My feeling is that if you can talk to someone with authority, they'll sort it. The problem will be accessing said person!

 

[wandering_fred]

What is the Airline Consumer Advocate?


Happy wandering
Fred

 

[nutwood]

What is the Airline Consumer Advocate?


Happy wandering
Fred

Sitting on the tarmac somewhere. Waiting for his Jetstar flight to take wing!