Jetstar refuses to allow family to use extra booked and paid for seat on flight

[hgwells01]

I have friends staying with us, they travelled from Adelaide to Brisbane on a Jetstar flight, at the last moment Mark could not fly and had to attend to business, they had done pre seat selection and paid for his seat and had 3 seats together plus the isle seat. Kerrie and the two girls arrived at check in and said, we have paid and done online checkin for these 4 seats but Mark will not be travelling, is it ok if the two girls have the three seats so they can spread out and sleep and I sit in the isle seat. Firstly the counter staff said sure, and the check in lady was going about sorting it out when a supervisor stepped in and said no, the flight is full, we can resell that seat you can't have it even tho you have paid for it and proceeded to change their seats to the block of three and place someone else in the extra paid for seat. No refund was offerred and she was told bad luck he couldn't fly, he forfeits his seat. I'm thinking this is grossly unfair, the seat was paid for, it should have been theirs to use as they saw fit regardless of weather the flight is full or not.

On the subsequent flight from Brisband to Newcastle (yes they went the long way around getting here) there was no problem and the 4 seats were given to them.

Leads me to wonder, what happens if I decide because there is a sale on and I buy 3 cheap seats between myself and my husband so we can stretch out on a long flight, can they just say sorry the flight is full and we want that seat you have paid for, we are sitting someone in it?

Should she have been offerred some recompense for it? And if you think so, who should she complain to. The supervisor was most rude about it to her and because she had 2 children of 5 and 8 with her didn't make a fuss she just took what was given to her, but i'm not impressed on her behalf!

 

[kyle]

In hindsight, you shouldn't have mentioned that Mark was not going to travel. Since he's already checked in, Jetstar might think that he didn't have any bags to check in and proceeded directly to the gate with the preprinted boarding pass.

And the same goes for buying seats in a sale and doing online check in prior to the flight...

 

[Princess Fiona]

In hindsight, you shouldn't have mentioned that Mark was not going to travel. Since he's already checked in, Jetstar might think that he didn't have any bags to check in and proceeded directly to the gate with the preprinted boarding pass.

And the same goes for buying seats in a sale and doing online check in prior to the flight...

I was thinking exactly the same thing, with the benefit of hindsight. We have routinely did bag drops for JQ flights whilst having some of our party in the QF J Lounge. BP's printed by the J Lounge staff prior to bag drop. I would be pretty p!ssed off if this happened to me. Not sure if it's entirely ethical or JQ standard procedure and I would be writing to them.

 

[mannej]

Effectively you have told JQ that your passenger will be a no-show. Your Itinerary will show what the case is for a no show, but I suspect that it will state that a no show means no refund and loss of the fare. If that is the case, I don't believe that JQ will refund you any money (you can try for the taxes) as effectively they will see it as a no show.

Perhaps if nothing was said, you would have had that extra seat, however this is something for you to check to see what the conditions were as per your itinerary regarding failing to board, as that will hold your answer regarding whether you are entitled to any money or not.

 

[mannej]

I was thinking exactly the same thing, with the benefit of hindsight. We have routinely did bag drops for JQ flights whilst having some of our party in the QF J Lounge. BP's printed by the J Lounge staff prior to bag drop. I would be pretty p!ssed off if this happened to me. Not sure if it's entirely ethical or JQ standard procedure and I would be writing to them.

Effectively, from what I can read this is a no show. I don't believe that JQ would be alone in how they treated this case. As mentioned, referring to the itinerary and how failing to board is treated will determine if they have anything owed to them or not.

 

[harvyk]

JQ was in the right as far as their contract is concerned, but very in the wrong as far as customer service is concerned.

From a contract point of view Mark was a last minute no-show which means it’s an automatic forfeit of fare.

However from a customer service point of view considering that others in the travelling party are still there you should have been offered a refund for the seat for JQ to sell it to someone else or they should have let you keep the seat.

I would put in a complaint (in writing) to JQ explaining the situation and thus asking for a refund. Put a date you want this to happen by and put into the letter that you will be forwarding this to the office of fair trading if your unsatisified with JQ’s response. If (when) they refuse or don’t answer the letter, forward the complaint to the office of fair trading in the state you purchased the tickets in.

 

[Austman]

Leads me to wonder, what happens if I decide because there is a sale on and I buy 3 cheap seats between myself and my husband so we can stretch out on a long flight, can they just say sorry the flight is full and we want that seat you have paid for, we are sitting someone in it?

AFAIK all airlines that offer an extra seat purchase, require it to be done at the time of booking (when it can be confirmed) or at check-in time (when it can be done if available). It's a different process compared to booking x seats for x passengers.

 

[TheInsider]

A no-show is exactly that, a no-show. If you wanted an extra seat, you would've needed to done this through the call-centre but at the time of booking through a different process.
Even if the pax was checked-in and didn't show to the flight, the airline (any airline) would be having a go at the other people on the booking for possibly delaying the flight by trying to find the missing passenger.
If it was a full flight, there could've been commercial standbys from previous disrupted flights, staff travellers etc etc. A no-show on ANY airline still results in the other seat being 'lost'.

 

[mannej]

A no-show is exactly that, a no-show. If you wanted an extra seat, you would've needed to done this through the call-centre but at the time of booking through a different process.
Even if the pax was checked-in and didn't show to the flight, the airline (any airline) would be having a go at the other people on the booking for possibly delaying the flight by trying to find the missing passenger.
If it was a full flight, there could've been commercial standbys from previous disrupted flights, staff travellers etc etc. A no-show on ANY airline still results in the other seat being 'lost'.

And with that being the case (apart from any taxes paid) I fail to see complaint or no complaint how the OP will get a refund, especially considering the no show penalty isn't exactly hidden on the itinerary.

 

[ajw373]

JQ was in the right as far as their contract is concerned, but very in the wrong as far as customer service is concerned.

Don't agree. The passenger was a no show, the flight was overbooked, so they rightly gave the seat to a passenger on the wait list. So good customer service there and clearly on the return the flight wasn't full so they were given full use of the 4 seats so again good customer service.

 

[pshepvic]

AFAIK all airlines that offer an extra seat purchase, require it to be done at the time of booking (when it can be confirmed) or at check-in time (when it can be done if available). It's a different process compared to booking x seats for x passengers.

Jetstar does offer extra seat purchase for comfort reasons (usually if you are a "person of size" only). You have to do this through the call centre and has been discussed in detail in another thread. If you want two seats though, both must be in your name, otherwise they could say that you are technically flying under someone else's name by taking that other seat, which I would imagine is against federal regulations not just airline policy.

Jetstar is not legally in the wrong here, and is not obliged to give a refund. Additionally it is also clear online that seat selection is not guaranteed. However, they could have explained it a little better at check in by the sound of it. For future as others have suggested, easiest thing to keep the seat in this case would be to check in online and then fail to board - by that stage it is too late to get a standby passenger on board.

 

[hgwells01]

it was not really about the refund, but being able to have the seat they had paid for to stretch out in, they were quite rude about her request to keep the seat that had been paid for. As some have suggessted, she would have been better to say nothing at all, let them call Mark to board over and over, delay the flight perhaps and then it would have been too late to allocate anyone the seat. As it was she got there early to let them know which she thought was the correct thing to do so as not to delay anything.

I wonder what they would do if someone purchased two tickets for a flight just because they wanted to so they could have extra room, how does that work, do they get two boarding passes with the same name on it, would they be entitled to take two small onboard cases to stow overhead? If they had a full flight could they take that seat off them?

 

[pshepvic]

I wonder what they would do if someone purchased two tickets for a flight just because they wanted to so they could have extra room, how does that work, do they get two boarding passes with the same name on it, would they be entitled to take two small onboard cases to stow overhead? If they had a full flight could they take that seat off them?

Yes you do get 2 BPs, with the same name and one has a special note on it saying what the reason is. No they can't take the seat away. Yes you do get the luggage allowance of two tickets (for checked bags on a starter fare that is 0kg anyway). But in JQ T&Cs it says these bookings must be done via the call centre - I believe the website won't let you book two seats in the same name and if done on separate bookings you're not guaranteed seats together anyway. Additionally airlines cancel duplicate bookings prior to ticketing, which is why it must be done through the call centre to put notes in the booking.

It's a different story with a different name though as you've described, but again as I said before, JQ has every right to do what they did, and yes I agree they could have been nicer about it but there is no liability here in any way. Whether or not it's about the refund, I highly doubt complaining to JQ will make any difference. If it was me I'd just never fly them again and move on (which is the case for me as well on a different issue - I've had worse issues than this on business class international bookings, but my experience in complaining to JQ gets you nowhere so I've resolved just to never fly them again).

 

[ajw373]

it was not really about the refund, but being able to have the seat they had paid for to stretch out in, they were quite rude about her request to keep the seat that had been paid for. As some have suggessted, she would have been better to say nothing at all, let them call Mark to board over and over, delay the flight perhaps and then it would have been too late to allocate anyone the seat. As it was she got there early to let them know which she thought was the correct thing to do so as not to delay anything.

The key as you said in the first post is the flight was overbooked and the passenger was technicaly a now show, so of course they are going to give that seat to someone else. Also as you mentioned on the return which wasn't overbooked they let them have the seat. Makes sense. As for rudeness were the staff really rude, or is it maybe their refusal to allow what the passenger wanted being interpirted as rudness. I have no doubt an outsider would interprit the situation differently to someone involved in it. I know there are times I have felt hard done by because I havn't got what I wanted, but at the end of the day the other person was doing exactly what they should have, rightly or wrongly.

 

[mannej]

it was not really about the refund, but being able to have the seat they had paid for to stretch out in, they were quite rude about her request to keep the seat that had been paid for. As some have suggessted, she would have been better to say nothing at all, let them call Mark to board over and over, delay the flight perhaps and then it would have been too late to allocate anyone the seat. As it was she got there early to let them know which she thought was the correct thing to do so as not to delay anything.

I wonder what they would do if someone purchased two tickets for a flight just because they wanted to so they could have extra room, how does that work, do they get two boarding passes with the same name on it, would they be entitled to take two small onboard cases to stow overhead? If they had a full flight could they take that seat off them?

It is funny how you mention the rudeness of the JQ check-in staff when you then condone IMHO an even worse display of rudeness.

 

[hgwells01]

Just to clarify, I do believe when she said they were quite rude that it was the case the first check in person said sure they could have the 4 seats and was polite, it was the supervisor who interrupted and was rude to her about it and then told them they couldn't have the seat, the lady in question is quite a well mannered person, she asked nicely and made sure she got there early to make sure no one was inconvenienced by Mark not being able to travel at the last moment, I did not suggest she should have said nothing, nor did I condone rude behaivour, I stated that as some other posters had said she could have been better not to have said anything, then the flight could have been delayed whilst they called for a passenger checked in but actually a no show and then the seat would have been empty. I would have LIKED to see them allow her to have the seat as it had already been paid for already, but she being a reasonable person and not wishing to cause a fuss just accepted it and asked me when she got here since I travel a bit more than her family does what the situation might have been, and I of course asked on here, if you note I was asking for advice, I didn't know if she was entitled to a refund or not, or to use the seat or not, or if this was the normal case with a no show situation, however I do believe she should have at least got a polite explanation and if she had got that would have been much happier, my response, travel Virgin next time and see if the customer service is at least polite. Most people will take an explanation given nicely and think no more of it, when its given rudely, well it causes you to think twice about using them again. And I might add I fly Qantas, Jetstar or Virgin probably a couple of times a month and i've actually only struck one rude person in the last 5 years, so I find all three quite good.

Thanks for the information about what would happen if you had purchased two tickets in one name, I just wondered what the situation would be in that case and it seems if you ring and book two seats then you are entitled to them.

 

[mannej]

I would think that Mark would be entitled to his taxes back, but that is about it.
Unfortunately a no show is clearly defined on the Itinerary and that course of action. This is not limited to JQ.

 

[pshepvic]

Totally agree that whilst within the rules and T&Cs they could have been nicer about it. My experience has been that JQ are generally not well trained in customer service (majority of the time). Virgin are great the majority of the time. QF seem to be in the middle, although having status of Gold or above does seem to help.

As far as JQ goes, I flew them twice in the last 2 weeks and never will again (combination of factors, and rude ground staff were certainly part of it, but got a lot worse than that - completely incompetent cabin crew that couldn't even deal with a safety demonstration and meal service, so god forbid if an emergency should ever happen - they'd have no idea what to do).

 

[Pleb Status]

Low Cost Carriers like JQ are always going to be less flexible when you are wanting to "bend" the rules. This is how they make money. Clearly this case is a no show and no compensation is due (or should be expected).

 

[straitman]

Low Cost Carriers like JQ are always going to be less flexible when you are wanting to "bend" the rules. This is how they make money. Clearly this case is a no show and no compensation is due (or should be expected).

I don't believe anyone still disagrees on that point.

There is an entitlement to get the taxes back and an expectation to be treated in a civil manner. Unfortunately JQ and other LCC will continue to get away with this so long as people accept the pain.