Jetstar's Japan Return for Free Sale

[futaris]

https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/290388

http://www.jetstar.com/au/en/deals/japan-return-for-free

Examples: Syd-Tokyo $342, Melb-Tokyo return $346, Cairns-Tokyo return $249, GC-Tokyo return $278

Always a popular sale. Similar sale, mentioned last year.

 

[futaris]

Just as a quick note, you can book Business (or Business Max) there, and still get the $0 free flight back in economy.

OOL-NRT 7800 QFF points + 120 SCs for 1199 AUD, plus a return in Economy... $10/SC isn't that bad considering a Discount Economy on QF, flying BNE-NRT-BNE (at a cost of around 920 AUD) would only earn 60 SCs.

 

[eastwest101]

Just as a quick note, you can book Business (or Business Max) there, and still get the $0 free flight back in economy.

Correct - but the flight to Japan are during the day and the flights from Japan back to Australia are all overnight flights so you're really only getting a "free" or $0 flight overnight in an Y class JQ B787, and given the JQ B787 Y seat and product thats about what I think its worth - nothing. if it was the other way arounf then I would def be interested.

OOL-NRT 7800 QFF points + 120 SCs for 1199 AUD, plus a return in Economy... $10/SC isn't that bad considering a Discount Economy on QF, flying BNE-NRT-BNE (at a cost of around 920 AUD) would only earn 60 SCs.

Considering you can fly transpacific to the US for about $800 return, then the $1200 return fare to Japan isn't really that amazing value (even given that the flight from OOL-NRT is in Starclass) if its a pure $ per km equation.

The status credit earn just tells me that Qantas wants me to buy the overpriced business Max bundle on Jetstar, and they don't really want you to actually fly Qantas.

But you make a good point that the $920 return fare BNE-NRT-BNE is not unreasonable, given you're in a QFi A330 with decent legroom in a 2-4-2 Y class with a far superior seating, food, crew and timing product than the JQ B787 - I know which one I would take given the choice. As a matter of fact - all of those fares on special lead me to believe that with a decrease in demand for travel between Australia and Japan, that the introduction of the JQ B787 has actually reduced yields for JQ and they are having trouble selling seats on their long haul product anywhere.

The other question I would have with these JQ fares is that what would actually be the real price once you add all the baggage, meals, seat selection and service fees and credit card fees?

 

[futaris]

Jetstar Japan | Jetstar for ex NRT fares:

~60000 JPY (~700 AUD) for a NRT-OOL-NRT return with taxes, around the same dates (in Economy) (with no bundles).
~135000 JPY (~1600 AUD) for a NRT-OOL economy and OOL-NRT business max bundle.

Starclass is relatively cheap way to earn SCs, especially considering that the AA/QF codeshares are disappearing soon...

 

[psi999]

1.8M points in the bank but i cant resist a bargain - $1087 return for 3 BNE-KIX in May. Seat assignment with no luggage.

Will tie in nicely with 2 x $400 AMEX travel credit for hotels. Thanks AFF

 

[futaris]

1.8M points in the bank but i cant resist a bargain - $1087 return for 3 BNE-KIX in May. Seat assignment with no luggage.

How's the lay overs at CNS? Also, make sure you have travel insurance, particularly if you're flying mid week. NRT-CNS and KIX-CNS sometimes get cancelled when 787 irrops happen.

 

[psi999]

How's the lay overs at CNS? Also, make sure you have travel insurance, particularly if you're flying mid week. NRT-CNS and KIX-CNS sometimes get cancelled when 787 irrops happen.

1.5hrs outbound (sat), 4.5hrs inbound (sat) from memory. Cheers for the tip!

 

[Mattg]

How's the lay overs at CNS? Also, make sure you have travel insurance, particularly if you're flying mid week. NRT-CNS and KIX-CNS sometimes get cancelled when 787 irrops happen.

Yep... I was booked to fly CNS-KIX on Monday and ended up being re-routed via NRT as the CNS-KIX flight was cancelled the night before. Many others weren't so lucky as they eventually ran out of seats on the alternative flights. (We also lost the seats we'd paid for in row 10, and Jetstar has refused to provide a refund for the seat selection fee.)

 

[eastwest101]

Yep... I was booked to fly CNS-KIX on Monday and ended up being re-routed via NRT as the CNS-KIX flight was cancelled the night before. Many others weren't so lucky as they eventually ran out of seats on the alternative flights. (We also lost the seats we'd paid for in row 10, and Jetstar has refused to provide a refund for the seat selection fee.)

Exact same thing happened to my in-laws returning from CNS to KIX on Monday (would have been on the same flight maybe, they got rerouted through NRT and JQ booked them on a domestic NRT-KIX flight to get them into KIX at no extra cost to them and they arrived a few hours later than planned, this is still a better option than being dumped at NRT when you have an existing hotel booking at KIX airport! Especially if you live closer to KIX than NRT) - this was only possible because Mrs eastwest101 was on the ball with initial change of flight/cancellation email, and specifically asked for that solution. I bet there were people who were not so lucky, who ended up god knows where, or got an unexpected extended layover in CNS.

Coincidently - the inlaws also lost their preferred and extra leg room seats so they will be pursuing this now that they are home in Japan. I wonder if they have any more luck dealing with Jetstar in Japan, as I would presume that they have a call centre in Japan for their Japanese customers? Please correct me if I'm wrong. My father-in-law also had travel insurance so will hear from him if JQ aren't co-operative but I would think travel insurance would have only come into play if they missed a flight, had a serious delay or ended up in NRT or something wierd like that.

I have taken the same approach with last minute seat swaps and aircraft substitutions with JQ - anything less than the seat I selected should be grounds for refund of seat selection fee, its always been a battle though as they try to fob you off with the "you got a seat story" first and then they try the we'll only refund as a gift voucher trick. As the seat selection fee is bundled into the price of the airfare upon purchase I would be interested to see if others here have had any success getting fees like this refunded - and refunded in cash too - not as JQ gift vouchers.

Mattg - what happened to you? Did you end up at NRT or did they re-route or somehow compensate you? Assuming that you brought your ticket through the JQ.au website how are you going to approach getting a refund for the seat selection fee? Am guessing you may not have time to deal with this refund issue until you return to Australia?

 

[eastwest101]

Edited to add for Mattg's benefit - looks like Jetstar Japan have two options when you call them - a press 1 for Janaese option (in which case you will need a fluent Japanese language speaker to take up your case with them) or a press 2 for English option - which I expect would redirect you to the Phillipino call centre (same one as Australia). Sorry I don't know what a PHS device is but it must be a wierd Japanese phone system thing.

JAPAN
[TABLE="class: table"] [TR] [TD="colspan: 2"]
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] 0570 550 538
[/TD] [TD] press 2 for English, charges apply, Monday to Sunday, 9.00am to 9.00pm (local time)
[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD] 050 3163 8538
[/TD] [TD] calling from a PHS device, charges apply, Monday to Sunday, 9.00am to 9.00pm (local time)
[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

 

[Mattg]

Exact same thing happened to my in-laws returning from CNS to KIX on Monday (would have been on the same flight maybe, they got rerouted through NRT and JQ booked them on a domestic NRT-KIX flight to get them into KIX at no extra cost to them and they arrived a few hours later than planned, this is still a better option than being dumped at NRT when you have an existing hotel booking at KIX airport! Especially if you live closer to KIX than NRT) - this was only possible because Mrs eastwest101 was on the ball with initial change of flight/cancellation email, and specifically asked for that solution. I bet there were people who were not so lucky, who ended up god knows where, or got an unexpected extended layover in CNS.

Coincidently - the inlaws also lost their preferred and extra leg room seats so they will be pursuing this now that they are home in Japan. I wonder if they have any more luck dealing with Jetstar in Japan, as I would presume that they have a call centre in Japan for their Japanese customers? Please correct me if I'm wrong. My father-in-law also had travel insurance so will hear from him if JQ aren't co-operative but I would think travel insurance would have only come into play if they missed a flight, had a serious delay or ended up in NRT or something wierd like that.

I have taken the same approach with last minute seat swaps and aircraft substitutions with JQ - anything less than the seat I selected should be grounds for refund of seat selection fee, its always been a battle though as they try to fob you off with the "you got a seat story" first and then they try the we'll only refund as a gift voucher trick. As the seat selection fee is bundled into the price of the airfare upon purchase I would be interested to see if others here have had any success getting fees like this refunded - and refunded in cash too - not as JQ gift vouchers.

Mattg - what happened to you? Did you end up at NRT or did they re-route or somehow compensate you? Assuming that you brought your ticket through the JQ.au website how are you going to approach getting a refund for the seat selection fee? Am guessing you may not have time to deal with this refund issue until you return to Australia?

It sounds like we were on the same flight!

I also called Jetstar as soon as I received the message on Sunday night that our flight had been cancelled. We were also re-routed through NRT, arriving in KIX around 11pm on the last Jetstar Japan NRT-KIX flight for the day. I know others weren't so lucky, because that NRT-KIX flight filled up pretty quickly. I saw lots of hotel vouchers being given out at CNS check-in; whether they were for hotels in Cairns or Tokyo I'm not sure.

I asked for a refund of our up-front seats during that initial phone call with Jetstar when I asked to be re-routed via NRT. The agent said that they could not initiate a refund, but would create a case number and that somebody would be in touch. A few days later I received an email that no refund would be provided because we were still accommodated in "equivalent" up-front seats. I personally don't consider a standard seat in row 26 to be equivalent to a bulkhead seat in row 10 (!) so have sent them another email. Will follow-up when I get back to Australia if necessary.

 

[futaris]

Back again.

Japan Return for Free Sale @ Jetstar eg. $430 SYD-TOKYO
Japan Return for Free | Jetstar

Various dates eg Sydney to Tokyo (Narita) $430 (8th May - 27th Jun) via Gold Coast.
Melbourne to Tokyo (Narita) $457 via Gold Coast (8th May - 27th Jun)
Cairns to Tokyo (Narita) $289 (8th May - 27th Jun)

 

[Limewood]

Lucky daughter got 2 out of CNS for $289 each, very happy indeed.

 

[AIRwin]

It's back!
Japan Return for Free | Jetstar

 

[futaris]

OOL-NRT in Business Max, and NRT-OOL in Economy Saver (no baggage) would be $1069. That's with the free return back to OOL.

 

[RedSMS]

hey guys,

Had a peruse of the JQ Japan sale website Today and I have 1 key question. I notice that they offer Business on the departure leg but I can't seem to find any dates for return with a business leg. I have seen them but they all say "sold out." Surely they aren't offering a free return flight in Business? Or are they? If so, is there a tool out there that I can use to see the dates these tickets are available? I'm looking at November.....

Cheers!

 

[Melburnian1]

e. As a matter of fact - all of those fares on special lead me to believe that with a decrease in demand for travel between Australia and Japan, that the introduction of the JQ B787 has actually reduced yields for JQ and they are having trouble selling seats on their long haul product anywhere.

The other question I would have with these JQ fares is that what would actually be the real price once you add all the baggage, meals, seat selection and service fees and credit card fees?

eastwest101, I though travel to Japan was booming. Are you referring to how the number of available seats has massively increased ex Oz on nonstop flights compared with two or three years ago?

What source do you have for suggesting there's been a 'decrease in demand for travel between Australia and Japan?'

 

[eastwest101]

eastwest101, I though travel to Japan was booming. Are you referring to how the number of available seats has massively increased ex Oz on nonstop flights compared with two or three years ago?

What source do you have for suggesting there's been a 'decrease in demand for travel between Australia and Japan?'

Maybe there is an increase in Australians flying to Japan, sure, but the numbers of Japanese people going to Australia would have decreased significantly from 20-30 years ago, factors being the Japanese economy, exchange rates and other more competitive destinations such as Hawaii and other SE Asian holiday destinations. I seem to remember Qantas and several Japanese airlines had daily B747s to CNS, OOL and SYD from many different locations in Japan, don't see that capacity there now. JAL and Qantas are still a shadow of themselves in market presence and capacity compared to what they were.

It was a common joke in Cairns in the 1980s that it was cheaper to fly to Tokyo for the weekend than to fly to Sydney or Perth

 

[AIRwin]

It's back!
Japan Return for Free | Jetstar

It's back again!
https://www.jetstar.com/au/en/deals/japan-return-for-free