Kiwi Lawyer attempts to claim tax refund on $0 Jetstar fares

[CaptJCool]

He's an idiot, wasting court time and cost like that. He can't be very busy

Well actually
At the Tribunal
No one can bring a lawyer

You self-represent …

 

[cambriamarsh]

Well actually
At the Tribunal
No one can bring a lawyer

You self-

Well actually
At the Tribunal
No one can bring a lawyer

You self-represent …

I'm not concerned about his time and cost. The Dispute Trubunal system is overloaded and he is taking up its time with a stupid claim. He never paid the taxes so why should they be refunded to him?

 

[drron]

Maybe he’s trying to make the point that the return isn’t actually ‘free’? That at least a component of it has been paid for by a higher one way fare than normal?

So maybe the upshot is that we no longer have ‘return for free’ sales, but sales that are accurately reflected in the fares? That’s probably a good thing.

But if the "taxes" are put into the price of the outward journey the surely as he has had the whole of the amount of the outward journey refunded he has already been refunded the return journey fees.

 

[Albert Hoffman]

As an advertisement for his legal business and finding loopholes it's brilliant.

 

[Saab34]

Jetstar could just come out and say they paid for the taxes on the return journey, it was a $0 fare.

As he didn’t pay anything for the return flight, I don’t know what he is trying to do? Jetstar will just reimburse themselves for the fees as they paid for them on the $0 leg.

I know they probably build some ‘margin’ into the outbound leg to essentially offset the free return leg, but in a courts eyes, the return leg was zero and any fees are paid for by Jetstar.

 

[henrus]

As an advertisement for his legal business and finding loopholes it's brilliant.

Ah yes because everyone trusts some lawyer who offers $99 online legal help.

 

[GDale]

The stupid case aside, was this actually a decent loophole? Book flights on these return for free sales on a max bundle, then request the outbound be credited but retain the inbound? It wouldn't typically work for a full service carrier as the ticket would be repriced, but Jetstar pricing doesn't work that way in any case.

If so, this fool really should've kept quiet about it...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The stupid case aside, was this actually a decent loophole? Book flights on these return for free sales on a max bundle, then request the outbound be credited but retain the inbound? It wouldn't typically work for a full service carrier as the ticket would be repriced, but Jetstar pricing doesn't work that way in any case.

If so, this fool really should've kept quiet about it...

That’s the point. No intention to fly the return ticket… due to the large numbers purchased. It was to highlight the ‘return for free’ might actually have taxes and charges associated with it, which would theoretically be refundable.

I’m not sure how that works though, You cannot be compensated more than the cost of the ticket, which he has now received.

 

[Saab34]

That’s the point. No intention to fly the return ticket… due to the large numbers purchased. It was to highlight the ‘return for free’ might actually have taxes and charges associated with it, which would theoretically be refundable.

I’m not sure how that works though, You cannot be compensated more than the cost of the ticket, which he has now received.

That’s the thing, the return was advertised as ‘free’.

Good luck finding a court that would side with him. No doubt the reason behind his ‘settlement offer’ .

I’d take him to court and get them to award costs to him. That might wake him up.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

That’s the thing, the return was advertised as ‘free’.

Good luck finding a court that would side with him. No doubt the reason behind his ‘settlement offer’ .

I’d take him to court and get them to award costs to him. That might wake him up.

It was advertised ‘for free’, but it seems it might not actually be ‘for free’, because the fees taxes and charges have been incorporated into the outbound leg?

Can you advertise the return ‘for free’ if it’s not? I dunno, maybe it is actually is ‘free’, and no security or immigration fees apply. But then, why should my taxpayer money be funding security and immigration clearance? It should be user pays!

It seems silly, but there might just be some sort of bigger issue underlying it… either in the advertising, or the collection of fees.

I’m surprised the terms and conditions of the sale don’t invalidate the return leg of these one the outbound is cancelled.

 

[Saab34]

Has always been loopholes with that ‘free’ sale. They advertise certain periods the $0 fare is in, but the booking engine can’t dictate the outbound leg, even though the sale period has a restricted travel period. I had a return flight for travel next month I needed to book, so I just booked it with the return date next Feb. I did the reverse with the other leg and made the return leg next Feb which netted me a free flight next Feb.

Was loopholes with Flex fares a while back I think they fixed that. As in you could change a stater fare and change it to flex, then cancel it for credit, and it would credit you all the dollars you paid including the change fee.

 

[Mwenenzi]

It was advertised ‘for free’, but it seems it might not actually be ‘for free’, because the fees taxes and charges have been incorporated into the outbound leg?

Can you advertise the return ‘for free’ if it’s not? I dunno, maybe it is actually is ‘free’, and no security or immigration fees apply. But then, why should my taxpayer money be funding security and immigration clearance? It should be user pays!

It seems silly, but there might just be some sort of bigger issue underlying it… either in the advertising, or the collection of fees.

I’m surprised the terms and conditions of the sale don’t invalidate the return leg of these one the outbound is cancelled.

Some years ago (2019) booked 1 on these JQ "free return" NZ AU NZ ticket. Tax invoice, does not show any obvious taxes/fees for the free return from AU. AU border levy (departure tax) not listed. I did pay for seat selection and bundle add on.
JQ issue a tax invoice which lists the details & $ cost. With a little work can determine the govt tax/airline code letter to JQ text (e.g. YQ
Image for a JQ one way AU.--->NZ

 

[GDale]

I’m surprised the terms and conditions of the sale don’t invalidate the return leg of these one the outbound is cancelled.

That's the part I'm most fascinated by! With a minor initial outlay, it effectively meant we could've been flying for free all over the country using these return for free sales? The value would've far exceeded what this schmuck is trying to extract.

Completely agree with what others have said - it's not as clear cut as what he thinks I reckon, as (1) he never paid those taxes in the first place, so any refund by Jetstar for that component would surely be to Jetstar itself, if Jetstar is able to mount the argument that it swallowed the cost in the first place, or (2) even if a refund was payable, it would've been accounted for in the vouchers he's already received. Very poorly thought out on his part regardless.

 

[CaptJCool]

People try this stuff on because they can

It’s part of instant gamification

 

[moa999]

And seemingly suggests he's going to lose (presumably he gets nothing).
Qantas previously gave this joker 2x 36,000 points for a different dispute.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1791278157867425941

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Interesting… enough for a one way business class on qantas or partner airlines to asia… so around $1500!

 

[Mwenenzi]

And a settlement is reached.
Qantas gave this joker 2x 36,000 points.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1791278157867425941

That was his 2018 settlement (2*36000 = 72,000 QF points). Not the current JQ dispute.

I might be about to lose the @Jetstar_NZ fight, but that’ll just make me 1-1 with the Qantas group in the Tribbo. Back in 2018, I brought my very first Tribbo case against Qantas after they sold me a flight from Wellington to Dubai for $130 and then reneged on their promise.

 

[henrus]

Ok Qantas group, now is your chance to ban this pain.

 

[encryptededdy]

Surely the most interesting part here is that this person was able to book 59 flights for the cost of one, simply because you can refund to credit the paid leg (AKL-SYD) without it automatically cancelling the free leg (SYD-AKL)?

I mean, I agree it's difficult to actually fly these, but in theory it sounds like you can use a Jetstar Return for Free sale to book as many return flights as you want for free?

 

[aikman]

Surely the most interesting part here is that this person was able to book 59 flights for the cost of one, simply because you can refund to credit the paid leg (AKL-SYD) without it automatically cancelling the free leg (SYD-AKL)?

I mean, I agree it's difficult to actually fly these, but in theory it sounds like you can use a Jetstar Return for Free sale to book as many return flights as you want for free?

This guy is probably the reason why credit vouchers now take around 2 days to be issued.