Qantas/Jetstar changed another flight - can I cancel?

[Melvin]

Dear flyers,

I've just seen that a Jetstar flight of mine (Adelaide to Gold Coast) has moved about 3.5 hours later next January, but the arrival time will be quite late in the evening.

However I booked it on Qantas and have learned of this on their 'manage your booking' page. I spoke to Qantas and they have not yet confirmed the change (by my request) and have said that if I want to change the flight to say, an Adelaide to Brisbane one, (but closer to the original time) then they would have to call Jetstar and ask them if they will refund, then I would be free to make a new booking.

A similar thing happened after QF pulled out of Coolangatta, so they booked me onto JQ, but I didn't want it (if I must go budget, then I'll go Virgin), so they refunded me and I booked with DJ.

What do others think? Am I at Jetstar's mercy? My view is that my contract is with Qantas.

Advice would be much appreciated, thanks,

Mel

 

[serfty]

If you consider the change of time to be significant enough then you should be able to arrange a full refund of the fare.

 

[Melvin]

Thanks, I certainly do consider it a big enough change. My other option would be to go ADL - BNE back to the original time or go ADL - OOL with Virgin, but that differs from the original too!

I've just heard about Tiger (sorry, been out of Australia for a while now), do they go ADL - OOL at a decent time & price?

I didn't want to go with JQ in the first place, I would prefer QF or DJ etc, I get the feeling that Jetstar is quite ruthless, a bit like EasyJet (SqueezyJet!) here in the UK?

 

[Will]

JQ reluctantly refunded a sale fare for me after a 30 minute change of departure time. The operator needed to speak to the call centre supervisor, and came back sounding very shirty, but the money landed 4 weeks later

 

[N860CR]

Yep, JQ's own T&Cs' state that if there is a "significant" time change they either offer one free rebook or a full refund - however you have to push them for it because they will very firmly try the "no refunds" line. I've had them cancel a flight that changed by 15 minutes before (yes, I was looking for a way out anyway!). Just lean on them and they'll come good - and the lowest people in the call centre can't do it so ask to speak to someone who matters a bit more.