Some detail, not flattering to Jetstar
From what Jetstar told my daughter, we believed that our flight had been
delayed about six hours.
So we arranged to have a barbeque with friends in the afternoon.
At around 5.30pm Jetstar phoned my daughter to tell her that we should have
been at the airport by then, as our flight was to leave at 6.30pm.
As the reader can imagine, this came as a shock.
There was no way that we could get from where we were to the airport,
through baggage drop and security and to the departure lounge in an hour,
but we tried.
At the airport and having missed the flight my daughter again phoned Jetstar.
We were told to leave the Perth International Airport (PIA) and go to the
Perth Domestic Airport (PDA) because we could get an alternative flight from
there.
While this made little sense to us we did so; it involved about a half-hour
drive.
Once at the PDA we found that no Jetstar staff were present.
My daughter rang Jetstar again.
After several more confusing discussions she was eventually told that we
would have to pay $3000 for an alternative booking and we could contact
Jetstar Customer Care later and arrange compensation.
So we paid the $3000 and got on the 11.45pm flight from the PIA.
The fight for fair compensation
My daughter made an official complaint to Jetstar on our return from
Singapore.
She received the first response from Jetstar on 20th March:
"Thank you for contacting Jetstar.
I understand that you're unhappy about the changes we've made to your Perth
to Singapore flight times."
It went on in a similar way, apologising for 'sometimes necessary' changes
in flight times, but offering nothing in compensation for the lost $3000.
As my daughter is a busy mother in part time employment I took over the
negotiation with Jetstar.
On April 9th I sent an email to Jetstar pointing out that we had
missed our flight due to wrong information provided by them, asking for a
full refund and for a copy of the recording of the telephone conversation
(my daughter had been told by Jetstar that they record all such telephone
calls).
I will not bore the reader with all the details from there except to give
the main points:
- As of the time of writing (May 17th) Jetstar have neither
refunded our $3000, provided a copy of the recording, or given any other
relevant response at all.
(They did eventually, see Outcome, below.)
- I have complained twice to the Airline Customer Advocate (ACA).
There first response (28th April) simply said that I had to wait
longer for Jetstar to respond.
After waiting the stated time I complained again to ACA.
At the time of writing I have not received a response from ACA from my second
complaint.
(For all I know, the ACA did nothing more than pass my complaint on to
Jetstar.)
- I have complained to my local federal member of parliament who has been
in contact with the ACA.
- I have contacted Choice, the Australian Consumers Association, who have
taken an interest in the case.
- I have posted on Jetstar's Facebook page many times.
- I wrote this Net page and informed Jetstar of its presence.
Outcome?
Jetstar have provided a full refund of the amount of the second booking plus
given a $100 good-will voucher.
It is a pitty that it took three months and a lot of work to get it.
|