Abandoned in Bali by Jetstar

[Hutch0007]

Booked with Jetstar for family of 4 holiday to Bali.
Was was scheduled to return to Melbourne on 16/09 on flight JQ36. The day prior, i went to 'manage booking' to order meal plans and saw the flight was cancelled. Called the customer service team and was advised the next available flight JQ44 on 03/10 (17 days later). I was furious but had to move on.
Then on the 02/10, i got another cancellation and was put on flight JQ1044 on 04/10. I kept an eye out on their flight status and JQ44 on the 03/10 did go ahead and i was lied to and kicked off the flight after already being delayed.
They said they'll offer $150AUD per room and $30 per passenger and will not cover Travel Insurance extension (+$210), VISA extension (+$520). I've read their conditions of flights and everything stipulates around the 72 hours cancellation and delay period. Nothing talks about 19 days.
I'm at a loss, financially and mentally on what to do because their reimbursement policy does not cover the cost of living in Bali for the additional 3 weeks.

 

[NM]

@Hutch0007, welcome to AFF. Your ordeal seems to be beyond just unfortunate travel disruption.

Was there compensation offered for the initial 17 days delay! I can't imaging being told by an airline that I am suck somewhere for multiple weeks because they have an issue with availability of aircraft/crew. How did the delay impact you regarding work, kid's education etc.?

This certainly qualifies as an extreme customer service failure in my opinion.

 

[RooFlyer]

Welcome to AFF @Hutch0007 . That’s outrageous customer outcome. i’m just sorry I can’t think of any way to get redress.

 

[Pushka]

I’m so sorry. We abandoned our holiday in Bali when the week before we left Oz our return flight was cancelled. We simply didn’t trust them to get us home again. So the whole thing was cancelled. This was in August.

Can you fly to Singapore and grab a flight back to Oz from there?

Jetstar needs to be threatened with licence cancellation.

I’d also be tweeting everyone I could think of.

 

[Hvr]

Is DFAT any help?
Or full blown media outrage?

 

[Happy Dude]

I am flabbergasted that 17 days later was the best that they could do. Lawyer up.

 

[jrfsp]

JQ have had terrible reliability of their 787 flights and it's already been all over the media so is "old news" unfortunately.

Until AU airlines are obligated to provide customer protection as in EU/UK etc nothing will change.

In terms of getting home are you able to split the party? getting two seats at a time might be easier than four. Also routing via DRW/PER/ADL might be better as the A320 flights are far more likely to go ahead rather than get cancelled again.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

JQ have had terrible reliability of their 787 flights and it's already been all over the media so is "old news" unfortunately.

Until AU airlines are obligated to provide customer protection as in EU/UK etc nothing will change.

In terms of getting home are you able to split the party? getting two seats at a time might be easier than four. Also routing via DRW/PER/ADL might be better as the A320 flights are far more likely to go ahead rather than get cancelled again.

Presumably the OP is home now.

I wonder if travel insurance can cover any part of the additional expenses?

Without a family I probably would have turned up at the airport to try and get on a flight home. I’m not sure how an airline can abandon pax without a valid visa?

 

[exceladdict]

Presumably the OP is home now.

I wonder if travel insurance can cover any part of the additional expenses?

Without a family I probably would have turned up at the airport to try and get on a flight home. I’m not sure how an airline can abandon pax without a valid visa?

Yes, alternative routings and airlines should surely be a port of call here. Even at elevated prices, it would be cheaper than three weeks' meals, accommodation, and other expenses?

Re: travel insurance, hopefully the limits aren't too low. One of my recent policies only had $3k of cancellation expenses, that can be quickly eaten up by flights for even 2 pax at the last minute.

 

[Hutch0007]

@Hutch0007, welcome to AFF. Your ordeal seems to be beyond just unfortunate travel disruption.

Was there compensation offered for the initial 17 days delay! I can't imaging being told by an airline that I am suck somewhere for multiple weeks because they have an issue with availability of aircraft/crew. How did the delay impact you regarding work, kid's education etc.?

This certainly qualifies as an extreme customer service failure in my opinion.

Hi NM
The initial conversation on 15/09, they advised i would be compensated $150aud per room and $30aud per passenger for food and i had to have receipts to claim. So i've kept as many receipts as possible for the 19 days i was left there, but if you havent been to Bali, not everyone provides receipts and i didnt want to keep paying on my card as i kept getting charged by the bank.
Anyway when i contacted them on my return, they claimed i cancelled my initial 16/09 return and wouldn't reimburse me for the period of 16/09-02/10 and only the 2nd cancellation from 03/10-04/10. This p***ed me off further. I said i had evidence (screen shots and phone history/case notes) from their flight status webpage (which was extremely difficult to find) and happy to pursue this further. The agent retracted his previous stance and offered the $150 accomm. and $30 food limit (only reimburse on proof of receipt). I didnt /haven't accepted this on the basis that i am well out of pocket and im not asking for anything other than the additional expenses that their delays have caused.
Regarding impact, i was emotionally distraught. I missed my aunty's funeral due to the delay. I missed a 'in-person- interview (the organisation were very accommodating) , my son (4ys old) missed his ENT specialist appointment and we are back on the waiting list. With work, i had to dig in to my long service leave which i have never used in my entire career because i had no annual leave left and needed to get paid whilst still in Bali otherwise i would have no money.
I find their service appalling... I'm disgusted by their behaviour towards the consumer and just want what is fair.

 

[Mattg]

Not saying that Jetstar was in the right here, but were there any flights available on other airlines @Hutch0007?

If that happened to me, at some point I would have looked into abandoning my Jetstar ticket and buying a seat home on a different airline. I realise that may have been expensive, but so is staying an extra 2+ weeks in Bali unfortunately.

 

[Hutch0007]

Not saying that Jetstar was in the right here, but were there any flights available on other airlines @Hutch0007?

If that happened to me, at some point I would have looked into abandoning my Jetstar ticket and buying a seat home on a different airline. I realise that may have been expensive, but so is staying an extra 2+ weeks in Bali unfortunately.

Completely understanding where you're coming from, however when we spoke to Jetstar on 15/09 there was no offer for refund as they had available flights (albeit 17 days later) and we would have to forego the the flight and find our way home (this is all on their notes/recording if they kept them). With all the confusion and mayhem, we didn't know what to do and went along with it not thinking/knowing it'll be this difficult when we returned.

We didn't even look at other carriers because of the confusion and the unknown of the expenses.

 

[Austman]

I find their service appalling... I'm disgusted by their behaviour towards the consumer and just want what is fair.

While your situation was different to mine, I was caught up in it too:

Bali. Flying (maybe) Jetstar Business Class MEL-DPS-MEL.

I thought to share some experiences about the current travel situation to Bali. This might not be like a regular TR. In fact I might not go at all! The final yes or no will be made in the next hours. The Route: MEL-DPS-MEL on nonstop JQ 787 business class flights (already not going to...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

One thing that might help next time when dealing with Jetstar is to use their online Chat function. You can get an email transcript of the chat which should avoid agreement disputes later.

 

[NoName]

Not saying that Jetstar was in the right here, but were there any flights available on other airlines @Hutch0007?

If that happened to me, at some point I would have looked into abandoning my Jetstar ticket and buying a seat home on a different airline. I realise that may have been expensive, but so is staying an extra 2+ weeks in Bali unfortunately.

Terrible situation but agree with the above. There is no way I would be staying another 19 days in Bali waiting for Jetstar to take me home. I would be out of there on another airline asap and then begin the fight for a refund. The media and general public would not accept them giving some BS story about not being eligible for a refund because they booked you on a flight 2 weeks later.

 

[Hutch0007]

While your situation was different to mine, I was caught up in it too:

Bali. Flying (maybe) Jetstar Business Class MEL-DPS-MEL.

I thought to share some experiences about the current travel situation to Bali. This might not be like a regular TR. In fact I might not go at all! The final yes or no will be made in the next hours. The Route: MEL-DPS-MEL on nonstop JQ 787 business class flights (already not going to...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

One thing that might help next time when dealing with Jetstar is to use their online Chat function. You can get an email transcript of the chat which should avoid agreement disputes later.

Yep upon my return i used the 'chat' function to deal with Jetstar as the waiting time was too long and i have a copy of this.
It was this chat where they said 'i cancelled the flight' and they didnt cancel. This chat went for 1hr 26min and the person on the other end refused to refer to previous conversation (02/10) and ignored my pleas.

 

[encryptededdy]

Called the customer service team and was advised the next available flight JQ44 on 03/10 (17 days later)

This combined with the fact that they claimed that you cancelled your flight makes me think that whoever you talked to here might've not processed the change correctly.

While it's possible that Jetstar ops are so messed up that they can't get you onto a flight until 17 days later, I feel it's more likely that they probably had seats blocked and other options set up in that 17 day period to move disrupted passengers, and didn't allow new bookings. Since the agent didn't know what they were doing, they put you on the next commercially bookable flight 17 days later. I suspect if you just let it get cancelled, Jetstar would've automatically rebooked you onto something more optimal.

Of course, this is still Jetstar's fault that they messed up your booking, but I do suspect most people on your flight did not have to wait 17 days for rebooking.

 

[jrfsp]

Also when you logged onto your booking, did it not offer replacement flights online?
This same thing happened to me last month in Bali and rebooking through the booking portal is the easiest solution

 

[encryptededdy]

Also when you logged onto your booking, did it not offer replacement flights online?
This same thing happened to me last month in Bali and rebooking through the booking portal is the easiest solution

Yeah, I think the most likely thing is OP spotted the cancellation before Jetstar's system had finished informing everyone of it, and thus it didn't offer OP the replacement flights meant for this service. Of course, this is still Jetstar's fault, but I think that's a likely explanation.

 

[Hutch0007]

This combined with the fact that they claimed that you cancelled your flight makes me think that whoever you talked to here might've not processed the change correctly.

While it's possible that Jetstar ops are so messed up that they can't get you onto a flight until 17 days later, I feel it's more likely that they probably had seats blocked and other options set up in that 17 day period to move disrupted passengers, and didn't allow new bookings. Since the agent didn't know what they were doing, they put you on the next commercially bookable flight 17 days later. I suspect if you just let it get cancelled, Jetstar would've automatically rebooked you onto something more optimal.

Of course, this is still Jetstar's fault that they messed up your booking, but I do suspect most people on your flight did not have to wait 17 days for rebooking.

funny you say that... my friend and his family was on my original flight and they got pushed back to the same date (03/10) but on the midnight flight JQ36. I was put on the 12.45 flight JQ44

 

[encryptededdy]

funny you say that... my friend and his family was on my original flight and they got pushed back to the same date (03/10) but on the midnight flight JQ36. I was put on the 12.45 flight JQ44

Was your friend automatically rebooked? If so then welp, I guess Jetstar really is intending on it taking 17 days to get people home.