Am I really out $1600 - Jet Star

[aspace]

I would try the upgrade to business route.

When I flew Jetstar Honolulu-Melbourne last year they emailed me a week before my flight offering an upgrade to business for $200, which I accepted.

For next time There is a great app for iphone called "On the Fly" using ITA software (run by Google) which gives you the option of viewing rates by the day for each month, and you can then scroll through to see the prices for each date. It's a great way to see the price difference by waiting a week or month to travel.

 

[welltravelled]

It is a great app, however the problem remains after the actual purchase of the ticket in relation to refunds.
The booking engine I referred to earlier will monitor your booking up till you travel and apply refunds for any discounts it finds, {it also considers cancellation costs in the process}

 

[aspace]

Thanks welltravelled. Can you tell us the name of booking engine?

 

[Bindibuys]

Indeed ... unless fully flexiable.

OT - I do the opposite with hotel bookings - saved ~ $1K watching prices post booking for our upcoming IST stay. It pays to book early and monitor....

OT again - I am presently looking at acr at IST, where did you choose?

 

[straitman]

JB expat,

Welcome to the world of yield management :!:

On this occasion the airline is not operating any different to any other supplier. Sometimes they have sales and sometimes they don't.

 

[JB expat]

I would try the upgrade to business route.

When I flew Jetstar Honolulu-Melbourne last year they emailed me a week before my flight offering an upgrade to business for $200, which I accepted.

If they offered me that today, I'd take it (and I'd take it a week before my flight)...

 

[coco50]

I hope that you are fully conversant with the TI T&Cs attached to using a specific credit card. I always buy mt TI through my travel agent. But then I'm not getting any younger.

 

[coco50]

I've had so many problems with JQ and getting many different answers, I swear I wont be flying with them any time soon.

I live in Ballina and if I want to fly and accrue Qantas points and SC I have to use JQ. Having said that, I have never had any problems with JQ, either with domestic or international flights.

 

[QF029]

I spent a fair amount of time on the phone with a useless Jet Star agent - asked to speak to a supervisor, held on for 10 minutes only to be told that no one was available. But she did put through a complaint/message as did I online. She promised a response in 3 days...online it promises something like 5 days. I've heard nothing! They have me beaten as I don't have the time or energy to deal with this (although having this thread revived is giving me new energy - I now need to search for the reference number)...but as you point out, this will be it for me & jet star to the extent I have choices in the future. It's one thing to hear "no" - it's another to be promised something (a response) and receive absolutely nothing - the first hurt my wallet, the second infuriates me. Airlines provide no customer service - even to their somewhat higher status members (as per my original post, I am Qantas Gold and have been for about 10 years.

And re: the above poster and their dining room table experience. I find that treatment completely outrageous. The argument that if they gave the sale price to everyone, blah, blah...your table hadn't even been delivered and you could have been a long term customer. Who trained these people in building brand loyalty? I had an experience with a local shop where I pre-ordered some made-to-order party food (I regularly shop there for baked/home made food)...she tripled the order (we still don't know whose error as we figured out what it was but it was either my phrasing or her handwriting)...I paid for the tripled order (and froze 2/3's of it) and she called me 4 hours later to say she was still feeling badly about it and gave me a store credit to use. Needless to say, I have stayed loyal and recommend her shop to everyone. And she is a one-woman business who I am sure runs on very tight margins.

They're probably describing you as a useless customer. If you want the option to cancel a fare, next time pay for one that's refundable. It's extraordinary that a rant that was answered in post #2 is approaching 100 posts. Perhaps this should be moved to the Playground.

 

[JB expat]

Disagree. They could have offered me a fair fee to upgrade to bness class esp if this is something they do often with this flight. I would have been happy, they would have more money from me, and loyalty. It could have been win-win. Example of how airlines don't believe In Customer service and don't think creatively.

 

[mannej]

Disagree. They could have offered me a fair fee to upgrade to bness class esp if this is something they do often with this flight. I would have been happy, they would have more money from me, and loyalty. It could have been win-win. Example of how airlines don't believe In Customer service and don't think creatively.

But why would they offer you a cheap upgrade if they could sell the J fare at a higher price?

The cheaper upgrades tend to come much closer to departure.

 

[QF029]

Disagree. They could have offered me a fair fee to upgrade to bness class esp if this is something they do often with this flight. I would have been happy, they would have more money from me, and loyalty. It could have been win-win. Example of how airlines don't believe In Customer service and don't think creatively.

Clearly you do disagree but I doubt you have (m)any supporters here.

 

[JB expat]

Customer loyalty given my Q status. Goodwill. As I said if they know this would likely they would offer this closer to departure would have been a good move. In my mind as a frequent international traveler

 

[esseeeayeenn]

My first thought was get over it.
My second thought was perhaps if you paid by credit card you would be covered by a pricing guarantee.

However, having checked the terms and conditions of mine, that seems unlikely.
The guarantee only extends to "business items and personal goods". Air travel is a service, not a good.
In any event the definition of "personal goods" explicitly excludes "tickets of any kind".
Further, it excludes purchases made over the internet and also excludes matching prices advertised on the internet.
It only covers purchases made in the premises of a retailer, in respect of lower prices advertised at another retailer within a 25 km radius.

These terms and conditions are for a CBA Platinum Visa/Amex Card but I would be surprised if all such schemes did not have similar terms and conditions.
I have posted this reply because a number of others have - understandably - suggested that you might be covered by such a guarantee.
That appears to be unlikely.

 

[JB expat]

I checked my Amex. Came to same conclusion.

 

[RAM]

I checked my Amex. Came to same conclusion.

Nobody likes to pay a price and then see the same item cheaper a day or more later.

Unfortunately Caveat Emptor applies most of the time.

When you (or partner) booked you were happy to pay that price. Where you've gone wrong is in tracking the prices since then.

Mea Culpa - I do the same thing and as luck would have it, for airlines we will fly I have been within $50 or at the low point in price for 10 out of 11 years. I won't talk about the 1/11 - too painful (but not as painful as your experience).

It does show the importance of research (OCD perhaps?) and reading long threads that give tips as to the timing of the best deals for different destinations.

For example, School holiday peak departures to UK/Europe (late Dec 2015 rtn Jan 23 2016) on Etihad/VA are available right now for $1,800/$1,600 rtn in Y. I rolled the dice an hour ago and will now be a masochis_ for the rest of the year!

 

[Happy Trails]

Around five or six years ago, I think, SQ ran a promo with their early bird fares, whereby they undertook to refund the difference if they subsequently offered a lower price.
I guess it didn't work for them as I've not seen it repeated.

 

[sirjeff]

I am a newbie and maybe I am being a bit forward. On the other hand I am 72 and been in my own businesses for 50 years or so. So I shall boldly go where others would fear to tread.
This thread seems to becoming something of a "he said-she said" circular discussion. Back on page 7 I offered a solution for future bookings to save having this problem. The next post offered the same solution. It appears only one reader has approached either of us to explain. The backer to my claim happens to have been awarded almost more travel awards than any other agency.

 

[drron]

Sirjeff I have been using an organisation that gives me this service for the last 10+ years.It is my travel agent.rolls over the booking until 4-6 weeks before travel when I pay up.If a special comes out I am contacted as to whether I want to go that way or not.

 

[JoKe]

Hmmm! Don't ya just hate that!!!....sorry but my opinion is "suck it up princess". .... I have recently purchased 5 tickets to LA for travel later in Oct 2015 and I trawled airline prices for months before I decided to bite the bullet and buy at a price I was happy with. I am pleased the the price I paid for the dates I wanted us to travel. It was the right price at the right time for me. If the price changes up or down I will just have to be content with my decision. We are flying Virgin and I paid just under $6000.00 for 5 people to LA return. When I started looking it was up around the $7000.00+. So it pays to peruse. But you just have to stop looking after you have done the deed or you go crazy...same with accommodation prices. My two cents worth...