Changing flights on Jetstar and the huge costs!

[apj01]

I bought a Bus tix from Jetstar (Mel-Sin) last year to use earlier this year but had to change the dates due to work reasons. It was their basic business class fare and NOT the upgraded one (called Bus Fare with Max) that allows refunds etc. Despite the fact that the price advertised on the website was $699 (as a random search) for my new date , when you log in (with Booking number etc) and want to change your booking, the price sky rockets to $999.00 for same flight on the same day.

I question Jetstar about this and they advised that that the advertised price was for new bookings only. (seriously!!)

Now I was led to believe that the laws in this country were that a retailer had to honour an advertised price and not just make a new one just because a booking was new or old or whatever. I cannot see anything on the Jetstar website to confirm this and the call centre just dodged answering me.

Has anyone had an issue with this? Does anyone know the law around this issue?

Thanks

Andrew

 

[Archphoto]

Not sure how J* operates, but I've had to change flights on QF on more than one occasion, and they have charged the "difference in fare" if required. Seems J* though, want 2 bites of the same apple - rather than charge you the difference, they want you to foot the entire fare again, but as I don't know the T&C for J* flights, obviously this is just an observation.

I'd be inclined to speak with someone further up the foodchain - as a Business passenger, I would expect a better response, (although we are talking J*, and the one and only time I have flown with them (business) was definitely not a experience to give me the warm fuzzies) but don't hold your breath.

 

[Pvcmenace]

In my experience unless your sure of your dates never buy a sale fare, always buy the max bundle then you have fully flexible fares that are refundable and or changeable. A sale fare+max bundle and a non sale fare+max bundle will be exactly the same price.

 

[markis10]

There is nothing illegal about Jetstar offering a fare that can only be bought, not one that an existing ticket can be changed to.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Forget ringing the JQ call centre as that will only frustrate you beyond belief. I would send a pm to JQ via the JQ Facebook page (not publicly on their wall) giving a brief description of your query plus your booking reference number.

Looking at the JQ FB page, one issue that seems to result in a lot of compaints is changing flights where the pax have paid a bundle which allows a date change may only want to change either the forward or return sector which is still showing the same fare available for sale, however it appears the whole booking is repriced so if the fare has increased on the flight that is not being changed it's treated as a brand new booking so they could be up for more money just like they made a new booking.

The end result is people are up for hundreds of dollars more than they bargained for despite believiing they are still meeting the fare conditions.

The same applies for name changes in that people think by paying the bundle that permits name changes that they can substitute one pax for another even if there is no change to the dates & flights travelled on. What actually happens is the fare paid for the original traveller is put into a credit shell, the name on the booking is changed then the seats are sold again on the same flights but often for a much higher fare based on the best fare available on that day for a 'new' booking.

It appears that 99.9% of people purchase the bundle thinking that be able to do a name change simply means changing the name on an existing booking. If they knew exactly the process that happens I think most would think twice about booking or at least hold off making the reservations until they were certain that person was going to travel. Ditto for reservation changes.

One way to potentially avoid those issues is to book the forward and return flights in separate pnrs.

 

[medhead]

The other thing that JQ seem to do based in the FB page is charge you for any added bundle again if you change flights. So changing a business plus max bundle fare will result in you paying the fare difference plus buying another max bundle.

 

[stewiejp]

Unfortunately that's cheap airlines for you - ANY changes will bring the cost(s) up in a big way. Unless you are 100% sure you won't be making changes to your bookings, it may be beneficial to look at the fares which cost a bit more at the outset, but allow changes at a cheaper or free rate.
Booking in two blocks as suggested by ozbeachbabe is a great idea.

 

[Danger]

I would question which of their footnotes (to the fare) state that the price is for new bookings only.