Jetstar/AIG Insurance Scam

[tung]

I recently purchase some flights from Jetstar online for a family holiday to Noosa at the end of the year.

Jetstar have a very sneaky feature where they offer travel insurance from AIG.
The option is pre-selected, so if you don't uncheck it, you get slugged with travel insurance that you neither wanted or were properly informed about.
I also reported the experience to the Financial Services Ombudsman. They should not be able to "Opt you in" to services that have additional costs.
Its entirely disreputably and very sneaky.

What really galls me is that Jetstar have provided my details to a third party that I didnt authorise or condone.

If this happens to you also you can get a refund of the policy by calling 1800 257 504 between 8am - 6pm AEST (Monday-Friday).
And if you want them to stop doing this to the next guy lodge a complaint to the Ombudsman. If enough people complain, Jetstar and AIG will learn how to respect the consumer.

 

[Mattg]

I would agree that it's somewhat sneaky and deceptive how Jetstar automatically opt you in to travel insurance and other extra services such as donations to charity.

So from what I understood you got a refund for the travel insurance? I'm glad it worked out for you. But no doubt an unnecessary hassle that shouldn't have happened in the first place.

I have a friend who works for a European airline. He recently booked flights on Scoot and Jetstar and commented that he couldn't believe how much stuff they tried to trick you into buying when you booked your ticket. In fact, he said that practices like what you have described would be illegal in Europe.

 

[tung]

Yep, I did get a refund. But having to ask for a refund is a pain.
They know that some people wont bother and just skim money off those people who don't notice.
The bit that really gets me is the indiscriminate transfer of my personal information. Thats just wrong.

 

[The Flying Brick]

Had the same happen with VA a couple of years back when booking family hols.

Got the money back (on line) but what a pain in the rear to have to go chasing a refund for something that I didn't want to buy in the first place.

JQ's efforts to rip off the unwary are disreputable to say the least.

All extras should be cleary set as opt in only, so that if the customer agrees and wants the service then they get what they paid for.

 

[tung]

I just realised that they did the same with baggage. I bought the starter tickets cos I only wanted carry on. I've just paid for 4 people x $17 x 2 flights = $136.
I hate that they can pre-select opt in options that cost you money.

 

[Mattg]

Yes, you need to be very careful when booking Jetstar flights. Off the top of my head, they preselect 20kg of baggage, travel insurance and a $2 StarKids charity donation.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Last time I did a JQ booking it didn't pre-select the travel insurance, only the 20kg baggage allowance and the $2.00 Starkids donation.

You really need to keep an eye on the total cost on the right hand side of the page to see what extras have 'conveniently' been pre-selected for you & delete or deselect as necessary. More importantly you need to know what the total of your fares & plus bundles should be at the end so if the total differs you can delete what you may have missed.

I just did a two dummy bookings SYD/CNS and found the following:

Scenario A sale fare (no plus bundle)
a) JQ pre-selected 20kg baggage $21.00

b) Standard seat selection $5.00 & for my convenience pre-selected 17E for me as it must default to the most forward seat despite plenty of window and aisle seats available further back. You can of course change the seat selection. Another time it auto selected 7C so you just need to keep an eye on it. To remove the $5.00 seat option just click the 'clear seats' option underneath the seat number & it will delete the $5.00 from the total amount

c) AIG travel insurance $12.95 which once again you need to deselect

d) Starkids donation $2.00 which you can amend to '$0 no donation'

Scenario B sale fare (with plus bundle $25.00 800 ff points & 15SC)
a) JQ pre-selected 20kg baggage $21.00

b) Standard seat selection is included but you need to pre-select your seat of choice compared to scenario A when one is automatically pre-selected for you which could be a middle seat

c) AIG travel insurance $12.95 which once again you need to deselect

d) Starkids donation $2.00 which you can amend to '$0 no donation'

 

[Ikara]

I have an absolute, guaranteed, iron clad way of avoiding all this.

It's not hard!

 

[Mattg]

I have an absolute, guaranteed, iron clad way of avoiding all this.

It's not hard!

Don't fly Jetstar?

 

[Ikara]

Correctamundo!

 

[JohnK]

I have an absolute, guaranteed, iron clad way of avoiding all this.

It's not hard!

Not just Jetstar though. Virgin preselects as well under certain circumstances and if you are not paying attention you end up paying for extras you don't need.

 

[moa999]

They learnt these tricks from the Euro LCCs...
On Ryan Air, Don't Want is buried in a list of countries (you have to scroll to find it)

 

[leadman]

The MH booking website is the same. I missed it once and was "bitten" with the insurance charge and after numerous calls for a refund I just gave up and took it as lesson learnt!

 

[woodborer]

What really galls me is that Jetstar have provided my details to a third party that I didnt authorise or condone.

The fact you can't be bothered reading the screen to see what you are agreeing to, doesn't mean you didn't authorise or condone. It just means you were too lazy to read what you were agreeing to.

 

[whiteshark]

Many companies do this. It pissess me off everytime i have to uncheck insurance, donations, $ for carbon or other value adds. Jetstar are a discount carrier so there is no reason for them to think that their paying passengers would want to spend more money by default.

 

[Franky]

I was similarly dudded by MH a few years, and emailed them a complaint. I had to provide copies of my ticket and passport electronically and eventually had the premium refunded. Now take lots more care on all web sites.

 

[ftm]

Insurance products will have a cooling off period, so getting a refund should never be a problem (typically 14 days). But sounds like the airlines are not making it that easy! I wonder if calling the insurer instead of the airline would work faster? Does anyone remember whether the insurance was charged to their card from JQ/MH or from the insurance company directly?

 

[docjames]

I recently purchase some flights from Jetstar online for a family holiday to Noosa at the end of the year.

Jetstar have a very sneaky feature where they offer travel insurance from AIG.
The option is pre-selected, so if you don't uncheck it, you get slugged with travel insurance that you neither wanted or were properly informed about.
I also reported the experience to the Financial Services Ombudsman. They should not be able to "Opt you in" to services that have additional costs.
Its entirely disreputably and very sneaky.

What really galls me is that Jetstar have provided my details to a third party that I didnt authorise or condone.

If this happens to you also you can get a refund of the policy by calling 1800 257 504 between 8am - 6pm AEST (Monday-Friday).
And if you want them to stop doing this to the next guy lodge a complaint to the Ombudsman. If enough people complain, Jetstar and AIG will learn how to respect the consumer.

The counter to this would be:

By making it opt-out, the pax would complain when they experience an insurable event but "forgot to click the box" (and thus blame Jetstar).


Jetstar would seem unable to win either way.

 

[Mattg]

The counter to this would be:

By making it opt-out, the pax would complain when they experience an insurable event but "forgot to click the box" (and thus blame Jetstar).


Jetstar would seem unable to win either way.

I honestly can't see anyone complaining that Jetstar didn't trick them into buying travel insurance.

 

[Franky]

Insurance products will have a cooling off period, so getting a refund should never be a problem (typically 14 days). But sounds like the airlines are not making it that easy! I wonder if calling the insurer instead of the airline would work faster? Does anyone remember whether the insurance was charged to their card from JQ/MH or from the insurance company directly?

In my case, it was charged to my card and formed part of the total bill.