Jetstar riddled with flight changes and poor service

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N860CR

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On the 3rd November, i call Jetstar regarding a flight I am taking from Rockhapton to Sydney - the return sector of my holiday. The flight was confirmed to depart at 2:25pm, however two months after I booked the flight, Jetstar advised that the flight will be departing at 9:15am, some five hours earlier than scheduled. I had booked the flight to meet my connection from Great Keppel Island, which arrived in Rockhapton at 12pm. After contacting the boat transfer company, they advised the earliest I could get to Rockhampton was 10am. I was left with no option other than to change the flight to depart the following day, and pay for an extra nights accommodation in Rockhampton.
I called Jetstar to request they pay for the extra nights accommodation. I realise that flight changes do occur, however I feel 5 hours is more than just a "change". The call centre operator advised me to write a letter and expect a response within four weeks, a time period that I considered to be overly generous, however I wasn't particually bothered.
Four weeks later, Jetstar have failed to reply. I contacted the call centre again, and was told that all I could do was wait - the team leader refused to allow me to speak with anyone who could resolve the situation, and she could not guarentee that the situation would ever be resolved. After being thrown around in circles for an hour, I simply had to accept that all I could do was wait. The team leader advised that the letter was received on the 10th November (3 weeks ago), but she didn't know what was happening, nor was there anyone I could speak to that knew.
I am amazed that an airline can refuse to allow me to speak with someone to resolve a situation. I now feel that I will never hear from Jetstar again, and the matter will go unresolved forever - and I will be out of pocket as a result of their actions.
If anyone's planning to fly shortly, use Jetstar as a last resort. I'm also booked on a flight departing this Saturday to the Gold Coast, it has changed (get this), 6 times!!! They can't keep to schedules, and their customer service is terrible. I realise they reserve the right to reschedule, but surely there are limitations
 
danielribo said:
I am amazed that an airline can refuse to allow me to speak with someone to resolve a situation. I now feel that I will never hear from Jetstar again, and the matter will go unresolved forever - and I will be out of pocket as a result of their actions.

I had (or, more precisely, I am having because it's not finished yet) a similar Qantas experience which I will describe in a minute. Check Jetstar's stock exchange listing and complain directly to the CEO (registered mail). The CEO won't read it but they have dedicated staff to look into those things...
 
cpl said:
Check Jetstar's stock exchange listing and complain directly to the CEO (registered mail). The CEO won't read it but they have dedicated staff to look into those things...

cpl,

Jetstar is actually a subsidiary of Qantas (though Qantas doesn't see it that way??).
 
bravoecho1 said:
cpl said:
Check Jetstar's stock exchange listing and complain directly to the CEO (registered mail). The CEO won't read it but they have dedicated staff to look into those things...

Jetstar is actually a subsidiary of Qantas (though Qantas doesn't see it that way??).

I thought they are listed seperately. In the long term it will be interesting to see if and to what extent Jetstar operations undermine the Qantas brand. After all, it can happen eg that you book Qantas holidays and you and up on annoying Jetstar flights... (but that's a different topic)
 
Well the saga continues...

Today I received a call at 10:30am from Sarah advising me that Jetstar would not be reimbursing me for the costs incurred as a result of their decision to change flight schedules. At that point I requested to speak to Julia, Project Manager. She too spoke offensively and offered no solution to my situation, she also said that there was no way anybody who could actually deal with my complaint could speak to me. I advised her to instruct your complaints department to call me at 3:00pm, to which she said she would request they do so. At this point the call was terminated. As I was receiving the call from my vehicle car phone, the call doesn’t disconnect until the other party hangs up the phone. Julia did not do this, and I was then able to hear the conversation between her and Sarah. It is this conversation that shocked me beyond belief. I was so distressed by the conversation that the two were having that I recorded the remaining portion of the call.

Firstly, Julia and Sarah exchanged extremely offensive comments about me. This is probably the most insulted I’ve ever been by any company. I asked Julia during the call to investigate why Sarah had advised me the complaint was being investigated and then admitted she didn’t actually know. Julia assured me that she would look into the complaint. I overheard her saying to Sarah (quote) “he was saying you said yesterday it was being investigated and then today you said it wasn't" to which Sarah replied “Ah huh” with extreme sarcasm in her voice. The two then laughed loudly together.

At the beginning of today’s call, Sarah advised me that Julia was in a meeting and was very reluctant to put her on the phone. She told me (and Julia confirmed this) that she had to be taken out of the meeting to speak to me. However, I would then overhear the two saying (quote) “You were there when I started the phone call... so I put him on hold” which clearly shows that Julia was not in a meeting, and Sarah was straight out lying to me.

The final insult came when Julia discussed with Sarah my request that somebody in the complaints department call me that afternoon. They both laughed openly and Julia exclaimed (quote) “I’ll make sure I’m not available for him” and the pair laughed loudly. At this point they obviously realised the phone was off the hook and the call was quickly terminated.

I am still in shock that two customer service staff would discuss a customer like this, particually while the customer could hear them!!!! I really am lost for words, and equally lost for ideas on what to do
 
Well, I believe you have a story for A Current Affair or Today Tonight.
 
NM said:
I wonder if JetStar recorded the call "for training purposes"?

It might also be used used for "redundancy purposes" :wink:
 
I bet they'll give me the "in this instance, the call wasn't recorded" to which i can say "that's ok, i did it for you"!
I've contacted ACA and Today Tonight, and i've also sent Jetstar a detailed letter explaining what happened and advising them that the media have been informed.
 
Daniel, I recently sent a complaint email to QF, regarding my inability to requalify for Gold NEXT year (I have already requalified for Gold THIS year, so will be Gold until the end of 2005). Basically, the flights I normally take, and the SC's I would earn on them, are being swallowed up by DeathStar. IF those flights were still QF, I would easily requalify.

An interesting paragraph in the email response I received. I thought it would tickle your fancy (and after what you have been through, I am sure you could use a laugh!).

Some of the products and services available on Qantas operated flights are not available on Jetstar. This is because adding these items does not fit within the scope of the low cost carrier model. Jetstar being a low cost carrier will not signify inferior service. On the contrary, the high standard of customer service offered on Jetstar will not be compromised in any way.

(My emphasis on that last sentence).

Now then, after you pick yourself up off the floor after collapsing in a giggling wreck, you may wish to consider this statement, and do with it what you will. I still have the entire email if you need it.

Dave
 
Call Recording

All QANTAS calls are recorded, unless you request otherwise. I would guess Jestar (sic) do to.

The calls are stored and catalogued. They can be retrieved by one or more parameters such as:

  • Date/Time
  • Customer Service Operator
  • Calling Number (if available)
  • Specific phrases or words (voice recognition)
  • Length of call
  • Emotional calls ('tone of' voice recognition)
  • Uncouth Language, swear words
  • Operator Flag

There are other parameters as well.
 
Thats a pretty horriffic response! Not a nice situation at all to be in - is there some ombudsman or something you can go to?

I can honestly say that I haven't had any problems with Jetstar so far. I shuttle weekly back and forth between Hobart/Melbourne and Launceston/Melbourne - 90% of the time on Jetstar as Qantas now only fly twice a day or something similar. I can say that every flight has been on time and I've never had a schedule change let alone a cancellation?!

My hypothesis is that some routes are attracting more customers and those schedules are left alone.... Jetstar seems to be very popular in Tasmania!

However I had a similar sort of experience with Virgin Blue who changed my flight time 3 times then to a new day entirely (!) for a total of 4 changes. To be honest I was only flying them as Qantas was sold out, but I thought I'd be open minded and give them a go.... !!! Voted with my feet I demanded a full refund, took 3 MONTHS to get it as they wanted to give me a flight credit even though they had destroyed my weekend away!!

You all may be interested in this article which highlights the most on time airlines in Australia (yea we know its Jet* and QF) but also the % of flights cancelled - Virgin cancels the most services which wasn't suprising to me at least!

Cheers.

http://www.ozflight.com.au/news/news.php?id=2404
 
Why dont you sned Geoff Dixon an email with the details, it is not hard to work out the email address, qantas use a standard layout!
 
I'm aware that this thread is 3 years old but things have obviously not improved with Jetstar Customer Service.
I have been waiting 9 weeks for some word on what type of refund I will get for a cancelled business class flight that had me flown home chartered CHEAP economy.
I really don't want any refund just an upgrade to BC on my next flight. This is in 2 weeks however and I've been lied to, fobbed off, hung up on, for the 4 times I have tried to get some answers via telephone.
Each call I have been calm, polite and patient, just hoping someone will at least try to assist my concerns. I now think that the names I am given of 'supervisors' and Customer Service managers are false and that my 'holding on' for 20 minutes at a time while someone tries to find "Mark" or "Georgina' is just a ploy whilst they are most likely sitting at their desks eating donurts and having a good giggle.
How the hell can an airline NOT have email or phone contact for its customers.
Simon Westaway should be bloody ashamed at the blase attitude of staff he employs.
I won't use Jetstar again purely for their administration or lack of.
 
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Wow. Really interesting thread.

Danielribo, how did this pan out? This was a bit before my time at AFF and may have been discussed elsewhere.

Lucinda, keep us informed of your trials/efforts....
 
Wow hasn't this risen from the dead. A whole life ago!

In the end I just gave up. I sent the complaint to JQ with a transcript of the recording I made. Believe it or not JQ sent back a pre-written letter (with certain details changed, making it a gramatic nightmare!) and they stated that the level of service I received "was not to the Jetstar standard" and they would forward the matter to the call centre manager who would take the required action against the staff member.

.... of course, my complaint was regarding the call centre manager so I certainly hope she took disiplinary action against herself!

All in all it was a pretty disappointing performance from JQ and I didn't fly them for a long tiem afterwards. Actually, since then I've only flown them on the super-discount fares that don't make them any money so I'm not too upset about it!
 
I now think that the names I am given of 'supervisors' and Customer Service managers are false and that my 'holding on' for 20 minutes at a time while someone tries to find "Mark" or "Georgina' is just a ploy whilst they are most likely sitting at their desks eating donurts and having a good giggle.

And just to confirm, that basically is correct. The two I delt with openly discussed the fact they they sat there for a few minutes while I was on hold as "the manager was retrieved from a meeting". The sad part is JQ obviously encourage and support this kind of behaviour.
 
I thought I'd give it one last try before I document all and send off to whoever actually IS the Customer Relations officer.
This time I was told there is no such person as Mark. When I informed S..n that I was told by 4 people MARK was in fact dealing with my case, the fool backtracked and said ."oh yeah, he's out of the building at the moment."
I maintained my calm and polite manner, god knows how, and I was put on hold for a Narelle. She basically read something from a paper that they must all cite parrot fashion and I laughed, said it must be quite distressing working in such a futile office to which she pretty much agreed and I said my goodbyes.
I did send all documented notes, telephone calls etc. to hopefully a REAL person, but I'm not holding my breath.
I won't give up though, they owe me a Business Class ticket to Asia and I am going to have it. ha ha.
I did want it in 10 days though as I have a flight to Thailand but it's economy.
 
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