Jetstar "Ugrade"?

[jcon12]

I'm travelling on JQ3 to HNL this Sunday on a Starter Plus fare. Just received the upgrade phonecall. Was offered an upgrade to Business for $429 which would have included 1.5 FFpoints/mile and lounge access. When I said, "Oh They've gone up a lot." The heavily accented young lady then offered, "We can offer you an upgrade to Business for $329 but this doesn't include FF points or lounge access, but you get 30kg luggage allowance." (Who needs 30kg going to HNL?)
I pointed out that my Starter Plus fare included FF points and asked would I still get them if I accepted this offer. She giggled and said ,"No."
I then asked how the cost of upgrades was determined. She replied that the "system" generates the amount.
I politely declined.

 

[tuapekastar]

Welcome to AFF jcon12!

It does seem a tad pointless offering you a paid cabin upgrade that does not include points/SCs you were going to receive in the first place. JQ lost me when they changed *class to 'business' class and introduced the extra charges to get lounge access and points/SCs.

At least, as you say, you had the opportunity to decline, and exercised it.

 

[Austman]

They lost me too. I used to do several long-hauls a year in StarClass. No more.

 

[eastwest101]

Yeah - I think there is a fair bit of customer pushback/reseistance about the very high JQ bundle prices, I think that we will see some repackaging and reality checks in the prices of these JQ bundles in the future.

 

[samh004]

Yeah - I think there is a fair bit of customer pushback/reseistance about the very high JQ bundle prices, I think that we will see some repackaging and reality checks in the prices of these JQ bundles in the future.

So long as they continue making a profit I doubt that


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[FuzzyAUS]

Yeah - I think there is a fair bit of customer pushback/reseistance about the very high JQ bundle prices, I think that we will see some repackaging and reality checks in the prices of these JQ bundles in the future.

I wish they would, we used to use them a bit, but now for the price difference we just go mainline...

 

[Stephen65]

Same here. JQ *class was a reasonable deal when you got SCs. Now that you have to pay an exorbitant loading to get lounge access (worthless to me) and SCs it's not worth flying. For the bundled cost you may as well fly proper J in QF.

 

[Austman]

So long as they continue making a profit I doubt that


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Yes - but is ex StarClass (now Business Max) doing well? That's the question!

 

[Stephen65]

Picking a flight at random - MEL/SIN return in Feb, the standard "business class'" fare is $1400 'but if you want lounge access and SCs its $1800.

I don't know what JQ "pays" QF in the QF groups internal accounting for two lounge accesses, around 15,000 FF points and 240 SCs but I will bet it is a fraction of $400.

 

[DontGetMeStarted]

We recently flew to Singapore on a Jestsaver Fare and a few weeks before received an email offering business for $199 or Business max for $249 we took up the option for Business Max both ways. As the original flights were pretty reasonable we took up the option but had to call Jetstar to accept with a code and much confusion ensued as we called up pretty quickly but their systems had not been updated with the offer after much debate they accepted the offer they sent us!! it really is a bit hopeless. We have done the Syd to Hnl route many times upgraded at Sydney where available but the price was always different and higher each time

 

[jcon12]

I'll continue playing the game and see if there are any ODUs when I check in. Definitely not worth $329 to lose the FF points I've already paid for, just for a slightly wider seat. Have used *class many times in the past: 3xHNL, coughet and Ho Chi Minh.
I'm returning on "business" class from HNL. It'll be interesting to see if there is any difference at all.
(I'm a little spoilt. My last Business class flight was from LAX on the A380.)
I thought I'd see if I could sleep in cattle. I'll post a report when I return. It might be the last time on Jetstar International for me too.