Jetstar makes our Hall of Shame: a classic customer rant

You can't say you weren't warned... ©

Tiger Airlines has done it. Now Jetstar, Qantas' low-budget carrier service, joins our official Hall of Shame, thanks to this sparkling rant from long time maven Died on Hold. Read. Enjoy. Thank God it was him and not you.

Composed while on hold this morning….

The sheer level of uselessness of your airline had to be experienced to be believed this morning. As I pass the 3 hour mark of time wasted by you this Saturday morning - waiting for someone at your call centre to actually answer the freaking phone so I can get a refund for a return flight I can't take because you cancelled the outbound flight at zero notice - I approach new levels of frustration and fury. The facts of the matter are these: 

1. I was scheduled to present at a conference at Coolum, on the Sunshine Coast, this morning at 11.45

2. I therefore was booked by my assistant on JQ782, which was supposed to leave Sydney at 0845 and arrive MCY 1020, more than enought time to travel the 20 min to Coolum.

3. I arrived at the airport in good time, 35 min before departure, already checked in online and with no hand luggage. Seeing that the flight was not boarding or even at "go to gate" stage, I bought a coffee and a breakfast item. At no stage did the indicator board say the flight was boarding.

4. I then arrived at the Boarding gate 20 min before scheduled departure to find no plane, no passengers and no staff. I rechecked the nearby departure board and suddenly up flashed "cancelled". No explanation, no announcement, no next steps suggested.

5. After being bounced between 3 counters and queuing twice, I was told that my only alternatives were to depart on a 1430 flight or get a refund. On observing that I needed to be at my destination at midday, which was why I'd booked this flight in the first place, I was told there was nothing the staff could do. Still no explanation was given for the cancellation and at no stage was ANY initative taken to do anything that might actually solve the problem that Jetstar had created, e.g. book an alternative flight via Brisbane or whatever. The sheer indifference and passivity was astounding. It was as if Jetstar had never encountered this situation before - ie passengers needing to be somewhere at a certain time which you prevented by cancelling a flight at no notice - which given your reputation I highly doubt.

6. The only positive was that I was able to organise a refund (it seemed - I'll believe when I see the dough) for the outbound flight at the airport. However I did not cancel my return flight because I still harboured hopes of actually getting to my destination some other way. However after stuffing around for an hour on my laptop trying to find alternative flights that your staff member could presumably have organised in moments, I decided to cancel my presentation and return home. Trying to minimise wasted time by calling customer service from the cab on the way home to organise the refund for the return ticket, I found that there is no actual phone number to call on the customer service card given to me or the boarding pass and there is no obvious information on this stupid website on how to get a refund.

7. therefore I've had to wait on hold for 20 minutes - time I've used to type this email - to try and get a refund. I have finally achieved this only to be told it will take you 15 days to give the money back. Why? I can only assume the electrons at Jetstar as unreliable as the flights because I'm sure as hell it doesn't take 15 days from the time the attendant presses "enter" on the file for the electrons to get to the finance system to release the funds from the bank. So basically you've wasted half a day, caused me to cancel a professional engagement, expressed total indifference the whole time (the person on the phone helpfully explained that on the itinerary you have the right to cancel any flight at any time for any reason, as if that made it ok), failed to make any effort to find an actual solution and now are hanging on to the money for 15 days as well. I wonder how long it will take you to not do anything about this email???

I look forward to discussing this matter with you but I may need to put you on hold for 20 minutes first.

Sincerely

      Died on Hold