Jetstar to Japan beware!

LCrownminer on 11/09/2015 - 17:31
Last edited 11/09/2015 - 20:14 by 1 other user

Hi

After. Buying 2 for 1 tickets to Tokyo via Jetsar as listed on Ozbargain - left today.

After leaving home at 5am and arriving at Gold Coast and waiting at airport - we were advised the Japan leg was cancelled due to mechanical issues! We were lucky and were able to get another flight via Sydney then Hong Kong then Tokyo! Others less fortunate were told it would be 4 days before a flight could be arranged and stranded on Gold Coast. Staff were trying to be helpful but the sheer number of impacted passengers made it impossible.

I understand the previous day's flight from Cairns was also cancelled.

This has really impacted our holiday plans. I should have known better than to book on Jestar - NEVER AGAIN!

Jetsar are ok for domestic but are not geared up for international flights as one hiccup causes major disruptions.

Be warned!

Travel

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Comments

  • spackbace on 11/09/2015 - 17:47
    +4

    https://www.1cover.com.au/

    You travelling overseas without travel insurance?

    Disruption of Journey
    Disruption of Journey: Cover for additional meals and accommodation expenses, after an initial 6 hours delay, if your Journey is disrupted due to circumstances beyond your control

    $1000

    And $5,000 towards alternative transport expenses.

    • oz-dave on 11/09/2015 - 18:25
      +1

      I always have insurance, but I wonder why the company who you have paid to provide service isn't the one expected to pay for the insurance.
      If you stuff up and miss the flight they expect you to pay for it, if they stuff up and can't run the flight, once again you are expected to pay for it :-(

    • noyesmaybeok on 11/09/2015 - 18:48
      +1

      Have you actually read 1 Cover's PDS?

      https://www.1cover.com.au/assets/pdf/MON5326-1Cover-PDS.pdf

      3.2

      WE WILL NOT PAY
      We will not pay for delays or rescheduling by a bus line, airline, shipping line or rail authority unless it is due to a strike, riot, hijack, civil commotion, weather or natural disaster.

      Only the most comprehensive of plans include delays & cancellations. Probably because if everyone included it, providers would have an easier time cancelling things because they don't have to pick up the tab.

      • spackbace on 11/09/2015 - 18:56

        See pg 66:
        Up to $200/24hr period

        And on page 67 under alternative transport

        And just threw in a rough quote, 1 week in Japan from now, for a 30yo, under Plan D is $82.

        That includes $1000 towards meals and accommodation, and $5,000 towards alternative transport.

        $82 for a week overseas isn't exactly blowing the budget out ;)

        • noyesmaybeok on 11/09/2015 - 19:43

          Plan D isn't covered by that. I'd assume Plan A (which is) is a fair bit more (and it's for a couple).

          Only for trips that meet these conditions by the looks:

          to reach a wedding, funeral, conference, sporting event or prepaid travel/tour arrangements on time

          Pretty vague as to what 'prepaid travel/tour arrangements' are, I'd be surprised if they'd consider simply having accommodation as a prepaid arrangement, imagine it requires more comprehensive activities, otherwise they'd be forking out nearly 100% of the time (only time you wouldn't have accommodation is to see family, and not many would get insurance for a trip that's just seeing family).

          Car insurance is so much simpler, would be great if everything was like that!

        • noyesmaybeok on 12/09/2015 - 01:58

          Ah, I think I've figured out the trick :)

          $1000 is the max you'll get for accommodation, meals you had to purchase due to staying an extra night or whatever waiting for a flight.

          $5000 is for alternative transport, i.e. new plane flight.

          You won't get any reimbursement for your lost accommodation, tours, tickets etc due to arriving late. Cancellation fees & lost deposits cover "such as; sickness, injuries, strikes, collisions, retrenchment and natural disasters".

          By excluding any 'lost costs' the insurance claim would always be rather limited, and as such no-one near as useful as it could be. Seems odd $5k is the limit whether solo or a family of say, 6. You aren't going to get next day flights to many places for a family for that.

          That would also mean if you were going to fixed date event (sports game, wedding etc) and couldn't make it so no point going at all, you'd have absolutely no money back - all tickets, accommodation etc gone.

          Better than nothing, certainly not a catch all though, plenty of cases where you can be insured and still end up losing a lot money even though you had "comprehensive" insurance.

          Could be wrong, that's how it reads to me.

  • chipstss on 11/09/2015 - 18:04

    Bloody wankas

  • jzdhgkd on 11/09/2015 - 18:13
    +1

    Yeah a lot of my friends have sworn off jetstar for this very reason.

    Virgin seems to have a much better reputation but unfortunately tend to be more expensive.

    You get what you pay for I guess!

    • currentfad on 11/09/2015 - 18:32

      Yes Virgin and China Southern have been my go-to airlines if possible and affordable.

  • altomic on 11/09/2015 - 19:14
    +10

    Maybe they should have let the plane fly with mechanical issues

    • plasmapuff on 11/09/2015 - 20:13
      +3

      Would you rather the plane crash because they ignored said mechanical issues? The airline also loses out when they cancel a flight. There are no winners.

      It's a holiday…get over it. Just join up later on in the itinerary.

      That's why you buy travel insurance…claim back extra cost of flights/accommodation.

  • [Deactivated] on 11/09/2015 - 19:20
    +1

    Thank's for sharing by the way

  • Crownminer on 11/09/2015 - 20:05

    I have insurance - but that's not the point - my holiday and many others have been f—-d up.

    Very happy that weren't flying a plane with mechanical issues - but if you run an airline you should have redundancy rather than simply cancel overseas trips of unsuspecting passengers.

    You do get what you pay for though!!

    Behind us in the queue there were hundreds of passengers that weren't so lucky as U.S. And had to wait four days for another flight - WHAT A NIGHTMARE

    • RockyRaccoon on 11/09/2015 - 20:25
      +7

      Redundancy

      Just think about what you are saying.

      So they keep a crew and plane on standby for such an issue.

      What type of plane do they keep?

      Maybe they had one but as you said the Cairns flight was cancelled so maybe it got the redundancy?

      BTW do you know how much a plane costs?

      Also only certain types in the fleet can fly to Japan, likewise the crew.

      Crew have limits of how long they can be on a shift, so say the plane flys from Melbourne to pick you up, the original crew if they flew would go over the hours allowed (waiting for the plane to arrive is paid work time)

      So build in redundancy but that costs, so your 2 for 1 fare probably wouldnt be viable. Alternatively they could cut corners. Not something you would like.

      Yes I fully appreciate you are pissed off, I would be as well, but the point of avoiding any airline only works if you have economic alternatives and frankly cheap fares mean higher risks. welcome to discount flying.

      And you got there. Those who missed out probably have more of an issue that you.

  • Crownminer on 11/09/2015 - 20:06

    Yesterday's flight from Cairns was also cancelled

  • RockyRaccoon on 11/09/2015 - 20:13
    +7

    Flown Jetstar to Japan and return and the trip was great.

    Princess get real it happens with all airlines every now and again.

    Flying faulty equipment isnt in your interest

    For the record I've had trips with the following airlines and have had issues

    American
    Qantas
    Emirates
    Singapore
    Cathay
    Virgin (Stuck in LA for 3 days)
    United
    Continental
    JAL
    AirAsia
    Uzbekistan
    and yes Jetstar

    But likewise have had good trips with many of the above
    Gold with American after 1 million miles of travelling. So the more you fly the greater the likelyhood of getting an issue

    If you want to fly you have to accept that you may get delays for mechanical reasons. Alternatively dont fly. And yes get travel insurance that covers delays (some don't)

    Either that or fly airlines like Pan Am where in their final years Duct tape was often visible in the cabin

  • [Deactivated] on 11/09/2015 - 20:20

    Flown twice the same leg, no dramas.

  • Crownminer on 11/09/2015 - 21:05
    -3

    Jetstar is a joke - you should have seen how many passengers were impacted - hundreds.

    • zelda707 on 11/09/2015 - 22:47
      +4

      It happens to all airlines, not just jetstar

    • bargainslut on 12/09/2015 - 07:24
      +2

      Jetstar are bang out of order. They should've let the faulty aircraft take off. What could possibly of gone wrong?

      • teresakhong on 12/09/2015 - 09:19

        Only killing all the bargain hunters out there?

  • bargainjargon on 12/09/2015 - 01:53

    I've flown Jetstar overseas a few times (including Japan during a 2 for 1 sale). Shit service and the cabin stinks of jet fuel upon landing but I got to my destination with no issues.

    Qantas has screwed me with delays more times than Jetstar (2 to 0). I'd still pick Qantas over Jetstar though if the price is the same or someone's giving me a free flight.

  • Stroudie on 12/09/2015 - 08:45
    +2

    We flew to Hawaii earlier this year with Jetstar, took all the bells & whistles with the ticket price. Still just an unreliable ordinary budget carrier with little or no cabin staff etiquette.
    The early AM return flight to Sydney was delayed for 1 hour, then another hour, then eventually we boarded only to be told to disembark, they had a problem refuelling ! The flight was 2.5 hours late leaving the terminal & then had to wait 30 mins on tarmac before we could take off ! No apologies, just "technical issues" 3 hours doesn't seem much in the scheme of things, but when you have to make other connections & in our case, had our car parked in long term car park & had to pay the extra charge for overstaying our time.
    I vowed never again for international flights. They just don't have it, The service is shit !

  • altomic on 12/09/2015 - 15:45
    +1

    Some gov stats for airline performance (updated monthly) http://bitre.gov.au/statistics/aviation/otp_month.aspx

    • RockyRaccoon on 12/09/2015 - 21:38

      Interesting, but you know that the Bali Volcano would have affected the figures for Jetstar, and to a lesser amount Virgin.

      • altomic on 12/09/2015 - 22:43
        +1

        The stats are just for domestic flights.

        but yeah Bali would have skewed data for international flights

  • pat0809 on 12/09/2015 - 22:06

    I have flown with Jetstar from Melbourne to Tokyo 5 times. I've had stop overs at the Gold Coast and Cairns as well as a direct flight. The only major issue I had with them is they cancelled my flight from Tokyo to the Gold Coast but instead put me on a Qantas business class flight to Sydney. Same thing happened to my Japanese friend who visited me in Australia. We weren't too angry about being put on Qantas business class lol

  • mit on 14/09/2015 - 21:58

    "This has really impacted our holiday plans. I should have known better than to book on Jestar - NEVER AGAIN!"

    This logic.. facepalm

    But wait, I should've known better to go read stuff on ozbargain, I've wasted a whole 5 mins of my life - NEVER AGAIN!

    PS. Like many others I've taken multiple flights to Japan direct with Jetstar without a hiccup. Great service for a great price. Couldn't recommend it more. WHY WOULD ANYBODY FLY ANY OTHER AIRLINE EVER!

  • onetwothreefour on 21/09/2015 - 16:19

    I have flown multiple times with Jetstar to Japan and only had one flight cancelled. They put us up in a hotel for the night and flew us to Japan the next day.

    Yes, the service they provide is probably not as good as full service airlines but you get what you pay for.

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