Stood my ground and fought with them for 4 hours!

About 9 months ago Jetstar Hawaii was on sale so I booked tickets for our family for a holiday departing Sydney at 4:15pm on Sunday 24/7 arriving in Honolulu the same Sunday 24/7 at 6am.

A few months later I recieved a notice via email saying that there have been changes with our flights...it's now a connecting flight departing Sydney at 12:45pm on 24/7 to Melbourne, and departing Melbourne at 4:20pm on the same day therefore arriving in Honolulu at 6:15am Sunday 24/7. I didn't mind it because it was arriving in Honolulu the same time.

I went ahead and book our accommodation and car for the entire period of our stay.

Literally at 6pm last night, while driving I got a text from Jetstar saying that my connecting flight from Melbourne to Honolulu had been delay due to engineering problems...and we have been put on a new flight departing Melbourne on Monday 25/7 at 10pm! That almost one day and a half delayed! I briefly read the text because my phone was on low battery and it died soon after. I rushed home to charge the phone and quickly rang Jetstar to clarify.

The lady on the phone assured me that my flight was still a connecting flight leaving Melbourne on Sunday 24/7 at 4:20pm because it hasn't shown on the system that it has been changed to Monday departure! She proceed to offer us $50 Jetstar voucher per person. I kept insisting her to recheck the system because I have just gotten a text to say that my flight is now on Monday. After a few minutes she apologized and confirmed that yes indeed it has been delayed due engineering problems and is now departing on Monday 25/7! She offered $150 hotel voucher per room! I refused to accept her offers and demanded to get us on a flight that will get us in Honolulu by Sunday 24/7 because we have an important event to attend. She put me on hold but I hung up on her because I wanted to call a friend who works for jetstar to see if if he can find out what the problem was.

I called my friend and he told me that Jetstar have been routinely cancelling flights from Melbourne to Honolulu for the last 2 to 3 weeks. He was also able to tell me that there was a Qantas flight departing on Sunday 24/7 which was almost empty. He told me to stand my ground and fight for it because Jetstar is like any other businesses....they are bound by consumer laws...just like buying a car...you can't pay for a red car and then given a blue car and they expect you to be quiet about it. And I found out that you don't have to accept any changes made to your flights if these changes are made months prior to your departure...unless the flight is cancelled..but they wouldn't know if the plane is cancelled or not months in advance (hope I made sense)

I called back Jetstar and spoke with April and just basically demanded that they get us a Sunday flight. After about 1 hour on the phone with her I told her I wanted to talk to her supervisor. She told me to wait and assured me that like her..her supervisor won't be able to help. I was put on the phone with supervisor Karen. Talked to her for about 1.5 hours. Throughout the course of the conversation, I found out that there were 5 connecting flights departing Sydney on Sunday 24/7 that were delayed due to engineering problems. 5! And that they allocated 50 seats on the Qantas flight that I mentioned earlier that was almost empty. And that 50 seats are allocated on a first in first served basis. I told her I didn't know that that was an option otherwise I would have called right away to make we get the Qantas seats. She said Jetstar sent a text out to say that. I told her that I didn't see that option in the text I recieved. Anyway, she couldn't help me. I asked to talk to her manager. She then said the same as April.."please can I put you on hold ma'am? But I can assure you that noone can help you"

I was put on the phone with manager Solane. I stood my ground and demanded the same thing...to be put on a Qantas flight on Sunday 24/7. Solane told me over and over again that that isn't an option. She told me that the Jetstar plane that was canceled had to be cancel because it was getting its engine replaced. I told her that all 5 flights are delayed are due to engineering problems...so are ALL 5 planes getting their engines replaced at the same time??????? But flights have been cancelled for the last 3 weeks! She then told me that Jetstar moved their maintainance of their planes from August to July! I told her so this explains why Jetstar flights are delayed all year round??????? She didn't know what to say. She offered to do an express refund for me so I could buy our tickets on the Qantas flight to Honolulu on Sunday. I asked her how long is the express refund..she said 5 days! OMG! I told her I am not going to pay for last minute Qantas tickets which will cost me an arm and a leg for...hence why I purchased tickets from Jetstar 9 months ago when it was on sale???

I told her that after this event...I want a copy of our recorded conversation so I can take it to the media.

She put me on hold....after almost 4 hours...long and behold...they put us on the Qantas flight for Sunday 24/7.

I feel so bad for Jetstar staffs. Their greediness are putting their staffs at risk of being verbally abused all the time. I was told by a jetstar employee that jetstar tickets go on sale often...then they would go in and change people's flights to spread them out to different flights...making room for last minutes seats which they can get more money for.

I am upset that they wasted my time but glad that I got what I wanted in the end.