What good is a Jetstar voucher if I'm never going to fly Jetstar again?!

After having us wait on the tarmac for an hour and a half, the captain finally announced that he had to cancel the flight. Flights get cancelled so I was reasonably forgiving (Jetstar seems to have more cancellations than others but you get what you pay for). They then announced that as it was the last flight of the night, they would pick up dinner and hotel bills up to $150. I had to get to work the next day so I got my wife to book me the first flight out in the morning. It turned out to be a little more expensive but still cheap.

The next day I rang up to sort out my refund. The not-very-helpful Jetstar person told me that customer relations would be in touch with me in three weeks. Three weeks?! It turned out that there was a fair backlog of multiple cancellations. She was rude and never apologised. Her poor customer service actually made up my mind to never fly with them again.

Two and a half weeks later, someone emailed me a Jetstar voucher. I waited for someone to call. Finally, I called up and told them that the voucher was no good as I didn't intend to use it. I asked to be reimbursed the amount I paid for the second flight. No luck. More calls as my complaint got elevated. After weeks of toing and froing the final person talked to me. I told her that I paid for that second flight in good faith that Jetstar would reimburse me for the money. I wasn't claiming any hotel bill or food bill. She refused to budge. No apology. Nothing.

In the five weeks since the cancelled flight, I've flown with Air New Zealand 10 times. I fly twice every week so that's a lot of lost revenue going Jetstar's way. The cost of the flights have been slightly more but they're on time (and sometimes even land early), plus there's snacks and drink. I've also joined Air NZ Koru Club.

Haha Jetstar.