CAIRNS FLIGHT TO SEE TOTAL ECLIPSE CANCELLED - 4 DAYS LATER OFFER REPLACEMENT!

We were flying Sydney to Cairns on the 11th with an 8 month old, that flight was cancelled and we were offer a flight via PERTH! with a massive stop over, the whole trip would be over 21 hours arriving in Cairns at 4.10am
The other 'option' was to fly on the 14th - idiots!

We are now flying to Townsville and hiring a car from there - no offer to help pay for the car.
They won't even put us on the Qantas connecting flight.

They also changed our return flights from Sunday 18th to Monday 19th without telling us or booking an extra nights accommodation (which we booked through jetstar) so we lose our wages on Monday and have to pay for an extra night.

We were given x3 $50 vouchers - only to be used on jetstar flights within three months = useless
I will never fly jetstar/cuntass again

Good luck everyone and hope to see you at the eclipse

I was appalled to read about these cancellations from Sydney too, especially the family travelling with a baby. Although we decided in the end to get a refund (still a big question mark over this), we were offered Melbourne to Cairns via Adelaide which is not as bad as Sydney to Cairns via Perth! I really think the media needs to be alerted to this. They will all apparently be converging on Cairns to monitor the event, and should know about this profiteering.

They also changed my flights not once but twice (there are 5 of us in our group on 3 separate bookings made months ago) and so we decided to take the refund for the Melbourne to Cairns leg since we have no confidence that there won't be any further changes. Now booked on another airline at a higher cost (with a luggage allowance) but feel a little more secure with them. However I've now read comments on Jetstar's "refund" policy and am worried that they won't decide about the refund for 15 business days. Why do they employ people to blatantly lie to you?

Hi Clare. You're right about their shonky auditing. I had 3 or 4 calls with their call centre as I was trying to coordinate 3 separate bookings for various family members, one of which was actually for the 6am flight on the Monday and not, at that stage, subject to change. We decided to get refunds for all our outward trips and use another carrier as we have no confidence that they will get us there. The funny thing that transpired was that they had it in their records that the flight on the 12th was being refunded due to schedule changes (although to my knowledge there were none - I simply had lost confidence in their ability to get us there), and that we were going to be refunded for a journey via Adelaide which was a lot more than a direct trip from Melbourne, although we hadn't paid for this. I did actually query this because it didn't seem right, but who knows what they will pay and when. It does, though, demonstrate their total incompetence and the chaos which they have rather unfairly allowed their poorly trained call centre staff to handle. Imagine what it must be like to be instructed to contact all the passengers of booked out flights and tell them they were now moved to flights AFTER the event for which they were travelling. This decision would have been taken higher up and it is they who should be shamed and exposed.

Hi Clare,
I agree, taking collective action and contacting the media in Cairns is a great idea! I'm in.
We have booked our flight on the 13th of August (early enough to have tickets at a resonable price), JQ938 from Sydney to Cairns for the 12th to see the solar eclipse and booked the hotel/transfer (non-refundable). And yesterday, we got a call informing us that "due to mecanical engineering" the flight has been cancelled. They wanted to rebook us on the 8th or the 14th, with no offer to pay for the accomodation of course! the 14th is after the solar eclipse, and the 8th is 4 days earlier.... I asked if there were other flights to Cairns on the 12th or 11th or if they could put us on Quantas flight (I checked at the same time online, and they had seat available on quantas for the 12th), but they just answered that they were all sold out on Jetstar and puting us on Quantas flight was "not listed in the available options". So we had to buy tickets on another airline, for 3 times the price!!! My father (who used to work for an airline company) informed me that a "mecanical engineering problem" or "maintenance" etc... is not a valid excuse 10 days prior to the flight. I'm really upset about all this and really willing to take collective action! Additionally, last week, my flight from Brisbane to Sydney was also cancelled... however, they could rebook me on another flight 4 hours later, so it wasn't as bad. Please, do not hesitate to contact me! Thanks

Hi Clare,

The same thing happened to my parents and my bookings. I booked on the 15th of July, my parents even earlier, and have been getting emails saying that they have changed the flights, mostly just the plane and therefore flight number, every few weeks since then. Finally Sunday night we get a call from Jetstar saying our flight had been "cancelled" and we could fly up on the 14th, after the eclipse. My mother has spent most of yesterday and today on the phone finally forcing them to transfer her to customer relations here in Australia, not overseas and is still waiting on them to sort something out. Despite the lies about planes being cancelled it became very clear on talking to the customer relations people here in australia that they have simply reassigned those flights as Qantas flights, kicked everyone who didn't pay premium fares off them so that they could resell those seats for a much higher price which would more than make up for the fact that they had to refund the cheaper fares. It is blatant profiteering. Not only that, for every change they had made to the flights previously, even if it was just a flight number, we got an email and had to log in and accept the changes to acknowledge we knew about it. This time we got no such email and when I logged into the booking on the jetstar website it had already been changed to say I was flying up on the 14th flight. This was before I had even spoken to anyone at jetstar, I checked following a call from my parents who had received a call.
We have kept all correspondence regarding this and would be happy to submit it to the ACCC along with everyone else. Thanks.

Hi Elanor

Regarding the lack of written notification (to avoid a paper trail from Jetstar?), this was also my experience. I am managing 3 separate bookings, and for all previous changes, I received email notifications. For the cancellation, I received a phone call on my Australian mobile (I am currently overseas), telling me about one of the bookings with a cancelled flight but not the other two which were just moved without any notification! When on the phone I requested confirmation in writing for the refunds I was requesting, but so far have received nothing. Also when I went on to the Jetstar page to check my remaining flights (we kept the return leg, due to the high cost of the alternative), one of the bookings was completely missing. Another call had that reinstated, but since then I selected "print my itinerary" from the website, but it did not generate an email to my email account. Their whole system has broken down.

I have had a similar issue. They rang yesterday to say the return flight from Cairns to Brisbane was cancelled and would not be able to give me a return flight until 5 days later. They don't seem to think that this should be an issue?! I explained that I have visitors from the UK and their return flight back to London was before this. By the looks of it they have cancelled the JetStar flights so they can use the slots for extra Qantas flights so that they can get more money - not on at all!!
Their excuse of technical faults is clearly bogus- there is no way they would know this a week ahead of time and even if it is because there is already faults there is no way they would not have them fixed before hand, those planes must be needed for numerous flights before next week.

I'm in for taking this further, you can contact me kirstgee@optusnet.com.au

I have lodged an online complaint form - some how I doubt I'll hear back.

I'm curious how the plane from Melbourne and the plane from Sydney both have technical issues, besides we were just told that they did not know why the flight was cancelled.

Alan Joyce get your boxing gloves on

My son and I planned to see the eclipse.
Manilla phone centre just called me to say my flight was cancelled "for Operational Reasons". JQ938 Sydney-Cairns on the 12th.

As far as I can see, I'll have to drive there now. It's going to be a long long trip!

Jetstar cancelled all flights that weekend and offered me the 8th instead. No offer to pay accommodation. Offered me 14th. Not much good for the eclipse!

I have now filed an official complaint with the ACCC for breach of trade laws, given that they have lied about the reason for cancelling the flight, as well as sent the story to today tonight and ACA. Message me any contact details if you are happy to be contacted.

This is absolutely outrageous! I didn't realise it was happening to other passengers until I read this thread. There is no way Jetstar/Qantas are going to get away with this. It makes me wonder whether Jetstar will actually process refunds - the person on the Jetstar line was far too obliging and a full refund of my round trip sounds a little too good to be true.

The excuses are simply full of lies - surely Jetstar must be held accountable for this too. No engineer in the airline industry would confirm that the planes are unsuitable for flight a week before departure!!!

I have contacted ACCC with my complaint. Will give them a call tomorrow.

Happy to be contacted to give my story - vy.dinh.22@gmail.com

I'm wondering if this should be approached as some sort of a class action. Are there any lawyers out there with experience in this type of thing? Although I'm currently in Europe I leave for Australia tomorrow, arriving Saturday. I'm more than happy to be a) contacted b) form part of a class action c) make my own submission to the ACCC. My email address is alisoneprata@gmail.com.

Just for the fun of it I posted a query on the Jetstar facebook page, and practically laughed out loud at the responses made by Jetstar reps who monitor the comments feed. Aren't they beginning to realise that their line of "we do our best to to keep to the schedule booked" is beginning to sound rather hollow?

Here are some of their best responses (specifically related to Cairns flights):

Hi Alison,
Thanks for your feedback regarding this disruption. As we've advised the affected passengers, we do our best to keep to the schedule booked, but sometimes due to many reasons, we're unable to do so. We'd encourage any affected passengers to call our Reservations Team on 131 538 to make alternative arrangements. Thanks for your concern - Angela

Hi Gavin,
Thanks for getting in touch with us. Unfortunately, sometimes timetabling issues mean that we have to change our flight schedules. We understand that it's important for all our passengers to get to their destination at the time booked, that's why we avoid making changes wherever possible. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience this has caused and I hope that despite this, you got to the eclipse. Thanks - Angela

Hi Adam,
Thanks for getting in touch with us about this issue. We understand that quite a lot of people are heading north to see the eclipse. Unfortunately, sometimes we do have to make changes to our schedules and we realise the huge impact this has on customers. We do our best to avoid it, but sometimes it's necessary. Have you called our Reservations Team to be advised of your options for new flights? Alternatively, you may be able to make the changes yourself online through our 'manage booking' tab on our website. Thanks and my apologies again for the inconvenience - Angela

Hi Elizabeth,
I'm very sorry that we've disrupted your plans. I can definitely appreciate that you'll have things booked for certain pick-up times etc but due to the nature of air travel, we're unable to guarantee that we'll be able to carry you at the time specified when booking. Have you been in touch with our Reservations Team to further discuss your options? You can give them a call on 131 538. Thanks - Angela

Hi Elizabeth, Please be assured we only cancel or delay flights when it is absolutely necessary, as we do realise the impact it has on our passengers. If you would like us to formally review your experience, please submit your details here: https://ssl.jetstar.com/au/en/customer-service-portal/general-feedback . Thanks- Jo

Hi,
Not sure if anyone has seen but someone (it's one of the most recent posts on this site) took JetStar to the Department of Fairtrade Tribunal and JetStar settled out of court - plus he stated that it only cost him $37 as the other costs i.e. lawyers fees are not charge to you. We should all do it!

Family with 8month old
Our story just gets more ridiculous. After changing our flights to Sydney to Townsville (then driving) I asked them why our flights from Perth to Cairns are still on our itinerary, apparently we requested this!? NEVER!
I asked why I would want to fly from Sydney to Townsville, then from Perth to Cairns
JS "Madame, have you asked your travel companion why he requested this?"
Me "have a look at the map of Australia and tell me why anyone would request that"
JS "yes Madame that does seem a little strange"
Me "so can you cancel the Perth to Cairns flight? As I won't be using it"
JS "Madame you will be a no show"
Basically from this extended conversation I worked out if they cancelled our Perth flight they would be obliged to give us a refund according to the 'system'

I want us to take action together and really show them that this is NOT how you treat people.

Besides an 8month old traveling with us, my mother is coming who suffers from lymphodema after a battle with cancer. She doesn't need to be on the road for 5hrs from Townsville to Cairns with a swollen arm. Yes the car will be air con, but we will have to stop loads for the baby.
Such a nightmare!

Me too!! They cancelled our return leg to Brisbane & can only fly me home 5 DAYS LATER!! They're leaving me stranded in Cairns for 5 days with no offer to help pay for expenses despite their "Customer Guarantee #4 saying you won't be out of pocket". Only Virgin business class left for a grand which I can't afford so having to take time off work... My partner is able to fly to Melbourne & stay overnight to get a flight to Brisbane - again no offer to help pay expenses & even had the gall to charge for 2 legs of baggage!! After 4hrs arguing with rude 'agents' with broken english (one of which hung up on us) all we got was $25 voucher each to use towards future Jetstar travel - I will never fly with them again!
I'm also happy to take this further - class action or A Current Affair, keep me posted! nyssa_henry@hotmail.com

Hi all,
I think that we should now file an official complaint all together with the ACA. If we are several, we will probably have more power than if we individually file a complaint. And Keith, I agree, we should try to take them to the Department of Fairtrade Tribunal. How would you like to proceed? my email is nadja.franz@gmail.com

Has everyone now made it to Cairns? We arrived yesterday (flying Virgin which cost our family of 5 over $2000 one way) and still no sign of the refund for the cancelled Jetstar tickets. We are supposed to be flying back to Melbourne on Saturday via Jetstar but they never sent us a new itinerary nor have they contacted us again since the cancelled outward journeys. Keith and Vy, how are you going with your ACCC filings? Have you had any advice on the best way to proceed?

Jetstar promised me a refund after they cancelled this flight.
They said "It takes fifteen business days".
So, nineteen days later, I called 13 15 38 to ask where it was.
They said:
It takes fifteen days to make a DECISION.
Once made it takes fourteen business days to PROCESS the refund.
I said "But a payment is cleared by most banks overnight..."
They said "Our payments take fourteen days for our finance department to process.

Hmmmm. I wonder what I could do with that infomation?
1). post it here
2). go to the ACCC

Well, 1). is done. Let's see how busy I am this afternoon for 2).