Jetstar wanted to charge rebooking fee & fare difference after Christchurch earthquake

I am from the US, and was in Christchurch during the earthquake, and lost everything and ended up a shelter for the night.

I went to the airport the next day for my scheduled Jetstar flight from CHC to AKL, and was told by Jetstar that there would be no flights that day, and that I had to call their 0800 number to rebook. When I tried to do this, they told me that I had to pay a re-booking fee and a fare difference(!). After speaking to 3 different people, I finally talked to a manager who initially told me the same thing. Then, he said he would wave the fee and the additional fare. However, when he tried to do this on the computer, he claimed that he couldn't override the computer. Really?

Even with paying a re-booking fee and fare difference (about US$100 total), Jetstar couldn't get me on a flight until Feb 27 (4 days later).

I decided to buy a Air New Zealand ticket from Christchurch to Auckland for Feb 24 for NZ$60, and caught my connecting flight to the US from there. Air New Zealand was wonderful, and what a huge contrast from Jetstar!