AN OPEN LETTER TO JETSTAR JAPAN!
I’m not one who usually writes a very openly long post and often times avoid such chaotic situation. But after what I have seen, I knew I had to do my part in speaking out on the medium I knew best. In hopes that this will reach the company’s executives and improve their service so that the next passengers won’t experience the same disappointment as we did and to inform those of what could happen in the unfortunate event that the same case would occur. I am speaking out on behalf of the hundreds of passengers that tried talking to the staff but never got the response we needed.
A few hours ago, I, my parents, and hundred of Japanese/Filipino passengers, received the unfortunate news that our flight no.GK95 bound for Manila via Nagoya was cancelled at around 9pm (Japan time) due to an upcoming typhoon in the Philippines. Of course we and everyone else reacted in shock but after awhile understood the importance of safety from the typhoon. However, it was what happened after that really forced us to speak out.
First, they asked all those who bought from the duty free shops to return all their purchase. However, perishable products such as chocolates were non refundable thus the customer had the pay for taxes instead. If we were informed before hand, it would have saved us a lot of time to rethink our purchase.
Second, assuming that the company knew of the typhoon. We would have appreciated it if the cancellation was decided hours earlier and not an hour after the stated boarding time. Maybe the company made a last minute decision, but even then you should have helped us find a place to stay. Remember this is a night flight. Thus establishments or transportations are about to close. Not everyone lives near the area, most traveled from hundreds of miles away with hours worth of travel time. You did not only waste people’s time but also money from having to look for more expensive alternatives to find a place/hotel accommodation to stay.
Third, the part that got everyone off their feet. The staff clearly announced that Jetstar would take ZERO responsibility of what had happened. NO hotel booking. NO assistance on how to get home. NO compensation from the various losses. Nothing. Just a ticket refund, a self rebooking to an unsure date, and returned baggages.
We are not pissed about why the flight was cancelled. We are pissed about how the company carried the cancellation. The company failed to meet the proper customer service that any passenger deserves. We and everyone was left to find our own ways to deal with the problem with no help.
Just because this is a “low fare airline” does not mean you have the right to treat the passengers with such low service. We chose your airline because we believed that you would bring us and every passenger home. My parents have been loyal passengers. We and all the passengers entrusted you and you left us there to find our own way.
The staff had to call the police to get people to go home and stop complaining but understand that this people spent extra to find a place, had to make various calls for rebooking and rescheduling of plans, some would miss special events, some miss days of what could have been spent with family, and many more. I saw the worry in people’s eyes from sadness and loss. Know that you have caused a number of moral damages.
I am still blessed to be tech-savvy and fit enough to get myself and my parents around and find a place to stay. But my senior parents had to carry loads of heavy luggage’s filled with gifts for our family back home. Exhaustedly walking under the humid, hot weather. Finding our hotel late at night. As the other passengers who are not from the area, can’t speak Japanese, or don’t know how to deal with the situation, are walking around desperate to look for a place to stay.
To have taken a great discomfort and inconvenience on the passengers, to have taken away the opportunity of some Filipinos to spend special moments with their families back home. With no compensation, help, or hope of getting us home.
To the executives of Jetstar Japan, until changes in this horrible customer service have been made, you have lost a loyal customer. How I wish you could have seen the chaos that the gate staff had to endure and for sure did not deserve as well. I can only pray that may this shed some light to the situation that I hope will never be experienced by other Filipinos/Japanese passengers and the gate staff that did not deserve to bear the situation.
P.s. only Jetstar cancelled flights to Manila on the day. Cebu pacific, which was scheduled an hour after Jetstar, still resumed its flights.
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