Booked with Jetstar to Hamilton Island 2 years ago and the flight was cancelled.
I feel so stupid for proceeding with the booking with Jetstar this time round!
Always been a Virgin Blue customer but because Jetstar provided a more preferable flight time, I succumbed.
From the beginning I had a bad feeling about it - the website did not successfully process my payment so I had to try again. Went through the second time but after 24 hours, still no confirmation email. (stupid me for not printing the page out first) - but the money was definitely withdrawn from my account.
So I call up the support line and was on hold for exactly 62 minutes. The lady on the phone sounded pleasant enough and gave me the booking number.
She tried to send it to me, and I have still not received it (after having no hitches ie: instant confirmation emails - with Virgin blue's booking system, maybe I was expecting too much from Jetstar)
Went to "mange my booking" on website and pressed "Resend Itinerary" and still no email. Maybe I do need to wait 24 hours..
I printed out the screen just in case and there's not even my booking number on the manage my bookings screen! And its not print friendly at all.
Compared to Virgin blue, the Jetstar booking system is unsatisfactory. They need to rethink the design and it's capacity to send emails instantaneously.
So even before my flight, my experience with Jetstar has been frustrating!
Also - we have to pay for seat preference?? what is that?? Virgin doesn't charge!
And sneakingly charging all people in the booking the baggage fee when only 2 people really need the 20K extra!! Virgin only charges those who need it!!
Never again...
Comments
Alan, unless things have
Alan, unless things have changed since I last flew Virgin, they don't allow you to choose seats until the online check in stage.Jetstar operates on minimal costs charging less for fares. If you want additional things (seat preference etc) you pay a fee. Otherwise check in online 48 hours before and choose your seat for no fee. Tiger operate a similar way. Even Qantas charge seat fees for international flights which I personally found ridiculous. Virgin although still a budget airline technically, are moving away from this and up into the mid-high class as they are bringing in business class etc etc. They are not as much a budget airline as Jetstar. My point is, its not exclusive to Jetstar so don't get on your high horse about it.
"Sneakingly charging all people for baggage"? So the website miraculously chose for all passengers to be on the Jetsaver fare (including checked baggage)? Jetstar is not Virgin. All people on a booking need to be on the same ticket type and have the same baggage allowance each. Although I flew Jetstar last week and according to the CEO's blurb in the magazine, this is changing in the near future.
I went to 2 different restaurants recently... had the same meal at both. One was $15, one was $25. Guess what, different restaurants charge differently. Same with airlines. Get my drift?
"All people on a booking need
"All people on a booking need to be on the same ticket type and have the same baggage allowance each"...Jetstar has Starclass.
If you had to wait on the phone for 62 minutes to get the receipt for your $15 meal, I'm sure you would complain.
just fly virgin or tiger,
just fly virgin or tiger, they are just simply better airlines
Note that the main point was
Note that the main point was that I did not receive a confirmation email after 24 hours as stated. Isn't it fair enough to call the support line and wait on the phone for that reason??
Jetstar is continually selling itself as a company striving for good customer service (see their "Customer Gurantee" statement on their website) so do you agree that waiting on hold for more than 60 minutes good customer service?
Sure, different restaurants charge differently but I'm sure you would agree that many would have encountered cheaper restaurants that have better service than expensive ones!
Also I need to note that the Virgin rate I was quoted for the same destination was the same as Jetstar's. I decided on Jetstar because of it's later departure. Virgin actually ended up cheaper because they only charged me 2 people baggage allowance instead of 4.