Wednesday, May 8, 2013

quicko: on airlines

So I was in Darwin this last weekend, intending to take Monday off work (it was a holiday in the Northern Territory) and come in on the redeye to Sydney leaving Darwin at 1:40 am Tuesday morning, work the day and crash that night.

That was my plan right up until, oh, about 9:40 pm Monday night.

As Garry and I were sitting eating dinner saying how much we wished I wasn't going, etc., etc., etc., suddenly I got a text.  Thinking it was about the classes I needed to teach the next day, I checked it thankfully immediately to read:  "Flight JQ671 from Darwin is cancelled.  Your Ref# is such-and-so.  For options check your email or call 131 538.  Jetstar apologises."

Unsure of what catch I was missing, I handed the phone to Garry.  He couldn't find the catch either.

Thankfully, he was able to get through to Jetstar for me and before they actually kicked us out of the restaurant for infringing on their closing time I'd manage to get myself on a Qantas flight the next day at 3:10 pm.  Which meant, well, we got our wish of me not going, but rather at the expense of a day's wages for me and my hotel and food until Jetstar sees fit (they allow themselves up to 15 business days, then request I contact them if I haven't heard from them) to reimburse me.

So just in case they offer me one of those little customer comment surveys in the near future:  yes, totally, I recommend them highly.  To everyone I really can't stand.

1 comment:

Erin said...

That's pretty common with them - that's what you get with a budget airline. They'll cancel if the flights are too empty.