I have a flight booked to Bali in early April and Jetstar has cancelled all international flights, including this one. I don’t want a flight credit, which their website seems to funnel you to. I believe Consumer law says they need to provide a refund in this instance. Anyone perusing a refund and having any luck?
I called up today to attempt to get a refund for my flight in April. After 5hrs on hold they only offered the voucher credit. Unless the policy does change, the only way of getting a monetary refund if is you have a medical certificate stating that you will not be able to travel within the vouchers time period. Or risk calling their bluff, wait until after the 31st of March and see what options they have then.
Edit: Cant call their bluff if they automate vouchers. I have read on facebook some people have gotten refunds by holding firm and not accepting the voucher.
There is also Jetstars refund request form that can be submitted.
The refunds they are offering are not acceptable under Australian Consumer Law. I doubt it's going to stick for long…
Update: They said they are giving me a full refund. Just waiting for it to arrive. Just had to do a refund request form on their website.
Have you read this?
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees…
Similar to Qantas (and a few others), they'll only refund in form of credit.
Whoever wrote this at ACCC obviously hasn't read there previous Travel and Accommodation Industry Guide: https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Travel%20%26%20accommod…
That one specifically outlines a "Frustration of Contract" scenario (which the current coronavirus event would fall under) and indicates that in the scenario "the customer would be entitled to a refund of any payments already made. However, the law may also entitle you to any reasonable expenses you incurred before the customer cancelled."
I believe Consumer law says they need to provide a refund in this instance
What makes you think that?
Depending on the circumstances, this may include a refund and/or other compensation.
And from the ACCC:
If your travel is cancelled the ACCC expects that you will receive a refund or other remedy, such as a credit note or voucher, in most circumstances.
Yeah I believe most airlines t&C is credit or transfer to next available flight.
Yeah got credit for a trip next month… credit expires Dec 31 2020 lol. I want to just get a refund but Flight Centre is charging 300 per person.
Technically airlines have to refund.. but in times like now.. the government likely will turn a blind eye to minimize the amount of bailout they need to do with the airlines.
The no refund policies are pretty blatant.. they must've done it with the tacit agreement of the government.
I am in a similar situation. I was due to fly to Bali in a week with qantas (obviously not going anymore). When i spoke to them on Monday they wanted to charge me $200 per passenger to cancel. I'm hoping they will waive cancellation fee now because the travel credit was useless to me seeing as I booked in May 2019.
Also booked accommodation through luxury escapes and all they seem to offer is to re-book for a later date. I'm trying to at least get a credit voucher to use for somewhere within Australia but it seems unlikely.
I think Jetstar will fold before we can use any credit. Qantas is just holding on at the moment and laid off 20000 of its 30000 staff today.
You know jetstar is OWNED by qantas right?
I think they can go broke independently, Rex first.
True… but the point was Qantas was some how going to do 'better', when Most of qantas profit comes from Jetstar etc. Its all reported up to the mothership owner.
Yeah, I think he meant Jetstar will close because its mother company is laying off staff.
writing on the wall so to speak.
Similar to Woolies and Masters
All airlines are shredding staff. You don't pay for staff to stand around and do nothing if you don't have to!
and laid off 20000 of its 30000 staff today.
Lol no, they stood down (which is temporary) 20,000 staff because there's no work. They weren't laid off (which means they were permanently fired).
I Want Refund Not Credit
What fare level did you buy?
The fact is if you purchased the budget non refundable ticket, then your terms of the ticket are a credit note, hence why you're getting a credit not a refund.
Anyhow have a read over this
https://www.jetstar.com/au/en/help/articles/compensation-and…
They clearly state
If your travel plans have been impacted by COVID-19, we're offering the option to cancel and receive a credit voucher on all new and existing flight bookings with travel dates from 15 Mar - 31 May 2020
Pretty sure Jetstar is aware of the law and what they can do during this event.
Qantas/Jetstar can't give anyone a refund because if they do it for one person then they have to do it for everyone else. That's hundreds of millions of dollars out of their bank account that they could use to keep people in jobs instead.
What would be interesting is if credit card companies will process a chargeback under these circumstances.
If the original conditions of your ticket allow cancellation, then you should be able to jump in an cancel for a refund before it's automatically converted to a credit. Expect to pay whatever cancellation fees were on your original ticket conditions though.
earlier this week qantas announced that they wont be doing refunds because the it was only a level 3 risk, specifically saying it wasn't level 4 yet (all international countries). Yesterday scomo announces a level 4 risk and a $715m bailout package for airlines. qantas says nothing about refunds. today they stand down 20000, some without pay, and effectively close up shop until this is all over, essentially pocketing the cash from consumers and the government.
tldr (profanity) big business.
Yup, I was never a fan of Qantas, they make easy money out of their duopoly status in the market, never cared much about their customers, when things go south they cry to the government for help and still put people out of jobs. Good one with the credit voucher btw, now that they lock everyone in, they can just jack up the price for future dates and rip people off with the fare difference.
It doesn't help Jetstar passengers but 9.2 of Qantas conditions of carriage state they will refund if they cancel due to an event beyond their control.
Credit card chargeback time.
I've been smashing Visa and mastercard on this. I had flights to France and italy. The international ones seem refundable however the internal Euro ones are dicey. Glad to see someone knows their rights.
Well it's hardly your fault is it, why pay for a service you aren't receiving, and is completely out of your control. Not like you are cancelling because you have changed your mind.
Bingo. I have 4 open 2 with visa and 2 with mastercard. Will be interesting how it progresses but im confident, as you mentioned service isn't being delivered or unable to be delivered.
I tried this with ANZ, the consultant advised because the merchant has offered a solution they were unable to issue a chargeback, I'm stuck with my voucher.
That's interesting, nothing has been offered yet in my cases(in fact two flights got changed without my confirmation). Possible reschedule but that's not good enough nor confirmed yet without trying to charge for it.
hopefully you get better luck than me, the consultant advised its been call after call so I assume they're getting tired of it and not caring as much lol.
just take it and leave it…
(off topic)
Looks like Jetstar has been caught 2 years ago lieing about refunds : https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/jetstar-in-court-for-m…
However, according to these two sites although they cant offer the service:
Jetstar's consumer law page: https://www.jetstar.com/au/en/help/articles/australian-consu…
Savings.com's refund re coronavirus: https://www.savings.com.au/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards/…
as it's not in Jetstar's control, they dont have to offer a refund, it can be a credit note.
If Jetstar goes broke, which seems a high probability in the current circumstances, the credit voucher will be worthless.
We had direct flights to Tasmania from Brisbane. The only alternative they are now offering is a much more expensive non-direct flight that takes 7hrs 55minutes. For hassle, travel time and cost it isn't comparable. There's no guarantee that we can use the voucher to buy an equivalent flight at a reasonable price from Jetstar.
For those reasons I think they should have to refund rather than credit.
Would be good to hear what others are able to negotiate.
It's a shame they can't do something like the cruise companies are doing:
Cunard - 125% of fare as credit
Carnival - 150%
P&O - 200% (!!)
I am actually hoping my cruise gets cancelled, the South Pacific ports will probably be closed anyway and 200% credit is phenomenal!
200% credit for a cruise company that is not in business isn't worth much.
Hope for the best, expect the worst. There are certainly going to be companies going bankrupt.
My recent experience on two different airline:
Singapore Airline Int’l flight - cancelled and refund to original payment method (credit card)
Virgin Australia Int’l flight (original paid by points + tax using credit card) - refund all the points to my velocity account and tax back to my credit card
Virgin Australia Domestic flight (original paid by credit card) - refuse to refund back to credit card and issue the credit voucher under under travel bank.
when did this happen? Im currently booked for Emirates and Singapore through gotogate
Well my flights at the end of May have just been cancelled
A voucher offered.
What’s even more stupid is they’ve only cancelled the Sydney to Japan flights. The return portion remains valid. Ugh the incompetence.
I do have travel insurance, any experience from anyone if they’d cover this at all? I don’t want a voucher, not if it’s for the same value, that’s what my credit cards for
me too, how is that even legal to allow refunds for cancelled services to be in credit voucher, and only lasts 6 months.
Got a full refund from Jetstar this afternoon. Waited for the cancellation email, in that email is a live chat link. Opened it, waited 30 mins to chat and requested a refund. All confirmed in writing and will have a full refund back to my credit card within 7 days. Flight was to Hawaii in May and return in June. Good luck everyone.
I can confirm I was able to do the same. Just explained the whole travel ban situation and asked for a refund, then told me I would get the refund within 7 days.
Thanks for letting us know! Thank god I waited instead of taking their crap voucher!!
Have you received the refund yet? Just got onto chat and received the refund but wondering how long it takes.
Mine took about 20 days
I managed to get a full refund today on my Jetstar Holiday package using the online chat. At first they said I could only get a credit voucher and my hotel was non refundable. I pushed the issue more so they then "looked into it".
After a long wait on the chat they said "as a one time gesture of goodwill" they would provide a full refund of the flights AND hotel. I had to reiterate I could only have a refund as a credit voucher was useless to me given the time frame to use it was so short and our circumstances prevents us from using it within the given time frame.
Just remember to push for a refund as their default option is to not provide it.
Hopefully the refund hit my account soon but it seems good so far.
Qantas: "Customers with existing bookings on any international or Australian domestic flight until 31 May 2020, who no longer wish to travel, can cancel their flight and retain the value of their booking as a flight credit. Cancellations must be processed by 31 March 2020."
Will I be worse or better off after March 31?
I'm thinking either I have to pay a fee to cancel after that date… Or I wait until the last minute and Qantas cancel and I get a full refund?
Just worried about if I don't action something, if I am doing everything reasonable to not incur extra cost (travel insurance lingo).
That's kind of outdated now. Qantas have pretty much cut all international flights until the end of May now. They're offering travel credit valid until mid next year or a full refund if your flight has been cancelled by them. If you're due to fly before the end of May I'd check to see if your flight has officially been cancelled yet. If it hasn't your cancellation fees will probably still apply. For reference I spoke to Qantas yesterday.
And i want them to give me my job back. But unfortunetly neither of these things are going to happen!
Waiting on chat now attempting to get a refund. This idea that it's out of their control is BS in my view though. They are not banned from flying therefore any cancellation of services is a commercial decision by them in which case customers are entitled to a refund (at least that's my view).
If it were volcanic ash or something like that or the government had grounded them I'd understand.
Finally got on chat. Didn't have to argue at all, offered a refund and apparently will be processed within 14 days.
Chat is the way to go. Long wait to be connected, but then very quick and friendly resolution.
They cancelled my flights. I told them that I know I am entitled to a refund, the voucher on offer is not good enough. They agreed to refund. Simple as that.
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/consumer-rights-guarantees…
In essence the ACCC say that if your trip/flight etc was cancelled due to government restrictions, a credit is an adequate remedy in that situation.
Jetstar is refunding people if they ask anyway but if they weren't I'd argue that Jetstar is cancelling flights for commercial reasons not government restrictions. Jetstar is not restricted from flying and people are allowed to travel they will just be subject to self isolation in certain states on arrival.
I was travelling domestically end of April. I logged in to manage my booking and saw my flights showed cancelled, I hadn't didn't receive any emails from jetstar. I went on and completed the refund form and put in my reasons. I ignored the emails in relation to telling me I can get a credit voucher due to restrictions. Only email from jetstar was that my flights may be impacted, still not told cancelled.
Yesterday I received email saying my flights will be refunded in full.
Don't give up fill in the form and wait or try via chat( the wait is very long)
I had a flight booked with Jetstar in early May, which they cancelled last week.
I clicked on the "chat with us" link in the email they sent. Only took about 5 minutes to connect with an agent at about 10am.
Once connected I said that I was "getting in touch regarding my flights which Jetstar had cancelled". I was immediately offered the choice of credit vouchers of full refund via my original payment method. Didn't have to press them or offer any excuses at all.
Perfect example of waiting until the flight is cancelled to request a refund.
In my opinion, unless they have cancelled the flight, you are not entitled to a refund, because you've just simply decided you no longer want to take the flight.
So waiting for the airline to cancel, ball is now in their court to provide a remedy.
Username checks out!
Thanks for posting. As soon as I can get through to them I’ll try my luck again.
All good - got through to live chat today and was offered a cash refund. I made a few excuses just in case but there was no pushback at all.
So much better than the live chat last week, where they refused a cash refund on several occasions and even refused to record my complaint
My flight (Syd>Perth return) was cancelled by Jetstar a few days ago, and their email and website had loads of info about getting a credit voucher and all that, but nothing about getting a refund.
10 mins later on the web chat, they offered me a credit voucher. I said no, I want a refund, and they said no problem. Really super easy, I was expecting a major battle.
Surprised you got through. I called and was flat out denied. Escalated and was flat out denied. Could not even GET on to webchat. Maybe they are softening as I did get refunded a few days ago finally. Which I put down to my online twitter campaign against them, but maybe it wasn't that after all!
I hounded then on instagram, FB and Twitter and they eventually buckled and are refunding me. Hashtag the crap out of them and make a reasonable argument - that in a crisis like Covid-19, they intend to keep my money. That between me and a billion dollar company, the billion dollar company will benefit the most in relation to our transaction. Etc etc. It worked for me
My domestic flights were rescheduled (SYD-BNE-SYD) and I received the standard Jetstar email offering a credit. Jumped on live chat and requested a refund and this was processed with no issue - should be processed within 14 days.
Did any if you that took the refund option receive the refund yet? In the other Cancellation deal thread, someone has noted that they were also offered refund but received a credit voucher via email instead. Even after live chat confirmed a refund would be provided to the original payment method.
Super dodgy if you ask me. My cancelled domestic flights were also offered a refund on 30 March but nothing's come thru on my card yet. I suspect I'll get a voucher as well.
Our refund has finally come in, ours was a Qantas flight and we put in the request late March. It actually came in around the same time we received an email about receiving travel credit so we ignored that email.
Still arguing for a refund when they Cancelled my interstate flight~ Response from live chat: I understand the side of yours. I hope you can also understand that the credit voucher is the best option on your booking. .Your ticket is also a non-refundable one. I hope you can appreciate the credit voucher offer on your booking so that your ticket will not be totally forfeited because the voucher is also outside the policy of your ticket.
So They Can Cancel our ticket and not refund? Is that allowed?
You should be entitled to a refund, but expect a long processing time. You may need to call up. Prepare to wait for a long time.