Kuala Lumpur Travel Forum

Hi,

My husband and I have tickets on flight leaving Sydney on 31 August 08 and returning 17th September. I've heard that they have cancelled all flights from September onwards. We have started making plans for our holidays and from what we are told, we have to wait another 2 weeks to know what they will offer us re our return flight which is no longer. Has anybody got more clear information regarding this? We have already booked domestic from KL which we may now lose money on. So we don't waste any more money we need to have an idea of what is happening. Hoping someone out there can help us.

hi, i have booked the ticket from KL-SYD on 16th Oct 2008 and return on 21st oct 2008. my situation is same like you. We have booked our domestic flight from KL back to Penang. I am afraid we may lose money too if the return flight offered by jetstar is not the same date. i tried to call jetstar but no one picks up the call. I plan to call them again tomorrow. if you have any updates, pls post it. Thanks

i was chatting with a travel agent recently and one of the budget airlines (hongkong express) they deal with suddenly cancelled flights. those booked with them were instead redirected to a partner airline, a bit more expensive, but the booked passengers are still able to take their trips as scheduled.

i'm not sure this is helpful, but there could still be some hope, after all Jetstar has a wide network and i don't think they can afford any negative points with international airlines' regulating agencies.

wish you luck :-)

Hi,

My husband managed to get on to Jetstar staff for a 2nd time a couple of nights ago. His first call pretty much got a "no comments we'll be in touch" but after he told them he'd figure out they had no flights available September onwards so felt they were cancelling the flight they unoficially agreed that all flights September on are cancelled. They confirm that we will definitely make an offer of a full refund, but unoficially say they may give us the option of rerouting. This will mean we lose the cost of a couple of domestic flights, and will probably try to come back via Singapore maybe through Darwin if there isn't extra expense. Otherwise an option is getting a refund on our return flight and booking with Air Asia to come back through Gold Coast and then pay for a domestic (maybe using Jetstar:-( to get back to Sydney. It will work out an extsra $110 total, but won't be as convenient. I'm just relieved I haven't agreed with hubby to book the hotels because we'd be really stuffed if that was the case. I can't see us accepting an earlier flight to and from KL to get back before end August as the flights are pretty much booked out and there are no available flights that fit in with the number of days we plan to travel. I think we have to wait for that notification of what they decide to do and give them a chance to rectify our problem before we cost ourselves anymore money.

hi,this morning we managed to call to jetstar office.The staff said they will either allow us to refund or they will try to arrange flights for us. But they cant confirm anything yet and will cotact us after 2 weeks.Previously i have changed my date of flying back from Syd - KL and the domestic flights. This caused me extra RM460. If change again for the flights, it will cost me some more money. :(
hai...too bad to hear this news.

Here is the media release of JetStar with contact info at the end

http://img.mailchimp.com/2008/06/06/b33f46dfd3/Jetstar-3771%5B1%5D.pdf


good luck!

Hello, I booked Jetstar
from Sydney to KUL for late Oct 2008 and an onward flight the following day.

Then, out of curiosity, a few days ago, I checked the site and discovered that there were no flights beyond 30 Aug. I called Jet Star and the first customer representative was quite brusque when I tried to get details. I found out later that she had been working at their call center all night.

I asked to speak to the supervisor who was very professional.

Apparently, JetStar is trying to find a way of getting passengers to KUL and will be contacting them wave by wave. The idea of being rerouted to another city, e.g. Melbourne was floated but, following some research, I realized that this was never going to be an option because Qantas does not fly to KUL from any Australian city.

Also, it seems as if thousands of people are affected and being in limbo for at least another month was not a prospect I was prepared to accept.

Instead of waiting at least another month to find out that the only option is a refund, I decided to request a full refund now.

Coincidentally, Air Asia X is offering a sale between the Gold Coast and KUL until 22 June and, even allowing for a $100 Virgin Blue fare from Sydney to Gold Coast, the combined Virgin Blue and Air Asia X fares worked out to be lower than what I paid originally to Jet Star.

Depending on the day, the Air Asia X flight from Gold Coast to KUL is scheduled to depart at 9:35 p.m., allowing for passengers from other Australian cities to join the flight.

The people in this thread seem to have good things to say about Air Asia X.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/message.jspa?messageID=13786971

Hi

Don't know if you've heard from Jetstar since your posting but I've contacted them and they basically said they are looking at alternative options which they cannot tell me now. What I found alarming was that the person on the phone said they will NOT be giving refunds. The second time I contacted them they still had no idea. So options could be anything from vouchers to be used on your next purchase or rerouting on a (vastly?) longer flight schedule eg via Singapore on Qantas or whatever. If you're here in Syd, I've been advised by Fair Trading NSW to lodge an official complaint and they will take it up. Refusal to refund in this case is illegal and you have a right to it if the service is not deliverable in the form you paid for. There is one other thing, but I'm not 100% sure abt this, I was told you could contact your credit card provider to do a chargeback especially it is a recent purchase. There will be a small fee but you will at least get back the bulk of your money. Hope this helps

Hi Peth, Thanks for the advice. All 4 or 5 JetStar people I spoke with were kinda hedging, hoping that I would not ask for a refund. They all said that I would be eventually be contacted, probably in July (my booking was for Oct). They all said that JetStar would find a way to get all passengers there. I know enough about airlines and the airline industry to work out that, in fact, it is impossible for Jetstar to fly people to another city, e.g. Melbourne and then on to Kuala Lumpur. The reason: no Australian airline flies from Australia to Kuala Lumpur,now that JetStar has pulled out. The very remote possibly is Qantas from Sydney to Singapore and then JetStar Asia from Singapore to Kualua Lumpur. The problem is seat availability on Qantas and on JetStar Asia and the two flights don't connect easily either. I was lucky enough in coming across a really nice JetStar customer representative who explained that I would be entitled to a refund. if I requested one now instead of waiting for them to contact me. As explained in my previous post, I requested a refund. I will certainly contact the Dept of Fair trading, if I have any problem, e.g. a delay in getting a refund because I need it to settle my credit card bill and especially since I bought a return ticket as well.

An almost viable option JetStar could offer is Qantas from Sydney to Melbourne, then Jetstar to Singapore via Darwin. However, by the time this flight arrives in Singapore (even on time), the JetStar Asia flight from Singapore to KUL would have already left. This requires an overnight stay in Singapore and who is going to pay for this overnight stay when hotels are so expensive in Singapore.

I have not bothered to look at return options.

Conclusion: IMO, if and when contacted, SYD-KUL passengers who have booked with JetStar beyond 30 August 2008 would have no choice but to apply for a refund.

Given the thousands of Japanese tourists affected by the cancellation of Jetstar flights between Queensland and Japan, who knows when SYD-KUL passengers will be contacted?

Hello Peth, I have spoken to JetStar about my refund. They told me that a refund normally takes 5-7 weeks and that JetStar is much faster than Qantas which takes 6 months to issue a refund.

Hi,

We are in the same boat. I booked a trip from Sydney to KL return for my whole family and only heard about the cancellation today. I have not been contacted by any Jetstar representatives about the cancellation, which I find very disappointing, as the trip is just over a month away and many travel plans (accomodation, other flights, itinery, etc) have been confirmed.

I contacted Jetstar today regarding the cancellation and spoke to a helpful representative who basically offered me two options.

1. I am entitled to a refund on the fares purchased, and they will also provide a $100 travel voucher for each passenger.

2. They can make arrangements to change the booking from a flight from KL-Syd to Singapore-Syd.

When asked about compensation for travel from KL to Singapore, they could not offer much information. I was asked to write to the Customer Relationship Department at GPO Box 4713 Melbourne VIC 3001 to enquire about the arrangements.

I hope this helps anyone in the same situation.

Hi Jwan_eclipse,

You mentioned two options offered to you by JetStar.

1. I am entitled to a refund on the fares purchased, and they will also provide a $100 travel voucher for each passenger.

2. They can make arrangements to change the booking from a flight from KL-Syd to Singapore-Syd.

Thank you for sharing the info with us.

It seems as if Jetstar has become more and more communicative over the weeks.

When I first got in touch with them in mid-June, while mostly professional, the customer service reps wanted my family and me to wait till we were contacted.

Now, they are even offering the option of a refund and a travel voucher!

I chose the first option without the voucher and rebooked immediately on Air Asia X out of the Gold Coast during their last sale. Even allowing for a $380 return air fare Sydney-Gold-Coast, the total air fare was still lower than what I paid JetStar, although I booked the lowest possible fare with Jetstar, i.e. the one available on the day their sale started in late May.

As for writing to their Customer Relations dept, the customer reps always mentioned this but I was not prepared to waste my time writing to and waiting for an answer from a department that is probably swamped, especially now that Qantas’ CEO, Geoff Dixon, has intimated that more route cuts are on the way.

Jwan_eclipse, should you choose Option (2), i.e. if your family and you are looking for a low air fare from KUL to Singapore, Tiger Air and Air Asia have the lowest fares on that route. Jetstar Asia is more expensive than these two airlines.

Good Luck.

I wrote,

"Even allowing for a $380 return air fare Sydney-Gold-Coast",

I meant $190 return air fare (Virgin Blue).

Hi airtourist,

Thank you for the information re the flights to Singapore. We ended up choosing option (2). I guess a trip to singapore will not be too bad.

So crisis averted this time round, but Air-Asia flying out of Gold Coast seems to be the cheapest option for future travel to KL :P

I hope every one has a safe and great trip and Best of luck with the Jetstar issue.

Hey there. I have called Jetstar regarding the matter. The representative told me that I will have my refund only, not anything else including vouchers etc. If so, I will lose my credit card exchange rate charger as I used foreign credit card to book the tickets. However, some of the friends here seemed to have alternative option, that is to Singapore and back to Malaysia. I wonder why she told me this ? By the way, my flight is in December.

Thank you very much.

Cheers,
Kevin

Hi Jeff,

It’s possible JetStar only offered a voucher to people who were going to fly out of Sydney.

I was not offered a voucher, only a refund. Initially, they said the refund would take 5-7 weeks but, when I told them that I needed to pay my credit card bill, one nice representative mentioned the possibility of a fast-track refund, which took 2 weeks.

It’s also likely that they were offering a Singapore-Sydney option (on Qantas) to jwan_eclipse because his family and he were flying to KUL before JetStar stop flying at the end of August.

It seems to me that JetStar take every passenger’s circumstances into account, i.e. whether a passenger was travelling alone or with a family, whether they had booked accommodation and other flights beyond KUL.

I find it incredible that JetStar ran a promotion one week before the end of May and then made a decision to pull out of a route ten days after running such a promotion and, finally, seemed intent on keeping passengers’ money for as long as possible.

I understand that this helps the airline’s liquidity and that all airlines have embraced this “pay now-fly much later” Dell-inspired business model but Qantas/JetStar’s press release talked specifically of the need to release the Airbus 330 aircraft (used on the SYD-KUL route) to serve other routes which are more profitable, viz. Perth-Bali.

A business needs to make a profit to survive but, IMO, Qantas has been so profit-driven over the past five years or so that it has been prepared to emphasize short-term profits at the expense of longer-term considerations, e.g. customer service and loyalty.

It’s highly likely that JetStar’s passengers are perceived by the airline and Qantas as having no loyalty and not caring about customer service, to begin with.

Jeff, maybe people like you and me have been treated accordingly.

I wrote "Hi Jeff",

I meant "Kevin".

Kevin, please accept my apologies.

Thank you airtourist ! And that's alright.

Yea, I bought the airtickets in May during the promotion for couple. They decided to cancel the route 2 weeks after which I find very dissapointing. And I'll be flying with my gf. I think the only option now is to fly with Airasia X from Gold Coast to KL because it's the cheapest among all and my gf and I decide to travel to Gold Coast in year end. Another thing I am not happy with is my credit card charges. And even now I have not been contacted by Jetstar. Since the final answer is refund, I think I will book Airasia X.

I hope Jetstar will increase their effiency due to this issue.
Thank you once again !

Cheers,
Kevin

You are welcome, Kevin,

If you would like to have a refund, you should not wait for JetStar to contact you.

You should contact them.

As for Air Asia X, you should wait till they have a sale, such as the one they are having right now but I don’t know whether the dates would suit your gf and you.

http://www.airasia.com/site/au/en/promotion.jsp?reference=bigbig2008au

Air Asia X is taking delivery of two brand new Airbus 330 aircraft in October (one for the Perth-KUL route and one for the Gold Coast-KUL route).

Each aircraft will have around 400 seats (cf. 330 in the current leased A330 aircraft).

In spite of surging jet fuel prices, Air Asia X should remain price competitive but I am not so sure about comfort, though (seats are likely to be narrower, if that’s possible, LOL).

You are welcome, Kevin,

If you would like to have a refund, you should not wait for JetStar to contact you.

You should contact them.

As for Air Asia X, you should wait till they have a sale, such as the one they are having right now but I don’t know whether the dates would suit your gf and you.

http://www.airasia.com/site/au/en/promotion.jsp?reference=bigbig2008au

Air Asia X is taking delivery of two brand new Airbus 330 aircraft in October (one for the Perth-KUL route and one for the Gold Coast-KUL route).

Each aircraft will have around 400 seats (cf. 330 in the current leased A330 aircraft).

In spite of surging jet fuel prices, Air Asia X should remain price competitive but I am not so sure about comfort, though (seats are likely to be narrower, if that’s possible, LOL).

Thank you for your kind information Airtourist.

I shall listen to your advise and ring Jetstar soon. Yea. Airasia X is having promotion right now. Unfortunately the travelling period is from 12th Jan which is a little late for me. Actually I am planning to wait further in case AAX has promotion tickets for December. But I am afraid this will not happen. Then I will have to pay even more maybe. Dilemma dilemma !

Anyway, thank you !

Cheers,
Kevin

Hello Kevin,

It’s highly unlikely that Air Asia X’s sale would cover December because that’s the peak travel month.

If you check the fares for December, they are significantly higher than normal.

http://www.airasia.com/site/au/en/home.jsp

Hi Kevin,

Coincidentally (5 July 2008), here's the newspaper article about what is happening.

5000 budget tickets axed as fuel costs soar

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/07/05/1214951110498.html

Hi Airtourist,

Yea. I personally think it's unlikely for AAX to hold promotion for December tickets since it's peak season. I do believe that my luck was really bad as I couldn't get the cheap airtickets but the expensive ones.

Looks like I should not worry any further and just book and get refund from Jetstars.

I have read the news that you posted. I think I am not in 5000 list. Too bad.
Thank you.

Cheers,
Kevin

Hey there,

I rang Jetstar again last few days. I was told by the lady I will not get my refund back. I will get a transit flight on scheduled date instead. What's actually happening ? Can anyone please advise ?

Thank you.

Cheers,
Kevin

Hi Kevin,

sorry, I have not checked this column for a while.

Maybe Jetstar has changed their approach and wants to hang on to people's money.

If you want a refund, may I suggest that you insist on speaking to a supervisor and tell them that the NSW Office of Fair Trading says that a passenger is entitled to a full refund, if the airline cannot provide a comparable service.

If the supervisor finally agrees to a refund, insist on a fast-track option which should take 10 working days, otherwise Jetstar is talking about 6-7 weeks.

Good Luck.

Hey Airtourist,

Please don't say sorry. Alright I know what are you trying to say.
Thank you very much.

Cheers,
Kevin