Heart Patient stranded at Cairns Airport over a 10 hr flight delay

I find it hard to understand where to start, I am so stressed out right now where I feel my whole holiday attempt to get a week out of my routine and distressing myself ended up causing more unnecessary stress, courtesy to Jetstar. I had a major heart attack at the age of 38, in Sept 2015 and to forget about the things I have been through in 2015, I booked this holiday to Cairns from Dec 23 - Dec 29 2015. Drama started unfolding from Melbourne airport departure, when Jetstar decided to nominate the particular flight to Cairns as an International flight rather than domestic with completely changed conditions for boarding without notifying me. So when I rocked up at the airport an hour earlier than scheduled flight time, I was notified that flight is from international terminal and checkin has closed. When enquired about why I wasn't informed, they blamed Expedia for not doing their job as ticket was done through agent Expedia. So this doesn't fall under Jetstar's duty of care to notify the customers who have purchased through third party. So Jetstar put me on a diff flight to Cairns with a 6.5 hrs wait at the Melb airport.
On return flight from Cairns, we got to airport with my 5 yr old daughter 2.5 hrs earlier than scheduled flight just to know that flight has now been delayed for 10 hrs due to some flight landing at Rockhampton and returned back to destination. We arrived at airport at 11.30am and now they booked us in for a flight at 10.30pm at night on 29/12/15. We kept waiting and gradually the patience level of my 5 yr old daughter was fading away round about 7pm, when we saw that the mentioned flight estimated time changed to 12.10 am the next day. When I went and spoke service desk staff explaining my heart condition and stress it's causing is resulting in anginine relapses, whereby I had to take an anginine tablet half an hour ago, I wanted to get a hotel to stay the night as I was at a state getting stressed and famished by the whole situation. Jetstar service desk staff (without a name badge) disgruntly replied that Jetstar can't pay for my hotel or taxi but she can talk to her manager to authorise a flight on the 30/12/15 back to Melb and any costs incurred has to come out of my pocket for taxi and accomodation. I was so tired and frustrated by that time and wasn't really feeling well to argue took the offer to get the luggage back and paid for the night at the hotel. I was shocked at the response of the service desk lady having no regards to a patient with heart conditions having anginine relapses over the counter. I was so close to tell her that I feel pity for her and would be really ashamed to have been representing a company like Jetstar with no moral or humanitarian values. I am writing this from the hotel at cairns where my flight now has been booked for 9.30am tomorrow morning with more drama to unfold. Let's see if Jetstar is capable to get a heart patient back home without more dramas. Yet to see.

Domestic
Australia-Cairns
Australia-Melbourne - Tullamarine

Comments

Hi, We had problems with

Hi, We had problems with Jetstar too, but not as bad as yours! I would suggest you do what we did and write directly to the CEO of Jetstar, David Hall >> david.hall@jetstar.com. It was only after he got involved that we had any sort of sympathetic response from them, but even then I was not 100% satisfied. Good Luck with the return journey! :)

Thanks for your comment. I

Thanks for your comment. I will certainly get David Hall involved, now I just want to get back home and will follow up once I am in Melbourne. I am sitting in the 9.30 am flight to Melb as we speak, hope rest goes all good from here. Thanks for your comment

Bratadev Chatterjee, we were

Bratadev Chatterjee, we were also on that flight yesterday, we were only told at bag drop that the flight was delayed until after 22.00 hrs, thought he was joking at first until he gave us vouchers. As you said, it was late in the evening when we noticed the flight had been delayed a further 2 hrs, 90 mins later it was announced over the tannoy. When the plane did land at Cairns, I asked one passenger if they had been delayed long in Melbourne and was told 'by 2 hrs, as they had to return mid flight to off load a passenger and then a new crew was needed'.
What happened to our original flight, where was that plane? There was nobody visable in the airport who worked for JS, no information given and we were left to just sit it out. All the refreshment outlets, bar one, close at 20.00hrs, absolutely appalling!!!
The flight home was half empty resulting in plenty of room to sleep but that was little compensation for a very long day! Landed in Melbourne approx. 4.30 a.m.