Two friends and I booked a Jetstar flight from Launceston to Melbourne which was due to fly out yesterday (29 January) at 6.10pm. We booked and paid for this flight on 11 January. However, when we arrived at the airport at 5pm we were informed that the flight had been cancelled - not cancelled on the day, but cancelled on 18 January. The check-in desk guy said I was sent four emails and text messages but I didn't receive anything (despite them having my correct details - I did receive the PDF itinerary for the booking on the day we made it and also the SMS check in on the flight going over to Tassie).
After ringing "customer service" and being on hold for ages, I spoke to a man who said he was going to put me on hold again after I explained my predicament. But instead of putting me on hold, he hung up. I rang back and after another massive stint on hold, spoke to the most useless woman on the planet. She kept saying "I see. Let me double check that" even though there was NOTHING to check. Finally, she told me that indeed, no effort was made by Jetstar to contact me about the flight change in the 11 days since it was cancelled, and the best suggestion she could come up with was, "send us an email using the online feedback form."
In the end, the only option for us was to get the next available flight which didn't leave for 4.5 hours. We were given $25 travel vouchers and $10 food vouchers but that equates to not even $8 per hour of sitting around Launceston airport waiting for a flight which would get us back to Melbourne at almost midnight instead of 7.15pm. All I can say is thank Christ the tennis was on.
Jetstar's customer service is awful. And we purposely chose those earlier flights which cost more than the later one we were stuck on. No recompense has been offered. It's little wonder people go out of their way to not fly with them anymore - they treat their passengers like cattle.