Jetstar lied about my flight being cancelled, but saved it only because the flight was delayed

I got some Jetstar credit from the pandemic that I needed to use. Jetstar launched a return for free flight offer so I bought the flight from Brisbane to Narita via Cairns, as the Cairns to Narita sector is the cheapest and needed to fly separately from Brisbane as Auckland to Cairns is more than double the price of Brisbane. I managed to combine it into one itinerary with a short layover for a slightly lower price compared to buying it separately.

FLIGHT 1

I wasn’t able to check in online or through a kiosk due to my international connecting flight. The ground staff instructed me to collect my checked luggage at Cairns and check it in again as there’s different security protocols in place, which I’m not sure why they can’t transfer it to the international inspection point inside the secure zone and do the check there, since there’s no scanner at the check in area anyway so it wouldn’t have made a difference in my opinion.

We boarded on time at 0530 however after completing boarding we got stuck which I assume was ground handling delay, we ended up pushing back 16 minutes behind schedule for the 2 hours 5 minutes journey to Cairns.

Service started shortly after take off, they have an extensive menu list which I did not pre-book for this domestic sector. I did order a veg noodle soup given I had not eaten anything since waking up at 4am to catch the flight.

The seat is thinly padded but leg room is sufficient with about 3 fingers worth of extra space which is about as much as some full service airlines so it wasn’t bad at all. Even though the ground crew told me it was a full flight, the back had a few empty seats and I had an empty seat in the middle which makes it slightly better, the last row is mostly empty with only 1 seat occupied, the left side was reserved to the crew and fortunately I was on the right so I was able to recline right after takeoff and just make it a more comfortable flight until preparation for landing. The last row doesn’t have the ability to recline due to the seat being right up against the wall so I wouldn’t recommend it unless you have a back made of steel.

We landed shortly after 8:30am and it was about 300m walk from the Domestic to the International terminal.

FLIGHT 2

We were the only flight departing in the morning so it was fairly quiet around the terminal and check in was quick, security was also fairly quiet so it was quick to get through it. The terminal isn’t too big and given the limited flights, there were only 2 duty free shops, a convenience store and a cafe operating. I bought a Kombucha and 2 crisps to bring on board to snack during the flight given it’s a day flight I expect that I will get hungry between the 2 pre-booked meals. I’ve pre-ordered a Mac & cheese and quiche & roll, given there’s a limited selection for the vegetarian option.

We pushed back a few minutes prior to the scheduled departure and not long later we were up in the air tracking north, and a beautiful view towards the Great Barrier Reef as we get further out towards the open ocean.

The seat has slightly better padding but legroom is lesser, it can fit 2 fingers at most and it’s tighter given I place my carry on under the seat in front. The 2 seats next to me were taken and it seems there were quite a lot of empty seats towards the last few rows, unfortunately I couldn’t get out to change seats.

Pre-booked meals were served first, but it did take a while to reach us towards the back. The meal isn’t really substantial but they do provide tea, coffee or water along with the meal.

The seat does have an IFE screen, however you have to pay for any content such as movies and TV shows, they offer a view all pass for $13 which I didn’t think is worth it given the list of movies and TV shows was fairly short. The in flight map did not work and kept showing the aircraft standing still in Tokyo.

FLIGHT 3

Returning flight from Tokyo to Cairns was a bit of a roller coaster. I received an email in the morning after landing in Tokyo from Seoul saying that my flight was delayed for nearly an hour.

During my long layover in Tokyo, I checked the seat map and saw that the row I initially booked with no one sitting next to me ended up fully booked, after browsing around the cabin map I saw 2 open seats up front, one of them is a window seat which is essential to my comfort. This upfront row does cost more but on the seat map it didn't state that there's any difference apart from being able to disembark earlier, I will tell you later why it may be a much better option.

Jetstar operates out of Terminal 3 in Narita, the architecture design is very industrial and minimal. The staff working at the check in area seems to be from South East Asia, which was a bit surprising given it's a Japanese airport but there was barely any Japanese staff. There are some restaurants on landside, and on the notice board it stated that there's a restaurant on the airside that operates for a limited time during each day.

As I did receive a delay notice in the morning, I checked in an hour later and the flight departed over an hour behind schedule.

Upon taking my seat, I noticed the significant difference between that and the standard seat, with a slight increase in leg room which is welcoming news for tall people such as me. The empty middle seat also makes the space a little more comfortable. As the row behind me was blocked off for crew rest, I was able to recline for most of the flight.

I had forgotten to take out my thicker jacket before checking in so I ended up feeling the chill mid flight and could hardly sleep, I had a look at the magazine and they offer an amenity kit for around $25 but I didn't want any of the other things so I asked the crew if I am able to purchase the blanket only, and he said I could for $15 which I did since there was no way I could have endured the rest of the flight.

The rest of the flight I barely had any sleep, probably 2 hours at most before I woke up with the lights turned on and crew starting the meal service, a full 2 hours prior to our arrival which I thought was a bit extreme given that it was an overnight flight and with our delay, our arrival time of right after 5:30am. I observed that the Business Class section did not have their lights turned on until 45 minutes prior to landing, which might push it a little but between 60-90 minutes would be the most ideal situation.

The meals are the same as my outbound leg, except I had it in reverse, having the quiche & roll after departure and the Mac & cheese prior to arrival. The meals served are fine and the size is just right, but don't expect it to be substantial or provide any more variety than what is shown or described on the menu.

Upon arriving at Cairns, the upfront seats were also another bonus given that there were only 4 immigration machines for passengers to get a ticket to get through the automated gate, which is ridiculous given that there were about 250 of us and then another plane arriving behind us which assuming a total of 400 passengers for both flights, that's 100 passengers queuing for 1 machine that takes 1-2 minutes for each passenger to complete, if my math is right that's an average of 150 minutes to clear up the queue, you definitely do not want to be right at the back of the queue.

ISSUES

So I was looking at my booking on the Jetstar page one day about 2 weeks prior to the flight and saw a notice saying that there were some changes to my flight, upon checking I noticed there was some slight adjustment to the flight time which was mostly only a few minutes here and there.

A week went past and I got an email saying there was a change to my flight, and I thought it would just be the same thing since the notice said I would be getting an email, but looking further into it there was a change in the flight number which I did not notice prior and that flight number got a completely different departure time that was not stated on their booking page before, instead of my flight departing at 6.30am, I ended up getting moved to 9am, given I arrive Cairns from Narita at 4:30am, it is not at all ideal for a 4.5 hours transit time. I reached out to the customer chat and both times I was told it was due to the flight being cancelled, so there was nothing earlier than 9am but I told them that it was still selling on their website and their response was that everyone got moved to the 9am flight. Ok, fair enough, if that's the case I would assume that flight will be taken down from their website soon enough.

Another week passed and the original flight that I booked is still showing, this time I wasn't too happy about it so I reach out to them again. This agent took a really long time to respond but I am going to quote what she said "Thank you for patiently waiting, as per checking here further, if we move back your flight there was a possibility to move it again. We do everything we can to keep our flights on schedule. But we can't guarantee it, which is why we don't promise this in our contract of carriage."

So what she meant was that I got moved to the next flight and sacrificed over 2.5 hours of my time just so that they won't have to pay me to get on another flight or compensate on the ground for the next flight? I have not heard of any airline that would move me to a later flight in anticipation of a delay, this is really shady and totally uncalled for. It is their job to ensure that I can make the connection, if there's a malfunction or something out of their control that causes the delay then of course that's the business they are in and no airline can predict where or when it will happen, and they will have to manage accordingly, but I shouldn't need to sacrifice my time so that they can look good on paper and also save some money.

I have allowed 2 hours for the connection which is plenty if everything goes right, if there's an hour delay, there shouldn't be any issue either. Even while travelling in the US, I had flights delayed and I ended up having 15 minutes between connections and I still made it, so that's not really an excuse as to why they cannot get it done, the most they might do is to pay me some voucher to sit at the airport for the next flight, and given they are part of Qantas they will be able to rebook me on either which I do not believe would be sold out.

After another half an hour, she came back with the same response as the previous 2 agents stating that the original flight that I booked is no longer active on their system hence they are unable to book me on that flight even though it may be showing on their website, she told me that people who booked that flight will be rebooked which is not good as people who booked it expect to be flying at that time as that works for them, they don't expect that they are booking a non existant flight and then get moved to another flight that they might not make a connection or event later that day. It is a very poor way of managing their flights and I would say it is a scam to lure people to book flights that are not operating. If it is not on the system, then it shouldn't be selling on the website, period.

Anyway, I asked the agent if they do end up operating that flight, would it be possible for me to get moved back to that flight and she said that I should be able to do it at the airport.

Given that my flight was an hour delayed, things worked out in their favour as I wouldn't have been able to catch that connecting flight. At the departure area, I looked at the departure board and did see the flight that was "cancelled" showing as "departed", so I am not sure where in their system showing this "cancelled" flight but was still selling and operating. If they were being honest, they could have said that there's a high probability of a delay or most passengers couldn't have made the connection so we automatically move passengers on this flight to that 2nd flight if they have booked on that 1st flight of the day. I may have accepted it and cut them some slack but telling me 3 times that the flight was cancelled and then at the airport it was showing as departed, even though I know I couldn't have made it with the delay it was still a slap in the face and a very bad look for Jetstar.

Video review coming soon