Covid-19: Why is Jetstar charging higher fares for rebooked flights than those shown online?
The writer faced a frustrating encounter with Jetstar Asia while rescheduling her flights to Japan amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
I refer to the letter, “Covid-19 crisis: Jetstar should let passengers rebook flights at no cost” (Feb 26), and share the writer’s experience.
Owing to the Covid-19 outbreak, my mother and I have postponed our trip to Okinawa, Japan, until November. We were supposed to travel this month.
When I rebooked our flights on Feb 20, Jetstar imposed a S$160 administrative fee per return ticket. On top of that, it charged higher fares for our rescheduled flights than those shown on its website.
Our original trip in March, which was booked in December last year, cost about S$719 for two return tickets, excluding a booking and service fee.
The cost of my rescheduled flights in November came to around S$814, which also excludes the booking and service fee but includes a S$25 “spoilage fee”.
Yet a check on Jetstar’s online rate for the same November dates showed a much lower fare, at about S$690. I checked this rate before proceeding with the change, hoping to avoid topping up any difference in fares.
Why then were we made to pay more when the online fare for the rescheduled dates was lower than what we forked out for our March trip?
Why can’t Jetstar make available the rate shown on its website?
Jetstar’s customer service team told me that its rates for rebooked flights differ from those found online.
We are at the mercy of airlines at such unfavourable times.
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