Qantas Frequent Flyer - How to get a refund on Jetstar?

Hello,

My girlfriend and i recently booked 2 return tickets from Sydney to Japan with Jetstar for February next year.

We are on a Jetsaver flight which is stated as non refundable.

Due to unforeseen financial and family matters we do not wish to go on this holiday anymore.

Is there any possible way to get a refund?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

Unfortunately not. At least not according to the fare rules....

Not trying to be smart but that is what "Non refundable" means, and is one of the reasons why such fares are cheaper....:( Flexibility costs.

The only allowed change is the date if I've read it correctly..... routing must remain the same.... and that comes with a change fee PLUS the fare difference if the fare on the new date is higher...

Still... if you could come up with a plan for a Japan holiday sometime down the track you could salvage most of the investment in the fares?

Not an ideal solution of course....

It can't hurt to call and ask... in the sense that if you don't ask the answer is definitely no. Wouldn't hold your breath though.... Sorry.

Yeah thats what i thought.

I was just wondering if anyone has been in the same situation as myself and some how got a refund?

And like you said if i change the date of the trip it will become even more expensive than originally planned.

I purchased travel insurance as well. Is there any other way that could help to obtain a refund on the flight costs?

Thanks for your reply.

patrick2504, welcome to FlyerTalk! And good luck on getting the refund.

We're moving this to the Qantas forum where folks are perhaps more familiar with Jetstar.

Please follow the thread at its new home.

__________________
Cholula
CommunityBuzz! Co-Moderator

ok thank you for that.

Please any more input is greatly appreciated!! :)

I purchased travel insurance as well. Is there any other way that could help to obtain a refund on the flight costs?
Travel insurance policies vary. You will have to read the policy you purchased.

Yeah thats what i thought.

I purchased travel insurance as well. Is there any other way that could help to obtain a refund on the flight costs?



That is hard to answer without knowing the reason for not being able to go. Insurance may cover certain emergency situations that occur ( such as death or illness or relatives ), so you would need to check the policy and see

If it is just something such as not wanting to go since something else to do which you would rather do has come up, then you will be out of luck

Dave

There has not been death or illness in the family. Long story short; been planning our wedding for late next year, parents are getting a divorce, original financial funding for wedding is uncertain. Which is why we would rather not go anymore so we can save our money for something more important to us.

I know i'm playing the sympathy card but is it worth calling up and explaining my situation to someone? And if so when i call who should i ask for? I cant imagine any empathy from an overseas operator with regards to my situation.

Thanks for all your help

From my experience with travel insurance claims, if you cannot make your description fit in with the clauses in the insurance contract, you are unlikely to get far. They can be very precise with interpretation if they want to. Of course, having paperwork to document the issue that you want to trigger the claim is essential (eg death certificate). Insurance people are exceptionally competent and articulate in saying NO.

There has not been death or illness in the family. Long story short; been planning our wedding for late next year, parents are getting a divorce, original financial funding for wedding is uncertain. Which is why we would rather not go anymore so we can save our money for something more important to us.

I know i'm playing the sympathy card but is it worth calling up and explaining my situation to someone? And if so when i call who should i ask for? I cant imagine any empathy from an overseas operator with regards to my situation.

Thanks for all your help

I cannot see that this would come under any insurance nor be an exception in the fare rules. Not wanting to go anymore is just an inherent risk of buying non-refundable tickets

Dave

While I am sorry for you guys, I have to say that you do not have any chance to get refund. I was in similar situation two years ago with much more reputable airline than Jetstar and on C level and all I managed was to rebook... Insurance will not hear anything and airlines will stick to the rules. So unless you can come with something better (and can of course make statutory declaration on that fact), you will have to go, or lose your money.
One word of advice: DO NOT TRY TO LIE to the insurance - that's called fraud and insurance companies are really good in detecting that.

I notice a lot of insurance companies have added "redundancy" for reasons to be able to claim, but it doesn't sound like it would help in your situation...

Can you do a name change on this ticket? Maybe you could sell it to a friend and change the ticket into their name for a small charge??? Stretch, but worth investigating.

Another one (but it's a stretch again) is if you have had a time change (which knowing Jetstar you probably have) you can request a refund on that basis (it's in their fine print). I have done this succesfully in the past, but the time change was by about 2 hours (whereas my Japan flights have only changed by 30 minutes).

Otherwise you could just cut your losses now, if you are on the $400 return ticket like we are, you'll end up spending WAY more than that if you follow through with your planned holiday.

Hope it all works out.