xxPaulCPxx

Holy Effin Crud!

I just got back from a business trip to Chicago from Long Beach. As we were departing the plane, the pilot let the passengers know that JetBlue was cancelling this route. This was the first I had heard of this!

We are going to Israel in 3 weeks, and our kids, 11 and 9 y.o., are heading out to stay with their grandparents. We were planning on putting them on a Jetblue flight - their first time travelling alone - and having their grandparents pick them up at the airport.

My wife booked the flight using miles, and paid the $400 unaccompanied minor fee ($100 per kid each leg) on credit card.

When we called up Jet Blue, to check the status of the flight, at first the person on the phone thought everything was all right - SHE didn't even realize our flight was cancelled when she pulled up out reservation. Well, she finally saw that our flight was cancelled. And that was all.

Apparently, that has sent a message saying their flight had been canceled to my email, not my wife who booked it. Coincidentally I was getting travel booked though my company on a different JetBlue flight for a different time. You want to guess how they titled an email telling me my kids flight was canceled?
"Important information about your upcoming JetBlue flight"
I didn't open it as I thought they were spamming me about some service they were offering for the flight that was just booked. You know the message:
SUBJECT: "Important information about your upcoming JetBlue flight"
MESSAGE: "Did you know you could get extra legroom by..."
or
MESSAGE: "Getting to the airport 90 minutes before your flight can..."

Only today did I read that the flight was "discontinued"Apparently, they sent messages to my kids email addresses (needed for TrueBlue points, even though they don't use them)... the only reason I got it is I must have left my email in there instead of their own when entering their TrueBlue account information. The email was not addressed to me, it was addressed to my 11yo daughter.

Jet Blue has not refunded my wife back her points, nor have they paid her back the $400 she spent on the kid fee.

So just to sum up:
JetBlue cancelled two children's reservations without notifying their parents. JetBlue did not refund the miles spent on the flight to my wife. JetBlue did not refund the $400 fee we paid either.

I've flown JetBlue for years, for business and personal. I can't believe we were treated this way. I'll post more here when I know more.

xxPaulCPxx

Here is the email I sent to JetBlue customer service:
I traveled on Jet Blue from Chicago to Long Beach on Saturday, and heard for the first time that the route was being cancelled on June. This was a huge surprise for my family, as we had our two children booked on a round trip flight Leaving June 29 and coming back July 18. They are 11 and 9 years old, an they were to be traveling as unaccompanied minors.

If I had not been on that flight two days ago, we would have first found out about this when we took the kids to the airport on June 29! We leave on the 30th for Israel, the kids were supposed to go stay with their grandparents.

Their mother, Nancy XXXXX, was the one who booked the flight using her own air miles. She was not notified the flight was cancelled. Though I haven't checked yet, my 11 and 9 y.o. children might have been emailed that their flight was cancelled. Apparently, I was sent an email entitled "Important information about your upcoming JetBlue flight", which happened on the same day I booked a different business trip to Boston.

If a flight carrying my two unaccompanied children is cancelled, that is not "Important information"... Important information is that my flight time has changed 15 minutes. A cancelled flight emails should be entitled "CANCELLED FLIGHT NOTIFICATION" or something similar. "Important information" is what marketers and spammers put in their subject line to get old people to open the envelope. "Important information about your upcoming JetBlue flight" tells me the person sending the email isn't even privy to the flight information they are talking about, and the message inside is not worth my time.

Beyond the lack of notification to my wife, who booked travel and handles all the family travel, their is the lack of refund. We booked their fairs with miles, and paid their Unaccompanied Minor fee with credit card. Exactly when was your company planning on refunding that fee? Two children, two trips, that's $400 of money you are holding onto as of this writing. At this point, as far as I'm concerned your company has defrauded us out of $400 (plus any applicable taxes, fees) for cancelling these tickets without immediately refunding the purchase price.

I travel on Jet Blue regularly, I've used JetBlue as much as I could for business and family travel. JetBlue has betrayed my trust.

JetBlue has betrayed my trust by not directly contacting my wife that the flight our unaccompanied children were to fly was canceled. You knew they were 11 and 9 years old, you knew their care was important enough to need a special $100 fee per child per leg charge to maneuver them through the airports. Yet you did not think it important enough to have a person directly contact us.

JetBlue has betrayed my trust by keeping the extra fees charged to us instead of immediately sending a check or refunding the credit card - which BTW would have clued us in that something was amiss!

JetBlue has betrayed my trust by not refunding the miles my wife had accrued back to her TrueBlue account - again, suddenly getting thousands of mile back on her account may have also clued us in that the flight was canceled.

So, here is what happened from our point of view:
We booked our children on a flight to see their grandparents while we traveled out of the country. We paid an extra $400 for their extra care while in JetBlue's hands.
Jet Blue cancelled the flights, and did not notify the purchaser - their mother - that the flights were cancelled. JetBlue kept the $400 Unaccompanied Minor fee for itself. JetBlue kept all the miles my wife had used for these flights.

So how is JetBlue going to make this right for us?

AsiaTraveler

They are not stealing your money or your points. They are offering you the option of moving to different flights or a full refund, but aren't going to do anything until you tell them which option you want.

While the title of the message could be more forthcoming, they did contact you at the contact email that you provided them.

Give them a call and get it sorted out. The fact that they are issuing you a credit as an apology regardless of whether you keep the flights or not is awesome customer relations to me. When Northwest discontinued a non-stop flight I was on, they simply said, "Here's your new connecting flights...oh by the way they connect right in the middle of snow territory in January" and then I had to fight to get a better option.

xxPaulCPxx

Hey, if this was myself or my wife who were contacted - sure, those would be acceptable. We are both adults.

These flights were for kids. The fact that we had to pay a $400 premium for this reservation, and the fact we had to talk to people to make the reservation - we couldn't just do it via expedia.com for example since it involves flying with kids - should be a signal to EVERYONE that special care needs to be taken with this reservation.

So if these are the options given to my 11 year old daughter (not to me or her Mom, who made the reservations), lets go through them:
Please contact us at your earliest convenience to discuss re-accommodation options. Below are a few of our options that you may want to consider:

Moving to a connecting JetBlue flight through Boston Logan Airport (BOS) or New York’s John F Kennedy Airport (JFK) to either Long Beach (LGB) or Chicago O’Hare International (ORD) Airports
Nope - she and her little brother can't do that. They are both too young to take a trip alone that spans more than one leg.
Cancelling your JetBlue flight(s) and receive a JetBlue service credit for the value of your reservation
Nope - she can't do that. She's not an adult, so she can't rebook.
Cancelling your JetBlue flight(s) for a full refund to the original form of payment
She didn't buy the ticket, why would she be getting a refund?

At least when you got cancelled, you were rebooked. WE WOULD HAVE LOVED BEING REBOOKED!

6rugrats

I don't quite know what to say to your posts. First, you were notified by JetBlue. They did not cancel without notifying you! I think an email with the subject line, "Important information about your upcoming JetBlue flight", would get my attention. You can't blame JetBlue because you ignored this! When my kids are flying as UM, I check their reservations on a regular basis.

JetBlue is "making it right for you". They will refund the points and monies paid, and issue you a voucher. That's all they can do. They aren't paying for your children's flights on another airline and if there are no nonstop flights available, they can't fly on JetBlue as UM.

I have to be honest and say I think your post is a little over-the-top and your last post is actually ridiculous. Your situation is understandably frustrating, but why not read your emails or look at your children's itineraries once in a while?

Get a refund, rebook and move along.

tjbrooks

I understand the frustration. Im five minutes from LGB and know how easy it is. But if youre not willing to connect then there's nothing the airline can do for you except refund your money. Try to put a positive spin on it, you'll get $100 B6 credit per LGB/ORD leg, $200 per kid if I read that right. Rebook the kids on VX out of LAX, they'll love it.

Your email to Customer Service is too long and too emotional. And also too soon if you haven't contacted them by phone yet. Keep your message simple, stick to the facts and the to the issue at hand (you want your money/points back). Tell them what the problem is, and what you're seeking for resolution.

If you really want them to change their email titles/policies then do that separately.

Often1

1. Jet Blue cancelled the route and notified OP of the cancellation. The email notifying him of the cancellation was sent to the email his wife presumably provided when she booked the kids' flights.

2. OP chose not to read an incoming email marked "Important" because he thought that it was spam. He was wrong. It was actually important.

3. Jet Blue has gone over and above what they should have done had they realized that they simply had a customer who doesn't read his email.

4. Not sure what OP wants here. The route is cancelled, the connections aren't doable for little kids and he's got a refund. Either he rebooks on a carrier with non-stop Chicago-Los Angeles service or his kids don't fly.

5. We are talking about 9 & 11 YOA's here. UM or not who would even think of sending kids that age to LA via NYC anyway.

This one is 100% on OP. Spam is annoying, but doesn't excuse what happened here. A better post by OP would be, "I'm really upset with myself and just want to vent because I made a mistake and have screwed up."

lost*in*cyberspace

I agree with the PP who noted that your complaint to JetBlue was much too long and emotional. Next time, calm down and send a very short and to the point message.

You are making such a big deal over such a little issue which can be easily resolved. There are plenty of flights on other carriers non-stop from LAX-ORD. Book one. You will eventually get your JetBlue money back.

daregale

It's a frustrating situation when you think you have travel plans settled and then they blow up like that. Take a deep breath, rebook your kids on acceptable flights, and request your refund and credit.

It might also be a good time to sit down as a family and review your flight contact information in all your frequent flyer accounts so that you can avoid this kind of snafu in the future. If your wife is to be the contact for family travel, she can make sure her contact info is in all the kids' accounts.