Lousy customer service. Review on Jet Airways

I booked to travel by Jet Airways (Singapore - Chennai - Cochin and return by Jet from Bangalore - Chennai -Kuala Lumpur). These tickets were booked in january to fly on 29th June.

A. Flight Cancellation:

Last Saturday my agent rang me to say Jet has cancelled heir flights from Chennai-Kul sector for my return trip on July 7th and that Jet has offered to put me in Malaysian Airlines (Chennai -KL) instead.. I asked if they could put me in MAS by their Bangalore-Kuala Lumpur flight and explained that the only reason I booked my return through Chennai was because that was the only option offered by Jet at the time of booking. The agent checked with Jet who informed MAS do not fly Bangalore -KL and this was the only option they could offer me. Reality is MAS has flights from Bangalore to KL but I agreed to the change and asked Jet Airways to send me the revised confirmed tickets and gave her two of my personal email id. She assured me that she will send it in the next couple of minutes. I did not realise "couple of minutes" was "NO Never" in Jet parlance as I have not got my revised tickets from them till date.

B. Schedule Change:

Another upsetting experience was when last night travelocity (agent I booked the tickets) rang me to inform Jet has re-scheduled their MAS-Cochin (they had already re-scheduled it once before) from departing Madras at 18:00 to 19:40 and arrival in Cochin at 20.50. I asked her to put me on any other flight as I was a lady travelling alone and had to go to Trichur (after collecting my baggage etc) by taxi (which I considered an unsafe option as with the revised time I pointed out that I will reach Cochin only by 11.30 P.M or at midnight by the revised flight..

C. Non-Cooperation:

After checking with Jet she said they were not able to give an alternate flight and this was the only option. I told her of the dangers of travelling alone and she gave me a Jet helpline number. That was the most bizarre helpline encounter I had in my life till date and I am a frequent traveller.

The options offered by Jet Airways helpline were the following:

a. Cancel my travel Plans and get a full Refund: I thought she meant the Madras-Cochin sector. When asked to clarify, she told me I had to cancel my entire itinerary to claim a refund. I thought she was joking (though sitting alone in the office clutching a telephone that was put on hold for over an hour at 7 P.M hearing my planned vacation was in a mess was not the ideal scenario for joke). I asked if she could give an alternate solution and she said 'no' and again put me on hold.

b. No Information about flight changes: That was when I got my second shock. To resolve the situation I suggested I was willing to go to Bangalore from Chennai instead of Cochin, on their evening flight 9W2307 departing at 17.15 hours. Reason being my friend who was travelling with me from Singapore was taking this flight to Bangalore . The helpline person told me that flight was changed to 11.15 in the morning. The Jet Airways website was still showing departure time from Madras to Bangalore as 17.15. My friend had not been informed about the change and would have been stranded in Chennai. When I pointed this out to the Helpline support her reaction was 'oh I deal only with the international bookings that is a domestic booking). My friend had made seperate bookings (one Sin-MAA and another MAA-BLR).

c. Lousy Customer Service: I suggested she put me in a Spice Jet flight leaving Chennai at 1800 hours if Jet could not offer me a solution except asking me to cancel my vacation. She said Jet did not have any arrangement. I said in that case to pay for my Spice booking (which was only around Rs.2, 000 when I booked the higher priced Jet in January but was currently Rs 4000 plus) .She rudely said 'you can do that once you land in Chennai.

I tried to reason with her that as a female travelling alone, I did not want to take a cab so late in the night as my personal safety was at stake. Though I told her I was on an international call she put me on hold and after pretending to resolve my problem told me after one hour that the only solution they could offer was to refund my fare if I cancel my entire trip. I shudder when I think of my telephone bill due to Jet mess.

That was when I lost my cool and threatened to take them to the consumer court. But I guess as a foreign national they know I may not be able to do it and she rudely said, 'do what you want'.

Considering Jet is in the highly competitive service industry they do not understand how much word of mouth of lousy service and personal experience can affect their bottom line.

Hence the takeaway from the whole episode is:

a. Jet Airways is an unreliable airlines

b. I will never travel Jet again

c. I will never recommend it to any of my friends. I immediately called one of my friends who was planning to travel by Jet to Washington narrated my experience and she changed her plan and booked by Luftansa

d. The cost of Jets reputation is Rs.4000 (cost of Spice Jet ticket to Cochin) that they would have to offer as an alternative

e. I will share this experience among my colleagues in the company I work for who fly to India frequently never to go by Jet if they did not want their travel plans to be spoilt.