Although often criticised by the media for its poor handling of certain scenarios, Jetstar has launched a 10 point ‘Jetstar Customer Guarantee’ which will apply across its Australia, New Zealand and Singaporean operations.
The charter includes commitments to safety, low fares, privacy, informing passengers of operational changes and promises to deal promptly with issues and refunds. Specifically, the airline has promised to acknowledge customer complaints within 24 hours and have a maximum 15 day turnaround for complaint responses and processing of refunds. Breaching its customer guarantee will result in the airline providing travel vouchers in local currency as compensation.
“The Jetstar Customer Guarantee will be an evolving and living document that will be constantly reviewed. This will be supported by a customer and staff engagement program, including a newly established panel involving customers and staff and consultation with consumer advocacy experts,” said CEO Bruce Buchanan.
Jetstar has frequently come under criticism for perceived customer service blunders, both in Australia and abroad, and appears to have brought in the charter as not only a way of addressing those issues, but also in response to the federal government’s Aviation White Paper, which calls on airlines to adopt their own consumer protection charters. Nevertheless, the government also made it clear in the White Paper that it is not proposing to regulate customer service standards for the airline industry, as has been the case in the US and elsewhere.
