Jetstar sorry for 'inhumane' treatment

JETSTAR has come under fire over its "inhumane" policies in three separate incidents following the devastating earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Travellers Gillian Smith, Lee Stanish and an unidentified woman all say they were left horrified at their treatment at the hands of Jetstar staff.

Mrs Smith was booked to fly to Melbourne tomorrow to take a break from the aftershocks following the September 4 quake and visit her daughter Sarah, the New Zealand Herald reported. However after last week’s quake Mrs Smith decided to stay at her Christchurch home to look after it, planning to fly to Australia at a later date.

Her daughter took up the task of dealing with Jetstar as Mrs Smith did not have a phone or electricity, but had no luck with her battle for a refund. The airline demanded photographic evidence signed by authorities that passenger’s home was damaged in Christchurch quake before giving her money back, a move Ms Smith called "inhumane". “Seriously, do the police not have enough to do?” Ms Smith said.

Jetstar has apologised for the “mistake” and resolved the matter quickly after being contacted by the media.

Meanwhile Lee Stanish, from Auckland, has accused the airline of lacking compassion for wanting to charge her to transfer her tickets to a family who lost someone in the Christchurch earthquake, NZPA reported. Ms Stanish bought four Jetstar return tickets from Auckland to Christchurch for a family holiday between March 17 and 20.

After seeing the devastation of the quake the family decided to give the tickets to a family who needed to travel to Christchurch for a funeral. However she was told by Jetstar that it would cost $NZ50 ($36) per name change on the ticket, and an extra charge for the difference in price on the new tickets. "How does it work? I don't understand where the compassion is," she said. "Does it really matter who's sitting on the seats?"

However, Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said the rules were very clear when people bought tickets. He said Jetstar had been very accommodating over the quake, offering full refunds until Wednesday, and now offering vouchers. "We are being as flexible as we can."

Earlier this week a Wellington woman was told she would not get a refund for her Jetstar ticket bought to attend her graduation at the University of Canterbury next month. "I'm very frustrated because it's as a direct result of the earthquake, they should have included this into their earthquake consideration," she said.

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