Change of Flight via JetStar

Few weeks ago, our DG organized a Singapore Toastmasters Group Tour to Bangkok, to attend an anniversary celebration for one of the clubs.

The whole group of us, ten odds, individually booked the same afternoon flight there via Jetstar.

Few days back, one of the group members alerted me that Jetstar had canceled that flight, and put all of us in the evening flight.

Thinking back, I had received an email earlier telling me that they changed my flight. But the new flight indicated was the same one as I had booked.

Another group member managed to help everyone to change the flight to the morning one free of charge except mine. The reason was they could not locate my flight. So I had to call in the change my own flight.

When I spoken to the customer officer, requesting to change my flight, she told me that there would be a charge of SGD40.00 plus top up fee if there was any. The reason was I had clicked on the button to accept the new flight arrangement. I was a bit upset. I explained to her that, the mail did not show me the new flight.

She was taken back for while, and she told me to hang on while she checked with the Internet Department. Later, she came back to me and assisted me to change my flight, free of charge.

This incident reminded me of the service quality in Singapore and an article I had read some time back on service. This had been a hot topic. Most of us had expected that, quality service means flawless service. We always read and hear comments on faults by the service providers in Singapore. In that article which I read, the author shared his or her opinion that quality service also means how the provider handled unexpected situations.

In my situation, the customer officer did her part in explained the charges would be incurred. But on hearing my explanation, she did not enforce that procedure. She checked, and assisted to make my case.

I think that is what quality service should be. Some may be very polite when we asked for assistance, but was inflexible to exception. Jetstar in this case has earned the customers, not just because as a budget airline, but also as a quality service provider.

I hope I would continue to experience such service when I board the flight.