Issues in the airline industry

**bazzy** · 20-02-23, 11:24 AM

Hi All

I have recently had an issue when organizing a flight for a friend of mine that came up and visited several months ago. the flights where booked via webjet.
The airline has a recommendation for larger people that don't fit comfortably to pay for an additional seat in order for best comfort for not just the larger person but for the person sitting next to them.

in any case the only way to do that via webjet was to book an additional full ticket. This was done. however on the day of the flight up the second paid for ticket was refused and canceled. upon discussing this between webjet and the carrier an issue was identified with the process that webjet follow for comfort seats. the carrier then sold the additional seat for the return trip to another passenger as the flight was full on the return.

Webjet has promised a refund however said it will take 12 weeks. it has been 12 weeks so called them up and they have directed me to the carrier who then promptly deflected me back to webjet.

there are a few issues with this.

1. The refund process is unreasonably long.
2. The industry seems to use what i call rat mazes to stone wall customers from getting an outcome
3. There is no escalation point that you can go to in order to get a matter resolved.

I have been told about a airline customer advocate that manages complaints however they have not been operational since 2020.

Its really time that the industry got cleaned up in my opinion

**wotnot** · 20-02-23, 03:56 PM

...the complaint advocate are still there, but....

As I've said many time before (bottom line above) chatting/talking with folks over the 'phone is a complete waste of time...

citing: &&

**bazzy** · 20-02-23, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by wotnot

...the complaint advocate are still there, but....

As I've said many time before (bottom line above) chatting/talking with folks over the 'phone is a complete waste of time...

citing: &&

interesting copy and paste from their website however also look at the last annual report they provided. it was in 2020

they don't respond to emails. no one can reach them by phone.

They where put in place by the airlines back in the 2000s by the airline industry when there where calls for there to be government regulation.

additionally mandating that the customer resolve the issue with the airline or agent first is not helpful when the either side of the party refuse to accept your complaint because each side thinks its the others responsibility. hence my point 2 being that they create rat mazes designed to circumvent consumer rights.

In my case they accepted payment for goods and services they had no intention on delivering.

and i do have it in writing that they are going to credit me a refund. they said 12 weeks. its now been longer than that.

**peteramjet** · 20-02-23, 05:38 PM

Originally Posted by bazzy

In my case they accepted payment for goods and services they had no intention on delivering.

WebJet accepted your payment, not the airline, and so your contract is with WebJet, not the airline. WebJet are not a party to that advocate, so I wouldn’t waste my time with them (even if they do still exist).

Any refund you seek needs to be obtained through WebJet. Approaching the airline directly will be unlikely to get you any result.