Man tells VCAT he should have been warned by Flight Centre about Jetstar business class
A seasoned traveller wanted to be compensated after a trip in Jetstar’s business class failed to meet his high standards. Here’s how the case played out.
Victoria
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The quality of Jetstar business class has been challenged in court by a frequent flyer who claims its food, service and seating arrangements are not up to his lofty standards.
Miles Lewis was miffed his Melbourne Fight Centre travel agent did not warn him about the standard of Jetstar business class, when he elected to change flights for a Europe trip last year.
But his bid to win compensation for his brush with bargain business class crashed this month when the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) dismissed the case.
The tribunal heard Mr Lewis felt his travel agent should have told him how Jetstar business class compared to business class on the airlines he was used to flying with, when he made the changes.
“The applicant claims … Flight Centre, particularly in view of its long past record of dealings with him and its imputed knowledge of his travelling habits, owed him a duty to disclose that Jetstar’s business class was of a lesser standard than he may have experienced in the past with other airlines and that, by its silence on these matters, Flight Centre mislead him and misrepresented to him what he should expect by travelling with Jetstar,” VCAT member Hugh Davies noted.
Mr Lewis, who travelled overseas frequently for work and often used Flight Centre to book, usually flew business class but had never travelled with Jetstar, the tribunal heard.
His business class experience with the bargain carrier came as shock, with no business class lounge at Ho Chi Minh City airport, while on the Ho Chi Minh City to Melbourne flight, “the food was disappointing and … the seating arrangements and service were not up to what he expected in business class”.
“The applicant seeks general damages of $2500 to compensate him for the disappointment and lack of service experienced on the Jetstar flight,” tribunal documents note.
Flight Centre denied it had “by its conduct or silence” breached any duty owed to Mr Lewis, and Jetstar said it had delivered both the flight and its in-flight services in accordance with its normal standards “which are readily available to all who care to visit its website or make other inquiries”, Mr Davies noted.
“In my finding, Jetstar delivered exactly what its promotional materials … offered.
“In my view a suggestion that Jetstar is required to provide business class services the like of other airlines, in this context, is not sustainable.”
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