Bestjet enters liquidation after leaving angry customers out of pocket

UPDATE: A travel agency that collapsed just before Christmas leaving customers thousands of dollars out of pocket has gone into liquidation.

Customers who booked overseas flights have been left in limbo after Bestjet collapsed.

Just before Christmas, dozens of Aussies were outraged after booking plane tickets that never arrived.

The company responsible, Bestjet, has gone into liquidation - but those in charge say an investigation into the fiasco will now hinge on money.

Bestjet and subsidiaries Wynyard Travel and Brooklyn Travel went into administration on December 18.

According to 9Finance, creditors met for a second time in Brisbane today, appointing Nigel Markey and Bradley Hellen of Pilot Partners as Bestjet liquidators.

However, Mr Markey said the ability to investigate the causes behind Bestjet's downfall will depend on money, with just $3.6 million left in the coffers at the time of the company's collapse, the network reports.

In a report released earlier this month, Pilot Partners claimed Bestjet was taken over from founder Rachel James by McVicker International, and it is understood Mrs James' husband and Robert McVicker Jr were friends.

Pilot Partners revealed it had reported Mr and Mrs James and Mr McVicker Jr to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

“Our investigations have revealed that the director, former director and de facto/shadow director may have breached their obligations to act in good faith and in the best interests of the Company pursuant to section 180 and 181 of the Act,” the report stated, according to 9Finance. 

“As previously advised, the Administrators have also reported Mr and Mrs James to ASIC for failing to provide information in relation to the Company’s affairs.”

Would-be travellers who had booked tickets via Bestjet were left in limbo after the collapse and are now aiming to establish a police investigation and a civil suit.

The Bestjet Fiasco Action Group has been set up on Facebook by Kate Ryder, who lost $3150 on flights to Paris. It already has more than 1000 members.

Ms Ryder wrote about her experience on Facebook. She said her “cautionary tale” started on December 6 when she tried to book flights to Paris for the FIFA women’s World Cup final.

“I received a confirmation email informing me that I would receive my e-tickets within 72 hours,” she wrote.

“No tickets ever arrived ... so no tickets and no money. The flights were supposed to have been with Emirates. Emirates never received the booking.”

Bestjet went into voluntary administration 12 days later on December 18.

Ms Ryder said she had received complaints from Bestjet customers who booked with airlines including Jetstar, Garuda, Qantas, Malaysian Airlines, Air Asia, Etihad Airways and Air Canada, among others.

She hopes to prove that Bestjet had “an intent to deceive”.

.@emirates @emiratessupport Incredibly disappointed by the deplorable customer service and seemingly complete disregard for customers during the #bestjet debacle. Truly appalling behaviour to leave people in the lurch especially during the holiday period. #emirates #bestjetfiasco

— Craig Bowes (@marabowes) December 31, 2018

#SingaporeAir minting money out of #bestjet closure is pathetic! My confirmed ticket from 11 Dec 2018 Booking ref#JJAKHO was cancelled & no cancellation email or sms text was sent. It's been a week and no nformation shared by airline in spite my details been there in your system.

— chinmoy joshi (@chinmoyjoshi) December 24, 2018

My Melbourne to London return flights for Feb have been canceled and refunded by/to bestjet and I wasn’t even told about it until I checked with Emirates today. Now I gotta fight to get my money back, and book new flights. So ridiculous 😤

— shannen carlton 🌻 (@Shannen_GC) December 29, 2018

“This will strengthen a case for a police investigation, the laying of possible criminal charges and hopefully ... provide grounds for a civil suit.”

Melbourne man Stan Mikolajski booked flights to Warsaw with Emirates via Bestjet in November. He told ABC News that he was due to fly in May but the airline cancelled his trip shortly before Christmas. He was entitled to a refund from the airline, but says he never received one.

“I felt cheated, robbed and angry a company that was supposedly quite reputable had then turned around and done something like this,” Mr Mikolajski said.

The collapse of Bestjet left Brisbane couple Neil and Annette Hall $10,600 out of pocket and devastated that their “once-in-a-lifetime” business class trip to Milan had been cancelled.

Neil booked the flights with Etihad via Bestjet on December 11. He told Guardian Australia the trip was prompted by a redundancy.

“It was really to celebrate 38 years of work, and just to spoil ourselves on an overseas trip. We’ve never flown business and it was sort of a once-in-a-lifetime thing to celebrate the start of something new for us.”

The couple received an email on December 22 they say included several spelling efforts and was purporting to be from Bestjet. That’s when they realised something was wrong.

“It’s obviously quite a large amount of money and not an everyday purchase, put it that way. It’s certainly hit us pretty hard,” Mr Hall said.

Bestjet’s administrator Pilot Partners says there is a “clear process” for customers to claim refunds, but warned tickets that were “no longer valid” would not be refunded, according to the ABC.