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My name is Kate Ryder, and I am the Administrator of the ‘closed’ Facebook (FB) page ‘Bestjet Fiasco Action Group’. This FB group was set-up to assist members who are all former or/and current customers of Bestjet Travel Pty. Ltd., and its two subsidiaries Brooklyn and Wynyard Travel Pty. Ltd (Bestjet customers), which went into receivership on Thursday 20th of December 2018.  http://www.germany.travel/en/index.html

The group formally or informally represents over 300 people, all of whom can be categorised into five identifiable groups:

  1. Those that have cancelled their flights, sought and been promised a refund by Bestjet, but have not as yet received the refund;
  2. Those like myself, who have paid for their flights, received a ‘booking’ confirmation informing us that the e-tickets would be issued within 72 hours (which conflicts with the company’s website that states that e-tickets would be issued within 42 hours), but have neither received the e-tickets or a refund for the tickets;
  3. Those that received their e-tickets and a confirmed booking, and have since learnt that these flights have been cancelled and the money refunded to ‘Bestjet’ or a consolidated ticketing purchase company that appears to have purchased the tickets on behalf of Bestjet;
  4. Those that have received e-tickets and confirmed bookings, have been informed by the airlines that these bookings still exist despite Bestjet’s collapse, but fear that they will be cancelled before they have a chance to fly; and finally
  5. Concerned family or friends.

I am distributing this Media Release now for several reasons:

  1. There appears to be a lack of widespread media interest in this story, apart from articles written by Rosemarie Lentini on behalf of NINE finance, given that Bestjet’s collapse has seemingly affected approximately 10,000 people (Lentini 2018) and is still adversely affecting them now. For instance, people are travelling to airports and being informed that their flights have been cancelled.
  2. Some media outlets are publishing contradictory, ill-informed and simply false information to Bestjet customers, and should not be commenting on events for which they have incomplete or limited knowledge. Please liaise with Rosemarie Lentini or with me, and make sure your information is correct and up-to-date. We do not need Bestjet customers having their hopes falsely raised, only to be dashed in the future.
  3. There is a lot of false information on social media platforms and in the media;
  4. There is scope for opportunistic secondary scammers to start operating, and finally
  5. Someone that appears to work for Bestjet is releasing false and misleading information to Bestjet’s customers.

We need the media to inform the public that: a. Flights of former Bestjet’s customers may have been cancelled and for them to contact their airline; b. to inform the public that we, as a support group exists and are here to help them. This is because:

  • Many of Bestjet’s customers are elderly and are from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds, and may have difficulty navigating the complaints process.
  • The administrators’, Pilot Partners are not responding to emails asking for information; have not informed Bestjet’s customers that their flights have been cancelled; are holding their first creditors’ meeting on 2 January 2019; have not registered all of Bestjet’s customers as unsecured creditors; are holding this meeting in Brisbane and not via satellite link-up; have only given people until 31 December 2018 to register as unsecured creditors, and have not informed all of the people that have complained via email the process for registering as unsecured creditors.
  • The ACCC is currently closed until 2 January 2019.

What we would like to see happen is for:

  1. Pilot Partners to register all of Bestjet’s customers who have lost money as actual or potential unsecured creditors and conduct all their meetings via satellite link-up.
  2. Pilot Partners to officially serve a ‘Cease and Desist’ notice on the owners of Bestjet, preventing them from distributing anymore public notices.
  3. Pilot Partners to investigate ways and/or seek to reclaim any monies held by third-party associates of Bestjet, especially if this includes refunds held for cancelled e-tickets.
  4. Pilot Partners to contact Bestjet’s Customers who are due to fly within the next four weeks, and who may or may not have had their e-tickets cancelled, and provide a status update.
  5. Airlines to: i) contact all Bestjet customers whose tickets have been cancelled (if they have customers’ contact details and are able to do so) and inform them of this fact; ii) Reissue cancelled tickets to Bestjet customers as Malindo Air (Malaysian airline) has done or alternatively fly Bestjet customers free-of-charge if they have a compelling reason for needing to do so; iii) honour the original price that Bestjet customers were charged for their tickets (I have had to pay an extra $1200 for the new tickets I’ve just bought) , iv not cancel and refund any more money paid in lieu of tickets paid for by Bestjet’s customers; v. Allow Bestjet customers to cancel their own e-tickets and have the money refunded to them; vi. Have a designated and well–informed person solely dealing with enquires from Bestjet Customers and finally vii) Post something on their websites to specially assist Bestjet customers, and have the website and their customer service agents invite Bestjet customers to contact this FB page. We can assist in this process.
  6. Travel insurance companies to recognise that many of the Bestjet customers incurred their losses PRIOR to the collapse of the company and honour their claims for a full refund of monies paid.
  7. For banks and other money transferring companies to try to speed up their charge-back process, so Bestjet customers are not waiting an overly long time for a decision.
  8. For third part affiliates of Bestjet such as CVFR to stop seeking refunds for e-tickets issued to Bestjet customers.