Annoyance at DJ policy

Its not often that I blog about my experiences (except for the odd trip report) and not on something newsworthy in the aviation scene, but this has me slightly annoyed, so I want to whinge and guess what, you get to hear all about it.

I have had my flights with Pacific Blue back to NZ for Classic Fighters 2011 booked for sometime now, and yesterday I got an email from Pacific Blue informing me that my flights had been changed.

We'd like to thank you for making a booking with Pacific Blue and let you know that your Travel Plan has been altered since you made your booking, as a result of changes to our Pacific Blue schedule. (Schedule changes may occur as a result of Pacific Blue's expanding network, addition of new planes to our fleet, our uncompromising commitment to safety in the air.) This change will affect all Guests travelling on the reservation number below. We apologise in advance if this causes you inconvenience.

 So they had canceled the outbound morning flight I had booked on and moved me to the afternoon flight that wasn't convenient for me, and also changed the departure time of my return flight.  They suggested that I contact the call centre if the flights weren't convenient.

The return flight was only adjusted by 35 minutes so wasn't an issue, but I have NZ domestic flights later in the afternoon, so leaving Brisbane on an afternoon flight isn't an option.

So today I rang the call centre and spoke to a gentleman who was very polite but very inflexible with the support he was able to give me.  The only changes I was able to make were switching to flights the previous or following day, and then only certain flights.

Ideally I would like to have taken the first flight of the morning out of Brisbane to Melbourne then caught the morning Melbourne to Christchurch flight, but despite this perfectly fitting my schedule, it wasn't an option and I have been forced to take the direct evening flight the previous evening, which means I have had to cancel my plans for that night, and I will also have to leave work early to head out and check in at the airport.

While I understand that changes in schedules do occur, I am annoyed that Pacific Blue's re-booking policy is so rigid and inflexible, and they were unable to accommodate me on valid flights that suited my schedule and as a result I am now forced to arrive in Christchurch 14 odd hours earlier than scheduled and spend a night there before my NZ domestic flights later in the afternoon of the day I was supposed to arrive.

So anyway with these trivial issues vented, rant over, I apologise to regular readers of this blog and advise that regular scheduled services will resume shortly.