For passengers who have booked flights out of Singapore on 27th (Chinese New Year's Eve) and 28th January 2017 (Chinese New Year's Day), the budget airline is waiving all change charges and price difference for those who decide to change their flight dates to start from 29th January 2017.
The aim behind this idea is to encourage Singaporean families to amend their travel plans for Chinese New Year and to stay home with their families during this festive period.
The airline came up with this idea as they noticed more Singaporeans are traveling during festive season.
Jetstar also conducted a survey with 4,000 passengers asking them, "If money was not an issue, would they travel over Chinese New Year?" 75 percent of respondent replied with a positive answer. Based on this result, they made the assumption that peak travel prices were preventing people from leaving, rather than family values.
A video was also launched where eleven young travelers picked from the survey were offered free flights to fly on Chinese New Year's Eve. They were then showed videos of their family members who were asked the same question. After watching the videos, the youngsters said no to the free tickets. There were two scenes where the ladies were in tears after hearing what their family members said.
People travel during Chinese New Year for different reasons.
It could be the only time of the year where they are free. It could be to keep a promise. It could be to experience Chinese New Year in a different country. It could be to avoid answering embarrassing questions from relatives. It could be to take a break. It could be to save on their annual leave. It could be to visit their relatives overseas.
For those traveling during festive peak period, they know that airfares are expensive and in high demand.
Perhaps those who have already booked their tickets to travel during this period are 100% sure that they will make the trip unless something unexpected happens. Otherwise, they wouldn't have forked out the money.
What's interesting about the campaign is that this seems to target a specific group of its customer base - the young travelers.
Did Jetstar notice an unusual high percentage of young passengers booking flight on 27th and 28th January 2017? Even the eleven respondents picked seems to be in that age group. The only logical reason for that is that it's the easiest way to put the message across that family comes first.
Although there were eleven respondents as reported in the newspapers, only five of them appeared. What happened to the other six persons? Did they give a different answer which resulted in them not being shown in the video?
As for the five who appeared on the video, did they know that they were being filmed? I may be wrong but I am more inclined to think that they suspect that they were being filmed. If this is the case, would any of the five still go ahead with the free flight after watching what their family member said knowing fully they are being filmed? Is this the reason why the other six did not appear in the video?
Going back to the survey, nothing was mentioned about what other questions were asked. It seemed that only one question was asked as it mentioned passengers were posed THIS QUESTION. If this is the case, how would the conclusion be different if they were asked who they will be traveling with, what is the reason for traveling?
There was also no information on the demography of those surveyed. If the 4,000 passengers are all young travelers, did Jetstar make the assumption right from the start that those who are most likely to travel during Chinese New Year if money is not an issue are the youngsters? If the 4,000 were from different age group, did the airline specifically choose to focus on the youngsters? That could explains why the subsequent video only featured youngsters.
The biggest assumption they made is that peak travel prices is preventing people from traveling, rather than family values. This conclusion they made could be very off the truth. Those people could very well be traveling with their families during this period.
Did they start off with the theme that they want - family comes first - and then find a way that's easiest to put the message across (what other ways better than to portray children leaving their family behind during Chinese New Year) and support it with their observations and survey that proved what they think is right?
A sort of justify the justification?
Everyone knows that air ticket is in high demand during major festive periods like Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year. For those planning to travel during these periods, they know that they have to book as early as possible to make sure they can get the air tickets. So their decisions were probably made months ahead. No doubt there will be those who decide to travel in the last minutes and able to do so provided they are lucky enough to be able to get air tickets.
The campaign message "Stay home this Lunar New Year, because you can travel after that," which means family comes first.
Chinese New Year is the most important festival for most chinese. For some of us, we would never travel during this period even if there's free tickets. Those people who have already booked flights to travel during Chinese New Year has a choice whether they want to travel or not even before they booked their flights. They have probably decided a few months in advance that they wanted to travel and so made the bookings.
Jetstar is trying to get them to reconsider their decisions by offering them waiver. Perhaps there are passengers who are seriously considering staying home for reunion and this waiver thing serves as an additional incentive for them to make the change. What would other passengers feel after seeing the message but still go ahead with the trip because they have already paid so much for the air tickets? Will this make them feel remorseful and bad for not putting their family first? Furthermore, those who regretted booking flights during this period would have change even without the need for the waiver if they decide to put their family first. Why would anyone needs any incentive to put their family first?
Let's take a look at Jetstar's offer to waive off all charges.
A quick check on 13th January 2017 on the airfare for departure to Bangkok on 27th January (Friday) and return on 30th January (Monday) turns up this result. The price of one way airfare is above $200 excluding taxes.
These are the rules and regulations for the campaign.
This is one of the avenue to earn revenue for budget airline. Maybe it is also to discourage people for changing. Of course, you could opt for higher priced tickets which gives you the flexibility to change the date.
For those who decide to change their travel dates, they can change to travel between 29th January and 31th March 2017. There is also a black out period between 11th to 19th March 2017 which is the school holiday period.
Do you think there will be any chance that air ticket price after the Chinese New Year's will be higher than during the festive period? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But are you more inclined to think that travel after the festive period would be much cheaper than Chinese New Year?
Jetstar is offering waiver of change charges. It may looks like a good deal. But only for those who want to change for whatever reason - be it to be with family or something happened which made the travel impossible. But bear in mind that for those who are changing their flights, do you think that all of them will be changing from a premium priced air ticket to a cheaper ticket? If this is the case, could the waiver offered by Jetstar come from the price difference in the air ticket which can easily come up to $300 based on the above price check? In fact, could it be possible that Jetstar is making additional $300 from each passenger who changes? Cos how much do you think it costs Jetstar to change your flight date? And would Jetstar even consider refunding the price difference to passengers?
I can understand why Jetstar is offering for travel untill 31th March 2017. But why the black out date during school holiday period? The airline knows that this is a peak traveling period and so can command a premium price as demand is high. But since those who booked to travel during Chinese New Year have already paid a premium, shouldn't they be allowed to travel on these dates as well?
For those passengers who decide to travel after Chinese New Year, they will free up seats during this period. Which means that Jetstar can offer those seats previously not available up again for bookings. This means they will get additional revenue if the seats are sold.
Now, what if Jetstar focus on its employees instead of passengers? One group that has no choice but to work during Chinese New Year. One group that has a choice but choose to travel during Chinese New Year.
Or match those who did not manage to buy an air ticket home for Chinese New Year as they were all sold out and those who have booked tickets but were willing to give them up?