Welcome Guest   |  Login   |   Signup
JG Logo
Sat, May 26, 2012
Archive Search

Scramble Starts for Mandala Refunds
Francezka Nangoy, Camelia Pasandaran & Aidil Yursal | January 14, 2011

A policeman helping keep order in the main ticketing office at Mandala Airlines’ headquarters in West Jakarta on Thursday. Irate customers jostled to claim refunds for tickets on canceled flights after the troubled carrier suspended its operations late on Wednesday. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya) A policeman helping keep order in the main ticketing office at Mandala Airlines’ headquarters in West Jakarta on Thursday. Irate customers jostled to claim refunds for tickets on canceled flights after the troubled carrier suspended its operations late on Wednesday. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)
Share This Page
4
1
0
2
Share with google+ :


Post a comment
Please login to post comment

Comments

nasserdjs
10:30am Jan 14, 2011

Shameless

samething happen to ASTRO/ DirectvisionTV

45 days for a refund, (who just buying time) never refunded.


Roland
7:47am Jan 14, 2011

What a shame how a now defunct company treats its customers who already paid money for tickets. Instead of filling in claim forms and have to wait for money transfers to their accounts (which probably will never happen - or just with a "cancellation fee" deducted) or even setting a time limit for refunds all tickets should have been fully in cash refunded. This business practice now displayed by Mandala borders on fraud, to cash in still a few hundred million Rp, even if they for sure knew in advance that their flights will be suspended at a certain date!

A fraudulent management - actually not all too surprising, as I can just imagine how the highest posts in this company are occupied by the completely incompetent offspring of influential people who actually have no idea what the job is about! And this is most probably also the main reason why the company faces bankruptcy now, while the business of their competitors is booming.


  • Previous
  • 1
  • Next

Frustrated Mandala Airlines ticket holders packed its offices and airport counters in several cities on Thursday to try to secure refunds after the airline suspended operations because of its financial difficulties.

At Mandala’s headquarters in West Jakarta, hundreds of ticket holders packed the front sales office demanding a refund only to be told that they would not be able to get cash and would have to fill in a claims form and wait for bank transfers to be sent to their accounts.

Police officers helped to keep the crowd in order.

Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi said that the airline needed to immediately reimburse the passengers.

“I have already urged them to do this. It needs to be settled immediately,” Freddy said after a meeting at the vice president’s office on Thursday.

However, Nurmaria Sarosa, Mandala’s head of corporate communications, said that refunds could not be rushed because verification was needed.

“The verification process will take at least seven days,” she said via text message.

Mandala’s Web site said that only those claims filed before Saturday would be processed within seven days.

Those who file claims after Saturday may face a wait of up to 45 days for a refund.

The company announced late on Wednesday that it would suspend its operations on Thursday to restructure its business to deal with soaring levels of debt and heavy competition in the country’s skies.

At Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, hundreds of people formed long lines in front of the airline ticket counters at Terminal 3.

Police officers stood guard along with the airport security, however, and the lines were much more orderly than at the airline’s main office.

“The Mandala counter has been busy since Wednesday,” Hary Cahyono, a spokesman for Angkasa Pura II, the airport’s operator, told news portal Detik.com.

“I see that the airline’s staff is providing passengers with good service.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of Mandala passengers were stranded on Thursday at Fatmawati Soekarno Airport in Bengkulu, South Sumatra, due to the flight cancellations. They complained about a lack of information and demanded cash refunds, state-run news agency Antara reported.

“We booked tickets to Jakarta just a few days ago, but Mandala only announced the cancellation today [Thursday] so we couldn’t switch airlines because tickets are sold out,” a traveler named Aman complained.

Other Mandala ticket holders, he said, had also found that all other airlines were fully booked for the next two days.

At Yogyakarta’s Adisutjipto Airport, Mandala closed both of its ticket counters.

Pieces of paper, stuck on the counters’ front windows, advised passengers to contact the company’s call center to inquire about ticket refunds.

An early announcement to travel agents in Medan about the plan to cease operations gave ticket holders there more time to seek alternative flights.

“We have already suggested they change to other airlines,” ticketing staff at Trophy Tour travel agency in Medan said.

So far, there had not been any complaints from clients regarding the cancellation, they added.

No passengers were seen at Mandala’s representative office in Medan or at ticket counters at Polonia Airport, both of which were closed.

Mandala flies from Medan to Padang, Pekanbaru and Jakarta.