Nightmare customer service
Batik Air – refund eventually received, but only after extensive follow-up and escalation UPDATE – September 2026: Batik Air has now refunded A$570.68 of the A$571.78 I originally paid, so the financial side of the matter is essentially resolved. I appreciate that the refund was ultimately processed. However, I am leaving this review up because the process required a considerable amount of effort. I booked Batik Air flight OD178 from Melbourne to Denpasar for 28 July 2026, originally scheduled to depart at 07:00. Less than a day before departure, Batik Air notified me that the flight had been retimed to 13:00 due to “operational requirements”. It was then retimed again to 14:50. The changes made my onward Indonesian flights unusable, so I had to purchase an alternative Garuda Indonesia ticket at my own expense. I contacted Batik Air before departure and advised that I would not be travelling on OD178 and requested cancellation. I also requested a refund in writing. Batik Air subsequently directed me to its online refund portal, but the portal returned an error and would not allow me to complete the request. After multiple emails and calls, I was surprised to learn from Batik Air's Australian representative that the system had recorded me as a “no-show”, despite my having contacted the airline before departure. After further escalation, Batik Air Customer Care manually recorded my refund request. The process then involved additional follow-ups and initially resulted in only a partial refund of A$118.68. After continuing to follow up, I eventually received additional payments of A$389 and A$63, bringing the total refunded to A$570.68 out of A$571.78 paid. I appreciate that Batik Air ultimately provided essentially the full refund. However, the amount of time, communication and escalation required to resolve an airline-initiated schedule change was disappointing. Final outcome: refund essentially received in full, but the refund/customer-service process could have been significantly better.