Jetstar flight cancellations - is this normal?

Jetstar kindly emailed me at 0318hrs today to tell me my 0620 flight to Sydney was cancelled. Turned out that the alternative flights still could not get me to my conference on time. Is this something I should just expect? Lost expenses galore - flights, conference fees, return flight home etc. Sigh!

I have had a cancellation sms from JQd before.
But I had inkling something was off when I tried to do OLCI and it would not allow me, it was T-24 prior to my JQd MEL - ADL flight.
I didn't notice their first sms and then got the fright of my life when I noticed the sms re flight cancellation.
Ran from QP in MEL T1 back out through security to buy a semi flexY ticket MEL - ADL as I couldn't wait till the next day for the replacement JQd flight they offered to me.
As I had to drop my phone onto the tray for domestic security, I forgot to pick it up after passing through for the second time that day.
Grr, not happy JQ.
Though we should be lucky that we (you and I on these occasions), do get the sms.

Yes, this is normal for Jetstar and the reason why they are not a good option for business nor time-sensitive personal travel. I've learnt the hard way that they 1. fail and 2. don't fail gracefully. QF and VA may still have problems but they rarely fall apart so badly and, if you have status with them, they are particularly good. JQ's lack of status program (despite ownership, QF status is near to meaningless) means there is no way for their systems or staff to strategical prioritise messaging and rebooking. I've read of people here using Jetstar for business on the SYD-MEL route and maybe that works because JQ has a large number of flights to bump to (including QF flights??) but still it is not worth the hassle. Low ROI.

Generally not normal, particularly on the first flight of the day.
Albeit not clear would airport you were flying from.

But could be numerous reasons - aircraft planned to operate flight had to turn back, sick pilot, crew, maintenance needed overnight not finished etc.

I can only recommend if you need to go somewhere important domestically fly QF or VA. Generally if something goes wrong QF can rejig their planes/network a lot easier.

happed to me once, SYD - CNS - KIX turned into SYD - MEL - NRT - KIX and JQ forced me to spend a 12hr transfer time in Melbourne. I had to buy the syd-Mel ticket on QF (they refused my request to put me on a later QF flight, yeah, QF ownership means nothing in this sort of situation) out of pocket to avoid wasting my life in transit. Still ruined my entire trip as I had multiple cancellations.

Learn it the hard way :/

Flown them countless times and never had a problem

Legally JQ has no obligation to get you to destination on time. The ticket you have, i.e. The contract of carriage, only guarantee you to arrive in your destination, not necessarily on time. So if your flight is more than half empty, they can simply cancel your flight if it's not economically feasible and squeeze you into another flight. They have no other obligations. Any other compensations such as food or hotel vouchers is purely at the discretion of JQ.

I've taken 4 Jetstar flights and have had 3 of them cancelled. I avoid them at all costs - particularly for business travel. Part of the problem is that the next flight to your destination might be several hours away. Jetstar is always a no for me.

I've flown Jetstar plenty of times to varuous destinations domestic and international and never had a cancellation although there was one time where the flight departed 30 mins late.

Happens all the time here in the US as well. United are particularly bad.

There might be good news. I provided proof to them that the next flight they offered me would take me in too late to attend the conference. They say I will have a full refund in less than 10 days. Will my credit card insurance refund the conference fee?

Surely this cannot come as a surprise to people about Jetstar and it astounds me that the Australian travelling public continues to accept this as normal without any compensation. What happened to the Australian Air Travel bill of rights?