Not cheap, just poor

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ashleyn

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I'm not a fan of LCC's in general and certainly based on my limited experience, not a fan of Jetstar. Just did a 10 day holiday around Tasmania and really had no choice getting to/from Melb-Hobart but to use Jetstar. So I read all the info, checked the times over again to make sure I had it right. Turned up at Mel just over 2 hours before the flight time, did OLCI, printed bag labels at the kiosk. Right, so, off to the bag drop. Wrong, join the mile long queue. Seriously ? So stood in the queue for an hour while they called pax to flights that were closing. Jetstar, this is now 2015, what the hell are you doing ? Unless I missed something there is just no other way, they can't be serious.
 
As an aside, anyone know why Jetstar is so prevalent in Tasmania ? Are these routes mostly leisure pax and very few business so not worth much to QF ?
 
last time I looked Qantas flew 4x daily to Hobart and Virgin fly at least as many. So how can you say you had no choice op?
 
As an aside, anyone know why Jetstar is so prevalent in Tasmania ? Are these routes mostly leisure pax and very few business so not worth much to QF ?

last time I looked Qantas flew 4x daily to Hobart and Virgin fly at least as many. So how can you say you had no choice op?

The initial proposal was for Jetstar to entirely replace Qantas on all Tasmanian routes, but the resulting outcry (not least by Qantas J flying pollies) meant that Qantas survived here.

There's probably little doubt that there are fewer business people travelling to and from Tasmania than the other state capitals, but its certainly not suit-free.

I regard Jetstar as the airline of last resort for my flights across Bass Straight (won't ever consider Tiger an option).
 
Doesnt really matter what the original proposal was. There are 2 full service and 2 low cost airlines flying mel-hhba. The OP made his choice and now complains he had no choice?
 
Doesnt really matter what the original proposal was. There are 2 full service and 2 low cost airlines flying mel-hhba. The OP made his choice and now complains he had no choice?

Oh, sorry. I'll let you get on having a shot at the OP, if that's what matters.
 
The OP primary complaint about Jetstar was the bag drop system. It is a LCC so we get most things - but seriously how is the current system cost effective. It's pretty pointless having olci and kiosks, if you then have to queue for an hour to drop off your bag. What makes it worse there is no distinction made between those who have completed olci and got their bag tags from the kiosk, with those pax who have done neither. From my experience the staff are rather slow, take their time and have a chat between customers. Luggage and the problem of bag drops is the main reason I avoid Jetstar.
 
Haven't flown J* for ages so I might be out-of-date ... they did have a separate queue for OLCI bag drop at MCY. Worked a treat with the added bonus of attracting filthy looks from the main queue ;)
 
sounds like you might as well just wait at the back until your flight is called then go straight to the front of the line!
 
Doesnt really matter what the original proposal was. There are 2 full service and 2 low cost airlines flying mel-hhba. The OP made his choice and now complains he had no choice?

My post is not about choice, please re-read, it is about an archaic and inefficient system used for check-in by Jetstar.
 
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My post is not about choice, please re-read, it is about an archaic and inefficient system used for check-in by Jetstar.

Your point is well made. Their bag drop queue is a massive issue - especially from my experience in Melbourne. Surely an investment in some smart technology or at least streamline queues to allow for separate check in and bag drop queues would improve performance all around. But the problem is once you mention JQ in a post - you attract an array of comments that are not related to your specific issue.
 
My post is not about choice, please re-read, it is about an archaic and inefficient system used for check-in by Jetstar.

But you do mention you had "no choice". There would be choice when 4 airlines fly to a destination (and if you have a hire car in Tas more choice from another well served airport is only a 2 hr drive away). Hence people commenting about the choice aspect of your post.

FWIW, on 30 Dec I flew VA MEL-BNE and the bag drop queue extended all the way into the international terminal I think (I couldn't see the end of the line) and seemed to be moving very slowly. Seems JQ are not the only culprits. Rarely fly domestically, so not sure if that is normal or not (thankfully due to SQ status we were able to use priority queue, so can't say how long the wait was).
 
+1 was looking into a trip to Hobart for us.
When she showed me the list of available flights on the QF website, I said pick any flight combo that does not include Jetstar!

Well that's not quite true.
I did actually suggest QF682 ADL -MEL which gives us breakast in the lounge followed by QF1505 which gives us lunch in MEL with some liquid refreshments ;)
 
Whilst it doesn't solve the JQd bag drop problem, MEL have installed self-check bag drop kiosks in the international terminal. They were ready to be commissioned last time I was there a few weeks ago. Hopefully JQi will take advantage of them.

Self-service check-in kiosks cleared for landing in Melbourne

Last QFd flight I had I got to the top of the escalators and the mass of people made me think it was the security line. Nope, JQd bag drop customers. I can certainly commiserate with the OP.
 
Also wonder if a better solution may be found when JQ move to the new T4.
 
FWIW, on 30 Dec I flew VA MEL-BNE and the bag drop queue extended all the way into the international terminal I think (I couldn't see the end of the line) and seemed to be moving very slowly. Seems JQ are not the only culprits. Rarely fly domestically, so not sure if that is normal or not (thankfully due to SQ status we were able to use priority queue, so can't say how long the wait was).
I flew VA SYD-BNE on 28 December and 04 January and the bag drop queues were snaking their way around. Looked like Chaos. The JQ queues were even worse. I should have taken a photo.
 
Doesnt really matter what the original proposal was. There are 2 full service and 2 low cost airlines flying mel-hhba. The OP made his choice and now complains he had no choice?

Notwithstanding the main point of the post was about bag drop...

From their profile OP is PER based so "choice" may be a matter of connections rather than simply the number of flights MEL-HBA each day.

Being CBR based I am familiar with the limited "choice" of flight options to many destinations which need to connect. Effectively limiting the realistic choices without overnighting in transit. I sympathize with OP's point.
 
Yes nobody likes a queue, I agree with that, queues are awful! Just that there is 4 carriers plying the route, so choice is not a problem to Hobart, even with connections from PER or CBR.
 
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