JETSTAR - Never Ever Again !!

[mannej]

Alanslegal, did you ask Mr.Grumpy how the flying pigs were going in lala land?

I think it is people like this who have lead to the increase of complaints against airlines

 

[samh004]

The OP reminds me of someone (aka Mr Grumpy) I sat next to in StarClass last year. (I'm pretty sure I have mentioned this previously, but anyway....)

I was in Seat 2A, the someone I sat next to was in Seat 2B.

Originally, I was pre-booked in Seat 1A but was moved back a row because Seat 1A and B needed the bassinet holds. Anyway, baby cried non-stop during the flight HNL-SYD.

Mr Grumpy in Seat 2B basically told me and a CSM that he will never ever ever fly JQ again because of that crying baby!!!

I was like fine, and there is no point in arguing or trying to convince this Mr Grumpy that it wasn't JQ's fault. But he believed it was, and his opinion was that it was JQ's fault because he paid more $$$ to fly in StarClass to avoid crying babies. :shock:

To be fair, if you’re going to take a baby on a plane, it should be economy, and you should always pack a bottle of cough syrup

Alanslegal, did you ask Mr.Grumpy how the flying pigs were going in lala land?

I think it is people like this who have lead to the increase of complaints against airlines

There was a thread on that very issue just the other day.

 

[holdenvxman]

To be fair, if you’re going to take a baby on a plane, it should be economy, and you should always pack a bottle of cough syrup



There was a thread on that very issue just the other day.

I'm flying to DPS in march with a baby in *class, I really dont know why I should fly in Y.

 

[NM]

I guess he's under the impression that QF or VA never have people who fly babies in F, J or Y+. Or any other "reasonable" airline for that matter.

I cannot vouch for VA, but I was very glad of my in-ear sound isolating ear phone yesterday. Unfortunately they could not stop a 3yo somehow managing to rythmicly kick the back my seat for about half an hour - and that was in J, so how he managed to reach the back of a skybed from the seat in front is beyond me. It can happen on any airline. Yes, it can make for a less than pleasant flight experience, but is not something on which I blame the operating airline.

 

[11sjw]

To be fair, if you’re going to take a baby on a plane, it should be economy, and you should always pack a bottle of cough syrup



There was a thread on that very issue just the other day.

Care to explain why? Spent 6 weeks in late '08 with a near two year old on a Qantas J around the world ticket. She had a couple of rough flights but some very good ones (7 hours sleep between Tokyo and Sydney). Even when she was up and crying there was enough ambient noise that she didn't really cause anyone else to miss out on sleep as my regular walks through the cabin showed me.

 

[MelUser]

Originally Posted by samh004
To be fair, if you’re going to take a baby on a plane, it should be economy, and you should always pack a bottle of cough syrup

This is very wrong - qantas permits babies in all classes of travel. I have travelled in J and Y+ (with J seating) with our 2 infants numerous times. Most flights have been great with other pax approaching us and saying what wonderful babies/children we have.

I have made a personal choice to avoid the Qantas First cabin but this was more due to the fact that it is not a family friendly seating configuration.

Who is anybody to tell me which class of travel my baby can travel in?

If Qantas wanted to do this subtly they could not have bassinets in the class they wanted babies out of - this would keep me out.

The other way is the Lufthansa or United way and that is to not give infant and/or child discounts on discounted Business Class. In fact I only became o loyal oneworld customer as Lufthansa refused to give us an infant ticket on its RTW First Class Fare. Instead we flew with QF/AY and the rest is history so QF and omeworld were the real winners (from us).

 

[anat0l]

Originally Posted by samh004
To be fair, if you’re going to take a baby on a plane, it should be economy, and you should always pack a bottle of cough syrup

This is very wrong - qantas permits babies in all classes of travel.

...

Who is anybody to tell me which class of travel my baby can travel in?

Care to explain why?

I'm flying to DPS in march with a baby in *class, I really dont know why I should fly in Y.

I think you're all missing the fact that samh004 did put a after his remark.

Good responses, although the more appropriate immediate response would be

Irrespective of all your responses, it's worth keeping in mind that pax complaining about babies is not a remote one. I've seen some discussions (on other forums) about screaming babies (i.e. how to avoid them, dealing with them, should you be able to fly premium if you have a baby, etc.) - all of them have the same arguments and counterarguments.

In any case, if you are bringing you baby along, as long as they are well under control I don't think anyone would or should have a problem. When a baby cries, people probably feel frustrated because a baby crying is a cause for concern, but any pax who can hear a baby cry other than the parents can't do anything about it (i.e. can't help the child).

 

[MelUser]

If meant as a comment in jest that is fine then.

It is difficult when reading a written comment - eg in an email - to determine whether it is meant on face value or sarcastically or as a joke or whatever!

 

[thewinchester]

I'd give sam the benefit of the doubt, I honestly thought the comment was in jest.

Made me think of a comedy sketch a few years back, can't remember whom, where they got so sick of a baby in Y and since none of them had enough points to upgrade to J themselves, they pooled their points and upgraded the baby to J instead.

 

[ChrisBNE]

I think the OP should take the Bus next time.

Yes from NRT.

 

[samh004]

I'm flying to DPS in march with a baby in *class, I really dont know why I should fly in Y.

Care to explain why? Spent 6 weeks in late '08 with a near two year old on a Qantas J around the world ticket. She had a couple of rough flights but some very good ones (7 hours sleep between Tokyo and Sydney). Even when she was up and crying there was enough ambient noise that she didn't really cause anyone else to miss out on sleep as my regular walks through the cabin showed me.

This is very wrong - qantas permits babies in all classes of travel. I have travelled in J and Y+ (with J seating) with our 2 infants numerous times. Most flights have been great with other pax approaching us and saying what wonderful babies/children we have.

I have made a personal choice to avoid the Qantas First cabin but this was more due to the fact that it is not a family friendly seating configuration.

Who is anybody to tell me which class of travel my baby can travel in?

If Qantas wanted to do this subtly they could not have bassinets in the class they wanted babies out of - this would keep me out.

The other way is the Lufthansa or United way and that is to not give infant and/or child discounts on discounted Business Class. In fact I only became o loyal oneworld customer as Lufthansa refused to give us an infant ticket on its RTW First Class Fare. Instead we flew with QF/AY and the rest is history so QF and omeworld were the real winners (from us).

Partly in jest, the part about me telling you which cabin you should fly in. The part not in jest was the cough syrup. Seen several families do it over the years and works like a charm.

What no one likes, and I’m not suggesting any of you are, is bad parents who don’t do anything about a crying baby all night long. But if your little horror is an angel on a flight, take them in F, it’ll be awesome!

 

[straitman]

Partly in jest, the part about me telling you which cabin you should fly in. The part not in jest was the cough syrup. Seen several families do it over the years and works like a charm.

Quite frankly Sam that is just stupid :!: (Not posted in jest)

 

[anat0l]

Quite frankly Sam that is just stupid :!: (Not posted in jest)

It is a better idea than another that I've heard, which is vodka in hot milk.

 

[whereishome]

The OP booked a routing that involved NRT-CNS then CNS-BNE. If you read the connection time in advance and didn't like it, why did you book this particular routing? Why didn't you book, say, NRT-OOL direct flight, if waiting around in an airport for about 4 hrs isn't your idea of fun. "How can you call that a connection?" I have no idea how I'm supposed to read that....

JQ don't guarantee connections - hence why I don't do them with JQ. And they say explicitly on the website that you can't check luggage through. They also say what the checkin times are. So OP was aware of all this.

Looks like the issue was the weather. Which you can't do anything about. As someone else pointed out, LCCs don't have spare planes to rush into service if there's something like that, because that would be an overhead to cover which would not make you an LCC anymore.

FWIW, I fly JQ between Aus and Japan all the time, my GF does between Japan and Aus and we've had no issues. Tehn again, we read our T&Cs and know what we're paying for.

 

[NiZ]

I'm also a frequent traveller JQ Tokyo-Gold Coast - and I've yet to remember a time when the plane left on time. By frequent I mean on average, once or twice a month, sometimes twice in a week.

Now I believe I've just been unlucky but people should know that JetStar don't put emphasis on customer service - they simply do not care. People fly them because they're the cheapest option - plain and simple. If you wanted to escalate your problems higher up, I believe the answer would come back "Fly somebody else and pay more".

JetStar is what it is - a LCC! That being said, it makes me very angry that they don't even bother in the slightest. Some problems seem to stem from the fact that senior managers in JS don't bother spending 10 minutes to issue company wide memos or even spend 10 minutes thinking about the ramifications of their decisions and how they'll communicate those decisions before making them. Of course, not being part of the company, I don't know, but it seems like it.

My advice is to not rely on Jetstar for time critical flights. If you need to make connecting flights, take another airline. These problems with service quality are regular and as such, they shouldn't be relied upon.

 

[haydensydney]

Quite frankly Sam that is just stupid :!: (Not posted in jest)

Whats stupid about it? I've heard of this being used before from friends and family members - its not that big a deal :!:

 

[samh004]

Whats stupid about it? I've heard of this being used before from friends and family members - its not that big a deal :!:

I guess there’s hysteria you could kill the baby by using too much.

 

[notzac]

It is a better idea than another that I've heard, which is vodka in hot milk.

Yuck! :shock:

 

[medhead]

It is a better idea than another that I've heard, which is vodka in hot milk.

Yuck! :shock:

Indeed, it is supposed to be Rum not vodka!

Gotta say i'm unimpressed by the drugging your kids idea. Infants cry for a reason and usually it is 1 of about 3 reasons. So if you can't work out the problem and fix it then your are a pretty bad parent, IMO. but then i'm blessed with pretty damn good children

 

[anat0l]

Gotta say i'm unimpressed by the drugging your kids idea. Infants cry for a reason and usually it is 1 of about 3 reasons. So if you can't work out the problem and fix it then your are a pretty bad parent, IMO. but then i'm blessed with pretty damn good children

I'm not a parent (yet), but if your baby cries they are saying one of:

• "Change me"
• "Feed me", or
• "Cuddle me" / "Comfort me"

Correct or incorrect?

Sounds like your kids have grown up to be as methodical as you.