News Article: Jetstar passengers kicked out of airport

[creeno]

Haven't posted in this section before so please move if I have made an error

From today's SMH:

Jetstar passengers kicked out of airport - Travel - smh.com.au

And from news.com.au:

Jetstar passengers kicked out of airport | NEWS.com.au

 

[Mr_Gimlet]

Maybe this isn't the best place to start this discussion, but between the articles on Jetstar last night and extensive talk-back commentary on Tiger last week on 774 Melbourne, I wonder how many AUstralian customers actually understand what a low-cost carrier actually is and why it is low cost.

This was also prompted in my mind by a travel board posting from a very, very upset American woman about Bangkok Air. I believe the gist of the complaint was that she was late arriving into BKK and didn't make the connection.

So my basic question is: are Australians so unused to LCCs that they expect full service standards? Or do LCCs attract the naive?

 

[JohnK]

So my basic question is: are Australians so unused to LCCs that they expect full service standards? Or do LCCs attract the naive?

It would appear that some are naive and do not fully understand the consequences if any issues arise. Many know exactly what they are doing.

I have friends who book airfares as cheap as possible and could not care less if they were inconvenienced. They way the see it is even if they are delayed one or two nights they will take extra time off work and book their own accommodation with the money they have saved from the original exhorbitant airfare.

The spokesperson said at 1am there were approximately 20 Jetstar passengers still in the terminal and no Jetstar staff were present..

LCC or not there should have been someone around as long as there were people still unsure of what was happening.

A Jetstar spokesman said some passengers in need of a hotel room were accommodated but stressed that the airline's policy did not require it to assist passengers inconvenienced by adverse weather.

"As a condition of carriage for weather-related delays, we're not compelled to find accommodation," Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said.

Great publicity again Jetstar. You may never get my business even if I need to be re-booked onto one of your flights due to emergency.

Get real and find a new spokesman who is not arrogant and understands human beings....

 

[simongr]

Its not so much the spokesman but the internal policy. What is he meant to say if the airline's policy is not to accommodate people?

Shouldnt travel insurance kick in in these situations?

 

[serfty]

I head Mr Westaway being interview on 3AW ~7:25 this morning.

He seemed quite concerned/troubled by it all. I got the impression that the left hand did not seem to know what the right hand was doing.

 

[JohnK]

Its not so much the spokesman but the internal policy. What is he meant to say if the airline's policy is not to accommodate people?

It would not have cost JQ that much more in wages to have 1 representative at SYD airport while all this chaos was going on. JQ just scrap your staff Christmas party this year and take care of your passengers when they need it.

I understand that it may not well be the spokesman but all of JQs press releases come out as very arrogant and that they could not care less. It actually reflects poorly on the QF group as a whole with more and more routes earmarked or taken over by JQ.

Shouldnt travel insurance kick in in these situations?

Yes and no. There have been some very interesting threads on insurance policies on AFF recently. You need to read the fine print.

I head Mr Westaway being interview on 3AW ~7:25 this morning.

He seemed quite concerned/troubled by it all. I got the impression that the left hand did not seem to know what the right hand was doing.

If I were Simon Westaway I would ask for a transfer to another JQ department or find a new job if he is that concerned/troubled....

 

[moa999]

Jetstar passengers sleep in bus shelter - Breaking News - National - Breaking News

And even better publicity.
I love it though --- they pay for a taxi to the Intl terminal to try and find something open -- why not go to Formulae1

Interesting the comments that DJ flights were departing whereas JQ not.

 

[drron]

Jetstar passengers sleep in bus shelter - Breaking News - National - Breaking News

And even better publicity.
I love it though --- they pay for a taxi to the Intl terminal to try and find something open -- why not go to Formulae1

Interesting the comments that DJ flights were departing whereas JQ not.

I think Stacey and Darren have a responsibility to know what they are buying and read the conditions.Funny how people want the lowest price and then are surprised when they miss out on some of the benefits of a full service airline.
As to thinking a $79 fare is going to get you a hotel room in Sydney!

 

[JohnK]

As to thinking a $79 fare is going to get you a hotel room in Sydney!

Is that relevant? I think for my $65 airfare CNS-TSV on QF would have got me decent food, transfers and accommodation in CNS if something had gone wrong....

 

[NM]

Is that relevant? I think for my $65 airfare CNS-TSV on QF would have got me decent food, transfers and accommodation in CNS if something had gone wrong....

Perhaps for a mechanical issue, but I doubt you would get anything for a weather delay. Of course CNS and TSV don't have a night time curfew, so the flight may still be able to operate if the weather cleared after 11pm.

 

[JohnK]

Perhaps for a mechanical issue, but I doubt you would get anything for a weather delay.

JQ does not have a good track record for giving out anything even for mechanical issues. Everything is always beyond their control!

 

[Mal]

I believe Jetstar could have paid a fine to send their planes into the sky. I've looked it up before, but not sure at the moment - what is the fine for breaching the 11pm curfew? Then again, you'd need everything in place (ground staff, ATC, fuel, etc) which may not be easy to get.

(I also note that Qantas snuck several planes into SYD after the curfew, although I presume a dispensation was given to them as can happen when extraordinary events occur).

Weather delays are not really the issue of an operating airline. Sometimes you'll find someone nice who'll help you out, but normally you're on your own.

Reading some of the comments posted on various news sites made me cringe. Yeah, buy a Jetstar ticket, expect that they'll hold your hand when something goes bad. TRAVEL INSURANCE people, or just self insure and cop the problems when they arise.

Jetstar would have had some issues this morning to get planes into their right locations, although I noted they cancelled several flights last night, so maybe the planes were already in their right locations!

Once again though, this proves a few things.
1. Qantas (and to an extent Virgin Blue) have a huge enough fleet and frequent timetable to be able to recover from weather and similar issues.
2. Low Cost carriers are a risky proposition at times, but remember they're cheap. Just don't forget they won't hold your hand when things go wrong!
3. Travel insurance for domestic flights does have it's benefits...

 

[rhjames]

I believe that if you pay for the cheapest airline with no frills, you have to put up with these sort of things. What worries me is that I could be on a flight booked through Qantas, with a Qantas cost and flight number, and end up on a Jetstar flight with loss of all the normal Qantas standards that have been paid for (Happened to me recently going to NZ, which I covered on its own thread). If this had happened to me on a Jetstar flight, with a Qantas flight number and fare, I'd really be screaming.

 

[Evan]

I think people forget that JQ do not provide any help in these situations, i guess we are all aware about it the not so often traveling public is used to the days when Qantas and Ansett used to take care of you and just assume the same for new players.

I was on BA last night, delayed due to weather no further available connections with BA with seats (was a flight o could wait list for but was after the LH flight) so immediatly the said we will put you on LH to get to your destination, or was also possible to stay the night with hotel paid etc and fly out in the morning but i had accomodation already booked and meetings in the morning so choose the LH option.
(Not only to get my original routeing credit... if not then its only 10sc anyway and can credit the full fare Y to *A)

That is why i fly full service airlines ! also why i try to keep status. (The line of people not in J/F or status looked like it would take all night to get to the counter, i had 3 people in my line in front of me. Not to mention the advantage of security fast track etc)

E

 

[MelUser]

Jetstar is cheap and nasty and you get what you pay for. I don't have any sympathy for those travelling with the airline.

Having said that I was travelling in Europe 2 years ago on Lufthansa and the rule was this:

if weather eg fog/storm stuffed up/cancelled flights then the passenger was liable for extra trips to and from the airport and accomodation etc.

if the plane buggered up then Lufthansa would pay for extra travel to and from airport and accommodation etc etc

 

[Yada Yada]

If I were Simon Westaway I would ask for a transfer to another JQ department or find a new job if he is that concerned/troubled....

I just saw him on the late news. He didn't look too worried to me. He was very busy blaming SACL.

 

[coco50]

There are several issues with this event:

• I don't think many passengers understood the terms of the carriage they had purchased.
• The delays were caused by bad weather
• The curfew prevented further flights - Sydney has to join the 21st century and get rid of the curfew or at least suspend it when there are bad weather events - a new airport is decades away. I know there are many issues involved here but c'mon.
• The communication from JQ was appalling. I would have had some really high powered people from customer relations there schmoozing the angry travellers and trying to make them feel better about the situation
• You get what you pay for when you travel (sometimes you get less - sometimes you get more). I think many of these JQ passengers (only travelling from Sydney to Avalon) thought they were on a global adventure travelling F class with QF or BA and felt that they should be put up in a 5* hotel when the flight was cancelled.

 

[oz_mark]

Would be interesting to know if soemthinh happened to one of the people kicked out, how the duty of care aspects would have played out. What is clear though is that Jetstar and SACL have no contigency plans in place to cope with the situation, that must happen from time to time. How hard would it to be for JQ to get on the blower and get SACL to keep the terminal open?

 

[straitman]

Would be interesting to know if soemthinh happened to one of the people kicked out, how the duty of care aspects would have played out. What is clear though is that Jetstar and SACL have no contigency plans in place to cope with the situation, that must happen from time to time. How hard would it to be for JQ to get on the blower and get SACL to keep the terminal open?

The spokesman from SACL stated that they did not have any request to keep the airport open and if they had then they would have done so.

 

[Skoogle]

The spokesman from SACL stated that they did not have any request to keep the airport open and if they had then they would have done so.

It is a wonder that spokesman could hold a straight face on TV.

There would have been alot more passengers than normal at 1am. So there is no way that the security staff didn't double-check with the upper level supervisors before closing the doors.