Pregnant woman kicked off Jetstar flight

[Hvr]

A pregnant Sydney woman is seeking an apology from Jetstar after she was escorted from a domestic flight to the Gold Coast for failing to provide a medical certificate clearing her to fly.

Read more: Pregnant woman kicked off Jetstar flight
​

...

“Our policy regarding pregnant passengers is one designed to protect and ensure the health of the expectant mother and child.


“While we understand the case may have been upsetting, the crew member followed our policy.”

​

Good to see that jet* have acknowledged that staff were following policy.

 

[harvyk]

Actually I'm going to go with JQ on this one. The conditions of carriage do spell out pretty clearly about traveling whilst pregnant, and what the requirements are, and had JQ not followed things to the letter and something went wrong either in the air or with the pregnancy full stop, they could become liable.

That said, they should have handled it on the ground and gotten the medical cert faxed in well before there was any boarding of planes.

 

[a330j]

One flight attendant followed policy - the rest of the Jet* staff the women dealt with prior to boarding either did not know about the policy or did not enforce it. Seems to me like a situation that didn't have to happen.

 

[here2go]

When my wife was pregnant with our firstborn and still at work, she not only had the certificate, but it said she had to fly business. Work had to cough up. I think we all need those certificates for work travel.

 

[Jamesl]

One flight attendant followed policy - the rest of the Jet* staff the women dealt with prior to boarding either did not know about the policy or did not enforce it. Seems to me like a situation that didn't have to happen.

Well hang on a min (I'm not one to defend JQ) she could of easily checked in online (first safety step bypassed), potentially she was mixed in with other pax at boarding and was obscured from view, and would only become apparent to be pregnant to CC on the aircraft.

 

[docjames]

So if she'd got the letter in the first place all of this would have been avoided?

Hard to feel sorry for her - Jetstar's only "fault" was not realizing until she was on board the aircraft. And as described, it's entirely possible she wasn't "seen" until attempting to sit in the seat.

When mrsdoc was pregnant, we were travelling quite a lot - so we researched each airline's rules, and followed them. ie. we took a letter with us from her Obstetrician and didnt travel international after 28 weeks (or domestic after 34).

It's not rocket science (it's not brain surgery either). Jetstar cop a lot of flack, but this is a beat up.

The following took two minutes to find:

In-flight Health | Jetstar

Flying While Pregnant | Virgin Australia

Medical Assistance | Qantas

 

[moa999]

While I agree it is laid out on the Jetstar website, the woman claims to have gone to the Flying with Kids page, where it only mentions 28 weeks you should see a doctor, not that you should fly with certificate.

 

[UP4014]

While I agree it is laid out on the Jetstar website, the woman claims to have gone to the Flying with Kids page, where it only mentions 28 weeks you should see a doctor, not that you should fly with certificate.

Good to see staff have nil discretion:evil:. If she had checked the kids page, got through and was on board for a one hour flight then the Captain should have spoken to her and then both made the call on flying or not.

Without starting another topic, not all people are obviously pregnant, I made the mistake once when it was a few extra kgs and vowed to never again concluded myself if someone is pregnant or not. I felt 1 inch tall afterward.

M

 

[medhead]

Even jetstar have people scanning BPs to get on the plane. That's the appropriate point to stop and enforce policy. I question why the fa felt the need to stick their nose in once the passenger was on board and seated. It's all well and good for JQ to defend the fa for strictly enforcing policy. But the very fact the fa had to enforce the policy suggests that other JQ staff have failed to enforce that policy. There was at least one other place of human intervention.