Qantas boss: Jetstar unfairly targetted (New Zealand Herald)

[greenfish]

This was featured in the NZ Herald today.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce complains Jetstar has been unfairly targeted - - Business - NZ Herald News

I thought it was amusing given my own NZ Jetstar experience pre Xmas.

I was booked on the same (cancelled) flight as these school kids:

Jetstar customers angry after being kicked off flight to accommodate school | Stuff.co.nz

So badly handled - the kids had to sleep at the airport and were initially told that they'd need to wait until Tuesday to fly. Jetstar's final solution was to bump other already booked passengers off flights the following day.

Luckily I'd already made the call to drive through the night to AKL

 

[clifford]

Well that sounds exactly like the Jetstar I know. It would be quite hard to come up with something that is unfair to Jetstar.

 

[Awesom Andy]

There is a concert in town, and other hotels and transport providers are fully booked out. Unless there is a spare plane lying around, I'm not sure what else could be done?

 

[BAM1748]

There is a concert in town, and other hotels and transport providers are fully booked out. Unless there is a spare plane lying around, I'm not sure what else could be done?

Is NZ that big they can't turn the plane around and run another flight. Yes yes I know crew hours but I'm sure it could be done if Jetstar wanted to do it, if the prvious flight was cancelled for engineering reasons then perhaps there was crew that could have been put back and run a 5am flight for the kids and switch out for the regular crew on the regular flight.

Just putting it out there.

 

[TomVexille]

Is NZ that big they can't turn the plane around and run another flight. Yes yes I know crew hours but I'm sure it could be done if Jetstar wanted to do it, if the prvious flight was cancelled for engineering reasons then perhaps there was crew that could have been put back and run a 5am flight for the kids and switch out for the regular crew on the regular flight.

Just putting it out there.

NZ isn't that big. More that JQ only have a handful of aircraft in NZ. They seem to have zero slack in the fleet to deal with any delay.

 

[greenfish]

There is a concert in town, and other hotels and transport providers are fully booked out. Unless there is a spare plane lying around, I'm not sure what else could be done?

Jetstar really just washed their hands of the problem.

They didn't offer any options to rebook except on a later Jetstar service. Given the cancelled flight was on Saturday night, offering the school group a Tuesday flight didn't look like they were trying very hard

Jetstar explicitly refused to rebook people on a different carrier (only option offered was to refund and book at own expense on Air NZ).

And this is why they're getting stick in NZ. It isn't unfair. It is simply reflective of the service they're offering.

 

[serfty]

Context here ... it's a NZ piece.

AirNZ 'o philes are simply looking after "their" own ... anything to bag the largest domestic competitor.

 

[BAM1748]

Context here ... it's a NZ piece.

AirNZ 'o philes are simply looking after "their" own ... anything to bag the largest domestic competitor.

Indeed, sounds familiar.

 

[eastwest101]

The defence offered by Alan Joyce was that other established carriers (such as Qantas and Air new Zealand) also suffered delays and unexpected bad customer service but then goes on to dig a hole in his argument by claiming that Qantas is the world's longest continuously operating airline. I wonder how many Qantas passengers booked to fly on the 30th October 2011 would agree with that statement?

On a more constructive note maybe some sort of tracking of extraordinary events in different cities (i.e. concerts, sporting events, public holidays etc) could be used so that if an aircraft goes bung or a crew run out of hours then the "plan B" of alternate airlines, or finding additional aircraft is taken quickly as a live option rather than have people sleeping in airports. And if airlines don't like this idea then they can look forward to some regulatory consequences similar to EU style legislation.

 

[BAM1748]

On a more constructive note maybe some sort of tracking of extraordinary events in different cities (i.e. concerts, sporting events, public holidays etc) could be used so that if an aircraft goes bung or a crew run out of hours then the "plan B" of alternate airlines, or finding additional aircraft is taken quickly as a live option rather than have people sleeping in airports. And if airlines don't like this idea then they can look forward to some regulatory consequences similar to EU style legislation.

Yield management watch for this type of thing, computers run the show but looking at which flights are filling is the sign.

 

[moa999]

Jetstar really just washed their hands of the problem.

They didn't offer any options to rebook except on a later Jetstar service. Given the cancelled flight was on Saturday night, offering the school group a Tuesday flight didn't look like they were trying very hard
.

I suspect after a weekend of a major international band (hint not many tour to NZ) that both Jetstar and AirNZ would have been booked solid for days.

Lack of spare aircraft really hurts in this situation

 

[greenfish]

I suspect after a weekend of a major international band (hint not many tour to NZ) that both Jetstar and AirNZ would have been booked solid for days.

Lack of spare aircraft really hurts in this situation

I'd say most AC/DC fans in Auckland would have gone to see them in Auckland rather than Wellington....

 

[greenfish]

Context here ... it's a NZ piece.

AirNZ 'o philes are simply looking after "their" own ... anything to bag the largest domestic competitor.

Generally I'd agree with you. But I was booked on the same flight - and watched the debacle unfold at the airport. The reporting in this instance was accurate.... (and I'm firmly in the QF fold and seldom fly NZ)...

 

[samh004]

The defence offered by Alan Joyce was that other established carriers (such as Qantas and Air new Zealand) also suffered delays and unexpected bad customer service but then goes on to dig a hole in his argument by claiming that Qantas is the world's longest continuously operating airline. I wonder how many Qantas passengers booked to fly on the 30th October 2011 would agree with that statement?

I believe QantasLink continued to operate throughout the grounding, and as that's wholly owned it allows them to say "continuously operated".

 

[Pug1]

Generally I'd agree with you. But I was booked on the same flight - and watched the debacle unfold at the airport. The reporting in this instance was accurate.... (and I'm firmly in the QF fold and seldom fly NZ)...

I'm with greenfish on this one. We live in Oz and are generally big supporters of Qantas, and travelling a fair bit lately. However I would not willingly fly Jetstar for reliability reasons and under no circumstances would I fly with them if I had a connection to make.

 

[Awesom Andy]

I believe QantasLink continued to operate throughout the grounding, and as that's wholly owned it allows them to say "continuously operated".

During the grounding, it's still an operating airline - it just wasn't flying, but the company itself was operating.

 

[moa999]

During the grounding, it's still an operating airline - it just wasn't flying, but the company itself was operating.

Exactly.. Like all the US airlines were still operating in the days post 9/11 when US airspace was closed.
In any event I believe Qantas Link, Jetconnect and Jetstar continued to fly.

I will happily fly Jetstar, however I'm well aware that for the cheaper fare things might not be recovered quite as quickly as a full service airline when things go wrong...
I've experience this in a rolling 10hr delay of JQ7 MEL-SIN where JQ refused to put any pax, even StarClass on alternative flights. Admittedly I was quite happy in the First Lounge, even if it cost me a connection and a days diving.

 

[Awesom Andy]

I will happily fly Jetstar, however I'm well aware that for the cheaper fare things might not be recovered quite as quickly as a full service airline when things go wrong...

I will happily fly 3K, although I'm not so sure about JQ. 3K has maintained an on time performance of 85% or above for 12 out of 14 months since the start of 2015, which is pretty good for a LCC. I have also received refunds in the same week, and they are always happy to fly me ahead on the same day if my scheduled flight is delayed.

In comparison, JQ has only reached 85% on time performance for 2 out of 14 months in the same period.