Sunday, April 24, 2011

Luggage? Who needs it!

Many Jetstar and Qantas passengers were facing a weekend without fresh clothes after they arrived at their destinations on Friday to find the carriers had left their bags behind.

Bentleigh's Damien Arundel was on one of 18 Jetstar flights to leave Tullamarine without most of their passengers' bags on board.
"We touched down in Hobart and it's freezing cold, I'm wearing shorts and thongs and then Jetstar casually informs us that our luggage isn't there," Mr Arundel said. "It's disgusting really. It totally ruined the first day of our holiday."

Jetstar spokeswoman Andrea Wait blamed a broken baggage belt for the fiasco, which also hit passengers on 17 Qantas domestic and international flights.

The airlines were scrambling to deliver the passengers' luggage to their hotels and homes after placing it on later flights.

Qantas spokesman Luke Enright said "almost all" baggage left behind was put on the next available flight.

But an airport source said staff had endured a "horrendous" weekend. The source said "a computer glitch" left entire flight-loads of passengers without their baggage.

SOURCE

Friday, April 22, 2011

Grounded in Maroochydore

Nothing prepares you for Jetstar

Recently, it was essential for my husband to be in Melbourne the next morning for business, so he booked a Jetstar lunchtime flight from Maroochydore, reasoning that if there was a delay, he could catch either of the next two flights or he would have time to drive to Brisbane and pick one of the many Melbourne flights from there.

He arrived early and was told there was a delay because of a computer failure. He boarded the rescheduled flight for 3pm but after sitting on the tarmac for an hour, passengers were offloaded because staff had overrun their allowable flying time. Not to worry, extra staff were on their way from Brisbane and the new time was 5.15pm.

It got to 5.30pm without any announcements when one passenger accessed Jetstar's website and found the flight had been cancelled. Soon after, an announcement was made: come back tomorrow morning, we are offloading your luggage. My husband had to wait another 20 minutes for his luggage and rushed home to book the last flight from Brisbane.

His extra expenses were $200 for another flight, $200 for an extra night in a hotel to enable him to see the clients he missed, $120 for a taxi at 1am as his pre-arranged car had gone, $100 car parking in Brisbane and petrol.

Told he would get a refund, my husband phoned after a month and was informed he had to wait 15 days. He explained it had been more than that.

The refund finally came through but not the full amount. No mention was made of the Jetstar charter that promises $50 if the airline fails to deliver a service. Glad I stumbled on to it, because it is going to hear from me now.

SOURCE

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Jetstar bans wheelchair-bound pair from flight

The "f*** you" airline again

BUDGET airline Jetstar has been criticised after two disabled passengers were not allowed to board a flight.

Tanya Black and Dan Buckingham, who are television presenters of New Zealand disability show Atttitude - were told that they were not allowed on the plane without their carers, the Dominion Post reported. This is despite the fact that the pair, who were due to fly from Auckland to Wellington, were accompanied by an able-bodied colleague.

New Zealand Disability Issues Minister Tariana Turia said that Jetstar's treatment of the pair was "unacceptable".

The pair said that they were forced to wait at the aircraft's door and after 20 minutes decided to fly with Air New Zealand instead.

They claim that they were later told they could get on the plane if they did not go to the media. However the pair, fed-up with their treatment by the airline, declined.

Jetstar said it will be apologising to the pair and refunding their air fares. A spokesperson for the airline said that the concern was over how they would get to the toilet.

SOURCE




And Qantas maintenance fails again

Fuel system problem forces Qantas landing of flight QF50 from Auckland

A QANTAS flight has made a priority landing at Sydney Airport after experiencing a fuel system problem. The Boeing 737, flight QF50 from Auckland, landed safely about 7.45am (AEST) today.

"The flight crew on board QF50 from Auckland to Sydney requested a priority landing at Sydney Airport as a result of a fuel system fault," a Qantas spokesman said. All passengers disembarked the aircraft safely, he said. Paramedics had been called to the airport as a precaution but were not required to treat anyone.

The spokesman said the fault was not thought to relate to the aircraft's engines. Engineers will now examine the aircraft to determine the exact cause of the problem.

The Qantas spokesman said a fuel transfer valve was being replaced on the aircraft, which is expected to be back in service by this afternoon.

SOURCE

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Jetstar and Qantas both unhelpful

After years of collecting Qantas frequent-flyer points, we finally had enough for our family to fly to Bangkok return. We paid an additional $50 a ticket to book over the phone to ensure we had everything right.

Imagine our horror 10 months later at the Jetstar check-in counter at Sydney Airport when we were told we could not fly because our passports needed six months' validity and the children's passports were eight days short.

I know it's our fault but you'd think they could give you this useful advice over the phone.

On the day of check-in, we received rude treatment from a Qantas staffer who said it was Jetstar's problem, despite the itinerary clearly being titled Qantas and the flights being booked on Qantas frequent-flyer points. With no help from them, we secured two new passports that day, thanks to two wonderful staff at the Sydney passport office, and flew to Bangkok the next day.

All this was aside from the irritation of having to pay for food and inflight entertainment on Jetstar over nine hours and where a blanket costs $8 to hire. In one experience, I have gone from Qantas advocate to critic.

- Stuart Cohen

SOURCE

Friday, April 1, 2011

The "F*** you" airline again

Jetstar bans a mother and her toddlers from flight -- and still no apology direct to her

JETSTAR has been blamed for giving a mother wrong advice that left her stranded with two young children at an airport. The airline reportedly told Ashley Taipari and her infant twin boys that they would not be able to fly from Auckland to the Gold Coast because she needed another adult to accompany one of her sons, the Papakura Courier,reports.

But Ms Taipari claims she had called Jetstar twice before booking the flight three months ago and told she would be able to travel alone with her children. Ms Taipari says she was told to book only one infant seat, so one twin could sit on her lap while the other would be able to sit in a car seat. She was also told that the car seat would be provided for her so she wouldn’t have to bring her own to the airport.

However, Ms Taipari said she was taken aside when she checked in and told she could not fly. Ms Taipari was told she was only eligible for a refund for the child fare, which would take 10 days to process.

Stranded at the airport since Sunday, Ms Taipari was eventually able to transfer her flights and a friend will accompany her on the way to Australia on Saturday.

Jetstar spokesman Gerard Blank today apologised through the media, saying the company places the highest priority on the safety and security of all its passengers.

SOURCE