Jetstar finally gets the message

Maybe

Australia's biggest low-cost airline has revealed it has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past year retraining staff to reduce the number of complaints about bad customer service.

The airline unveiled a customer charter last week known as the "Jetstar Customer Guarantee" following a call by the federal government in its aviation white paper, released in December, for airlines to improve customer service to avoid new laws setting minimum standards.

The new charter follows the stranding of nearly 300 Jetstar passengers in Phuket, Thailand, in late January because of an aircraft technical issue. Jetstar's chief executive, Bruce Buchanan, estimates the stranding cost the airline more than $1 million - "an incredibly expensive exercise", including the cost of flying a replacement aircraft empty from Australia to pick up the stranded passengers, refunds for 290 passengers of the full cost of their tickets and two days' accommodation in hotels.

The generosity of the airline's compensation surprised many in the industry, after previous strandings when passengers were offered vouchers for as little as $50.

Apart from refunds of fares averaging $1000 a person, Jetstar offered compensation of $600 a person, as well as extra accommodation costs and an apology to each passenger affected.

In the white paper, the government demands airlines draw up a passenger charter with higher standards of care, following a surge in complaints since the emergence of low-cost airlines.

Buchanan says the airline has started a staff training exercise, "The Jetstar Way", aimed at overhauling customer relations. "Behind the scenes, there's been a lot of work going on on the customer side," he says. "We've been trying to build up our ability to much better deal with these situations [delays] and solve problems in a really proactive way and not be on the back foot. We've done some work on the compensation policy when we get these extreme delays, especially when we're in a remote port and it's hard to organise recovery options.

"We've also done a lot of work on our customer relations area to improve responsiveness [to complaints]. With complaints, we had been getting up to 80-90 days [to reply to customers] 12 to 18 months ago."

Buchanan says the customer guarantee will commit the airline to acknowledge online complaints within 24 hours and to respond within 15 working days. "We're really excited and proud to be the first airline in the region to introduce a customer guarantee which reinforces our commitment to customer service," he says.

"The Jetstar Customer Guarantee will be an evolving and living document that will be constantly reviewed. "This will be supported by a customer and staff engagement program, including a newly established panel involving customers and staff and consultation with consumer advocacy experts."

Source