Jetstar Hits The Skies.
Jetstar hits the skies
Townsville Bulletin
By Steve Creedy
21may04
JETSTAR will cap loads on its first flights next week and put on extra staff to allow customers to get used to innovations such as unassigned seating.
Passengers will also be given some leeway in the first week when it comes to enforcing the airline's strict luggage limits.
"We're capping flights and we're being very cautious on the first day . . . so we don't have 100 per cent loads, to make sure we go through the process smoothly," said Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce.
"We're putting more staff on, so we have more cabin crew on the first day than we would normally have, we have more airport staff on the first day than we would normally have and then we're (offering) flexibility on the policies.
"But we want people to know these are our policies."
Some staff have expressed disquiet that passenger unfamiliarity with the airline's innovations might lead to problems at next Tuesday's launch.
Mr Joyce said he did not expect major dramas with the unassigned seating, although he conceded there would be some resistance to the change.
He said tests using staff, their family members and other volunteers proved interesting.
Typically, the boarding had proceeded logically with people tending to fill window seats first and then the middle seat if they were travelling in pairs.
"It's turning out to be very efficient and it's this logical process," he said.
"So you don't get people sitting in the wrong row and confusion over seats, you don't get somebody sitting in (an) aisle and then somebody coming along and saying I want to get to the window and that person having to stand up.
"You're getting people filling the windows first and then usually filling the middle seat because they have somebody with them and aisles are all free."
Nor would the system be completely random. People would be split into groups determined by how early they arrived at the airport.
As with any airline, elderly people, those with small children and those who needed assistance would board first.
Those who turned up first at the airport would be the next to board and latecomers would be in the last group.
Inside the aircraft, staff would monitor exit rows to make sure people sitting there were appropriate and there would be some seats blocked off for load control.
Passengers would be given some leeway on luggage limits for the first week but would ultimately be asked to pay an excess baggage charge of $5 per kilogram if they exceeded the 20kg per person limit.
The exception will be people transferring to and from Qantas international flights, where the 10kg difference between domestic and international baggage limits has been built into their ticket price.