I was waiting around in Cairns on Tuesday night waiting to get that very plane on its return trip to Melbourne. The scheduled departure was 1:30pm and we took off just after 10pm. 8 ½ hrs late is enough to piss anyone off at the best of times but unfortunately things go wrong and planes run late.
However, it’s how you deal with these problems that makes the difference. I was at least lucky enough to get a call at 9pm the night before saying the plane would be departing at 1905. When I asked why it would be late I was simply told, “It has been rescheduled”.
From the time I checked in at 5:30pm (where again I asked why the plane was late, to no avail), to the time we boarded just prior to 10pm (4 ½ hrs later) there was only one PA announcement. Again no explanation, no apology offered, simply stating that there would be very limited catering on the flight. No one was telling us anything. Not even why another Jet Star flight to Melbourne with a much later scheduled departure time left before us.
The first person to explain why the plane was late or utter the words ‘sorry’ or ‘we apologise for the delay’ was the captain about 15min after we were airborne.
When we finally got to Melbourne, standing around the baggage carousels almost every single conversation revolved around how everyone had been kept in the dark and how the staff seemed indifferent to the fact that we were over 8hrs late.
It doesn’t matter what service you are selling, if your customers are unhappy because they feel neglected and unvalued they will go elsewhere. I lost count of the number of times I heard the phrase “I’m never flying Jet Star again”.
How hard is it to push the airport PA button and say “We are sorry from the delay, unfortunately due to unscheduled maintenance and fog in Melbourne this morning, the plane has been further delayed and we anticipate that we will be able to board you just prior to 10pm. Jet Star apologises for any inconvenience.”……?
