JetStar International Getting It Right.........Not

[Ex QF]

Was informed by a family friend who is a regular to Bali that plenty of very unhappy JetStar travellers to that part of the world and they have only been doing the MEL & SYD/DPS runs for a month or so. Many people who travel there for business purposes have tried to change future bookings via Darwin (so they can get there on Qantas) or to Garuda. Plenty of problems and people can’t believe that they are part of Qantas.
Family friend stated that many business travellers much prefer Australian who got it right from the start.
Complaints include:
Main problem is with delays, service and allowance where Qantas treated their passengers like humans and now JetStar treat them as an inconvenience.
Other complaints besides late departures, include,
- pax having to tell crew that there are immigration forms as well as customs forms for arrival in DPS (crew did not know),
- great delay in handing out pre ordered entertainment units and then selling to pax who had not pre-ordered, pax on flight that family friend travelled on said to crew ‘why not just up the fare and have them distributed to all pax to which crew replied ‘management are too stubborn to listen and change now’
- delays in meal service relate to above in most cases all pax wanted to be fed anyway,
- $6 for a beer is a bit rich,
- Group of business people contacting Garuda to ensure that the keep flying out of Perth as plenty are worried that JetStar will take over from Qantas on PER-DPS run,
- Garuda already considering putting on direct ADL/DPS flights in school holidays.
Problems with surfers as they can no longer carry their long boards on JetStar as they could on Qantas, same must be the case with HNL. Surfers may be a small number in the grand scheme of things but I guess when JetStar are flying to DPS AND HNL and they are popular destinations with surfers well….. It’s not rocket science is it?
Problems with FF's who QF placed on JetStar who found that the service was crap, they had to pay for their beer and the fact that FF allowances were not accepted by JetStar.
So what happens when the introductory bookings finish? So plenty of punters took advantage of these fares and got up there for very low dollars but if they are already saying no to doing it again on JetStar does that mean they will:
- pull out because it’s not profitable? And give all revenue to Garuda?
- provide more $49 fares? In order to tell the market that ‘they are a success’? How will that help profits?
Is it the same story with HNL, Vietnam and Phuket?
Guess Dixon and his senior management don’t go to or ever wish to go to Bali, Honolulu, Phuket etc but that’s not the point is it.

EastWest - had any feedback? Anyone else heard perhaps staff grabbed the cheap seats to some of their destinations?

[Condition lever]

Your family friend seems to be extraordinarily well informed as to the goings on of all the punters on this flight. They obviously spent the entire flight going around canvassing everyones opinions and their future intentions.

How do you know "Group of business people contacting Garuda to ensure that the keep flying out of Perth as plenty are worried that JetStar will take over from Qantas on PER-DPS run"?

Or that "Garuda already considering putting on direct ADL/DPS flights in school holidays"?

What a crock!

[cabin secure]

The following is not meant to cause offence to anyone and I will apologise in advance if it does.
There was a time when airlines could pick the cream of the crop when recruiting. Flying was attractive to educated well spoken males and females alike. It payed extremely well, rest periods were adequate to keep ones demeanour and the benefits were truly "fringe" benefits.
The problem is now they offer peanuts, flog the living bejeeesus out of their crews, give them stuff all rest, and expect a level of service above and beyond the call of duty. High level service standards are a thing of the past me thinks.:ugh:
Don't get me wrong, there are still those of the old school out there that continue to soldier on despite having every obstacle placed in their way. Damn shame I say.
You should also remember there is no rest period in Bali for the Jetstar crews. They turn around and go straight back. Around a 15 hour duty, through the night. Australian Airlines crew slipped in Bali, usually for several days. Now there's a fringe benefit. No wonder they were happy and always ready with a smile.

[stubby jumbo]

What a crock!

Condition lever............I suggest you go out and experience the service first hand then come back and make an informed post.

I returned from a Jet* trip to HKT return last week and much of what ex QF has said I agree with.

Firstly, for the record I am current QF staff, I have no major axe to grind with Jet* and my wife and 2 kids paid full freight return which cost about $2300. ( I'm over the hassles with staff travel during school hol's.)

EX SYD : JQ27

We were delayed ex SYD ( 50 min ) due to waiting for the MEL flight connection pax. Flight full.
Daylight sector-all went OK. The whole crew were Thai except CSM. Service very slow. For crew who have only been in the job for 4 weeks -they were less thean enthused about their roles- not overly friendly/warm.
Tech crew PA again-see above( but they are not paid for their PA's)
Food-fair in quality . Very slow in delivery. DO NOT ask for anything extra!
Cabin interior /seating. Much better than QF economy. Leather seats are a winner. Cabin /Galleys look fresh ( month old! )EX HKT : JQ28

On time departure: 2220.
Cabin crew 3x Aussie, rest Thai.
Flight full.
Service went on for ever. Lights were ON FULL for over 5 hours . As a result babies screeching and most pax very very pi---ed off. All you want to do is get on, quick snack then lights off. For Christ sake its a 2230 take off !!!!:ugh:
We had a few Ockers around who were tanked before they got on ( your usual "Bali " types ) who caused a bit of commotion , the crew chose to ignore it -hoping it would go away. Fortunately , on this occasion other pax around sorted it out. But with a 2 man flight crew and all female cabin crew this is a potential area of concern for their operation.
Crew were very dismissive and really didn't want to be there. No real warmth and basically couldn't give a rats about families, elderly ......anyone. "Just throw it out and don't interract with us we're way too busy ! "Overall, I would rate the experience 5/10.
But, you get what you pay for. its a flying Bus service. do not expect Qantas service. Do not have high expectations.It gets you there and back in one piece, We had a great time in Phuket.

BUT.........This is the future of air travel I'm afraid.:sad:

[RENURPP]

Went to singapore with TIGER ex Darwin a while back.
Although it is a LCC you get exactly what you pay for.
On time, friendly staff, pay if you want food or drink but under $400 return.

Wouldn't consider Jetstar, used to use QF but its all about choice now and QF isn't an available choice anymore.

Go TIGER I really hope they do well over the same routes )or should that be roots) as jetstar.

[Condition lever]

Stubby Jumbo - thanks for the suggestion.
If you would care to re-read my post, it was purely directed at Ex QF's ridiculous statements regarding his "Family Friends" level of knowledge of the intentions of a flight's passengers and the intentions of Garuda - at no time did I comment on the quality of the J* service.

Perhaps your complaints will be addressed/fixed once the service is out of the "teething" period. However the contradictory intent of you post, ie. your statement that the cabin service was too slow, and then that the cabin staff were too dismissive way too busy (obviously related to the fact that they were attempting to speed up the service), begs the question if you would be satisfied with anything.

If you want to ask for anything extra - well guess what??!!
You can always pay for it! I am sure that another meal could have been supplied to you if you were willing to fork out for it.

This saves your family holiday from costing $5000 instead of the $2300 you paid. All in all you are right - it is not QF service - but then again you are not paying for it are you?

[Eastwest Loco]

The Rat is treating us Travel Agent leeches on the butt of the industry like rubbish due to some grand plan, but I freely admit that I do enjoy travelling with the large marsupial bringing up the top of the blunt end.

Personally I will not travel on any LCC, not for any other reason than the subspecies we book on them. Do not get me wrong in this. I also book a great number of regular clients on LCCs due to QF mainline no longer servicing ports they use. The regulars despair at the quality of the load too and would much prefer the full service carriers back at a higher price.

Some things were never meant to fly.

On the Bali subject, my last ride there was with Garuda. One thing you expect from GA is impacts rather than landings. As we were out via SYD there were 3 and we had 2 longhops and a slam dunk. Nothing new there. Cabin service was beautifully confused and very friendly on all flight sectors and the food was fine. Bintang was cold and bagus sekalih. Seat pitch was excellent as was the overall state of the A330.

GA is coming in around $50 extra on the JQ fare with no addons and paying nothing for frosty Bintangs , food or entertainment. At 7% base commission who do you think the basic Aussie Travel Agent is selling?

The concept is fine, but I feel they have over complicated it with the addon bits and buy on board stuff. It must be hell for the crew as well.

Until the dust settles, this little black duck will happily ride GA to the Island of the Gods and point his passengers in the same direction.

Best all

EWL

[Ultralights]

sadly i have never heard a good report re Jetstar, but as their adds say, you have a choice. i choose another airline.

sadly if the airfares were exeptionally cheap compared to the competition on the same routes, then you would put up with the lack of service for a reasonable saving, but it appears they are no cheaper than anyone else. :hmm:

[stubby jumbo]

.
This saves your family holiday from costing $5000 instead of the $2300 you paid. All in all you are right - it is not QF service - but then again you are not paying for it are you?

I don't quite get the bit:

" I'm not paying for it "

I AM PAYING FOR IT......this was not a junket or staff travel this was a book on line deal.

SJ

[Condition lever]

Ahhhh.... sorry, thought it was clear.
You are not paying for (or obviously receiving) QF service, therefore your trip costs $2300 instead of $5000.

[stubby jumbo]

OK ......I get it now.

You're right.

I couldn't afford the QF $5000.( due to 3% over 3 years )

You do get what you pay for......and yes agree.... Condition.

If I wanted more then its "user pays"!!

JQ has its place.

My advice:

EXPECT NOTHING. BYO FOOD AND SENSE OF HUMOUR.;) ;)

[control snatch]

Christ you guys can whinge

There was a time when airlines could pick the cream of the crop when recruiting. Flying was attractive to educated well spoken males and females alike. It payed extremely well, rest periods were adequate to keep ones demeanour and the benefits were truly "fringe" benefits.

OH MY BLEEDING HEART!!!

J* is here to stay, deal with it!!

[murgatroid]

Service went on for ever. Lights were ON FULL for over 5 hours


Very deliberate, if the lights are turned down and you all go to sleep, how are they going to sell all the stuff which is a significant revenue stream. All those $6 beers etc.

Fly low cost around europe and you'll see this all the time.

[lowerlobe]

Murgatroid,

Flying around Europe is not like flying from across the pacific or other long distance night flying.

If it is the middle of the night and yourself and the family including wife and 2 ankle biters have checked out of the hotel at 11am the situation is a little tense.

You have just shelled out $ 12 bucks for TWO beers and the hand brake wants a red wine ( How much is that..You've got to be kidding me ) and you have paid God knows what for 2 soft drinks for the kids.You have carried 2 pillows and blankets around all day because you'll be damned if you are going to pay $14.00 for the comfort packs for the kids.

The family behind you is the same and their kids are kicking the back of your wifes seat which is pleasing her no end and the crew might as well be on the moon for all the good they are.

The kids are complaining which is making the wife give you the good news and all you want (apart from another beer but you don't have any cash left) is for the lights to go out so they are alseep and you can get some peace.

Oh yeah that is going to create good recommendations for future business.

[stubby jumbo]

.........great post Lowerlobe.:D

Humour on pprune is not dead !

Jet* should give you a gig to write their marketing campaign.

Sure beats Magda doing STAR jumps.!!!

[alangirvan]

Wait a couple of years, and you will be able to fly to Asia on Air Asia X. They will be paying a lot of attention to Jetstar's first few weeks of operations and if they can do buy-on-board food and drink and entertainment in a better way, they will.

[stubby jumbo]

....you're probably right alangirvan.

Air Asia have got the LCC model down to its most pure form.


Boarding passes are bits of paper like "shopper dockets".
Free seating...........so its C-H-A-R-G-E after the first boarding call !
At KUL's LCC Terminal ( of the year -sic! ) they might have 5-6 734/3's /A-320's all lined up so trying to find WHICH aircraft is yours is a challenge in itself.
On board its leather seats, tight config on 737's, not so bad on A-320's.
Food/drinks comes around by cart after takeoff. If you want you buy , if not........ sit there and read. No audio entertainment.
Crew-mainly female,short /short-tight red mini's,hair out, looking glam is a major requirement,-light on service or smiles.
You get what you pay for. ....Flying bus service from A to B.
They are really shaking up air travel in Asia. Jetstar, Tiger and Silk Air must be thinking -WHOA !They've just announced a purchase of another 100 x A-320's so they are serious.
Also, they plan to fly to Europe and further afield in the not too far distant future.

[Bleve]

Can't help thinking that whilst such a LCC model seems to work over short sectors, ie 2 maybe 3 hours max, I have my doubts that pax will want to travel in such conditions over the longer sectors.

[Wingspar]

The cyclic nature of most industries is most prevalent in aviation. The good times have been going for a while now so just wait for the correction in global markets. The first carriers to be hit will be the LCC's.

On another note, recently a lady I know who works with a charity that deals with the balinese was very livid with JQ. First trip on JQ and had 100kg of goods with her up to DPS to give to the locals and JQ charged her a fortune. Previously she had an arrangement with QF who were a bit more accomodating. I dare say that when JQ have a bit more direct competition, consumer discretion will have a negative impact on their business.

[Ron & Edna Johns]

$6 a beer! What price for soft drinks? A lousy COKE?? Bloody hell - you need to BYO.

Oh.... That's right. From March next year you won't be allowed to. "Security, sir. And if you argue we will take you off the flight and have you interrogated as a terrorist suspect...." :mad:

Thanks, John Howard and Mark Vaile. You gentlemen have truly lost it.

[Metro man]

The only people I feel sorry for are those that would rather pay for a full service airline, but are forced to fly low cost due to it being their only option on the route they wish to take.

LCCs offer the opportunity to save money if you can put up with lower standards than full service airlines. I can pay $50 a night for a hotel room or $500. For $50 I can't complain if the carpets seen better days, the wall paper is peeling and there's no cable TV.

LCCs suit some people, not just those in flannelette shirts and tracksuits. Divide the $$$ saved by the length of the flight, "earnings" of $70+/hr are quite possible. Not bad money for sitting down reading the paper.

I have the choice of 3 LCC and 2 full service airlines (Singapore Airlines being one) on a route I wish to fly later this year. If I fly SIA the schedule is more convenient, we depart from the main terminal with all facilities vs budget with minimal, B777 with good leg room and inflight entertainment vs A320 high density seating with no IFE. Free meals, drinks, newspapers and magazines vs pay for your own. Superbly trained cabin crew, awards for inflight service vs min number legally required of low pay high turnover worked to death people.

But, as there are 4 of us and SIA are three times the price I think I know who I will be travelling on :( Will check last minute deals though might get lucky ;)

[das Uber Soldat]

Christ you guys can whinge



OH MY BLEEDING HEART!!!

J* is here to stay, deal with it!!

Buy a band aid, he (the person you have replied in the above to) has a pretty good point. As pay and conditions lower at an ever increasing rate, those intelligent and motivated people fresh out of University will look elsewhere for a career they view as rewarding. The only result that can come of this is a steady decline in the standard of candidates that apply for airline positions.

I made more money selling toasters at a harvey norman than I ever have flying an aircraft.

[ur2]

Must have sold a hell of a lot of toasters.

[roamingwolf]

Mate,The mark up on Toasters is huge so he had a lot of room to move on them.

Gotta remember to haggle more when the missus wants me to buy a new toaster next time.At the same time he never did tell us what sort of aircraft he fly's.

[flightleader]

Metroman,

Please consider this,starting your trip with a lousy flight and the thought of repeating it at the end of the holiday might just ruin your entire trip.:}

[Taildragger67]

Half a Temazepam washed down with a G&T, a sweater, a blow-up neck-rest, an eye-mask and earplugs will get me anywhere pretty painlessly. :ok: .

[Going Boeing]

Half a Temazepam washed down with a G&T, a sweater, a blow-up neck-rest, an eye-mask and earplugs will get you anywhere pretty painlessly. :ok: .

Taillee, the medical profession strongly advise against mixing alcohol with any sleeping tablet style medication. This has been the cause of many behavioural problems encountered on aircraft. From the perspective of other passengers, JQ's reputation would only get worse.

[Taildragger67]

Going Boeing,

Fair call.

My point was that these days, IMHO the only stand-out airlines (in any class) are the bad ones; there are a couple of stand-outs the other way but by and large, you pays yer money and you gets the same thing no matter what's on the tail; the bean-counters have, over decades, standardised everything at a reasonably low level to keep the investors happy :hmm: .

Hence, these days I don't really care who the carrier is, I just try to knock myself out as soon after departure as possible and sleep as long as I can :zzz: .

That way, the service can be as bad as you like, but I won't know about it. Just wake me at TOD.

Mind you, it's worth waking up for the in-flight calisthenics session on China Eastern!

[beer bong]

Has anyone tried to ger a surfboard on a Jet* flight?
I am considering going to Indo for a surf trip however their website claims they do not take boards over 2 meters. A short board in Indo or Hawaii is about as useless as t!ts on a ball.
How strict are the check in staff if a few inches over? Or is back to gold old GA? But they dont fly out or here anymore.
:ugh:

[Eastwest Loco]

Beer Bong, that is indeed the question we are waiting for and answer on.
If it Bali, I am directing traffic (with board coffins containing 3-5 boards) onto GA, and as always they are having no problems, just impacts rather than landings and full service with free Bintang opposed to buy it and pay a potential fortune for excess. The $100.00 fare difference is well worth the expense. I love GA. They are pleasantly confused and treat you very nicely.
As for Hawaii, nobody has been able to advise me accurately what is charged for a board coffin on JQ and what number of boards constitute a particular charge.
I have a bunch of crew there at the moment but most all are on the QF codeshare side of the aeroplane and should technically be afforded the 2 piece system and their normal QF Club and Gold/Platinum (yes many professional surfers are Golds and Platinums) baggage leeway.
I would suggest booking QF one way and qf on JQ in the other direction so you will be fed etc etc and get the 2 piece allowance and frantic flapper points if you are a member. It is not much dearer.
Will advise as the horror stories come in.
Best all
EWL

[MIss Behaviour]

Beer Bong

It's no so much a question of check-in staff being lenient with a board over 2 metres but the issue of anything over 2 metres in length not fitting into the cans as the aircraft is containerised.

Check-in could turn a blind eye however when the bag chuckers go to load the board it just won't fit.

[rammel]

On the A330's the surfboards, bikes, skis and any other oversize item goes in the Bulk Hold. The Bulk Hold on these aircraft is quite large so anything a bit over 2m shouldn't be a problem. Now whether Jetstar make it a problem, that's another question.

[Jet Jockey]

I will be very surprised if J* accept long boards at all. This has been an issue on the domestic front as well. The A320's also have a large bulk hold however it is not allowed to be used as it is considered by occupational health and safety as unsuitable for use by the contract baggage handlers because they only use the siscor lift and containers and don't normally use a conveyor belt to access that hold. Maybe with Qantas baggage services handling the 330 turnarounds things will be different. Surprise me!!!

[Eastwest Loco]

Miss B - most airlines including the rat I believe schedule at least one open pallet in place of 4 LD3s (LD2s on the 763) to surf based destinations such as Hawaii or Bali to accommodate boards. Either that or use the bulk hold. The same LOCO are doing the build on JQ flights so hopefully some sense prevails.

We even managed to convince SQ to do this with a Maldives competition and randomly organised group movement with great success.

It aint rocket science and the most important thing is to load an SSR SPEQ to advise the load planners the size and weight of unusual baggage so they can preplan the configuring of the cans and pallets.

Just don't let Management anywhere near airport ops.

Best all

EWL

[beer bong]

Thanks for all the info Loco.

I aint no long boarder (yet).However J* say that your board ( <2 mt small wave board) is part of your 20KG alowance. fKnHell she will be a no duty free trip.

It will be interesting to see if they will take a 6'10 and what sort of spin JQ will put on if if they wont.

Given the destinations they wanna operate too, J* wil loose a lot of business given the restrictions.

Bong On

[lowerlobe]

Rumour has it that at one of Australia's Golf classics the golfers were impressed with the fares they were given on J* but after they had paid the excess on their clubs and so on at the airport they might have as well got together and chartered their own aircraft.

This is the brave new world bought to you from your friendly Darth.It's called the Treasurer's airline in other words it's the airline we had to have.

[resboy]

... and no other airline on the planet has ever charged for excess baggage ...

:E :E :E :E

[MIss Behaviour]

A friend of mine flew Ryan Air from Liverpool to Riga in Latvia because FR offered a GBP0.99 fare! With taxes it cost him & the Missus about AUD12.00 each for the return tirp which included checked baggage allowance (I forget how much).

Other pax weren't so lucky because at the airport they found out they received zero checked baggage allowance and had to pay 'excess' for whatever they checked in.

I don't know whether that applies to all Ryan Air routes or just some but I hope it's not a sign of the times to come down under! :eek: :eek: