Jetstar offers baggage-free discount

[B A Lert]

Jetstar offers baggage-free discount

Steve Creedy, Aviation writer | February 12, 2008

JETSTAR will offer a discount on its fares to passengers who travel with carry-on baggage only.

The airline announced today that it was introducing a new Jetsaver Light product that would offer a $10 discount on domestic routes and charge $20 less on international flights to passengers who did not have checked baggage.

It supported the launch with a 1 cent one-way sale on six routes, including Sydney-Melbourne-Avalon, Melbourne-Hobart and Brisbane-Newcastle. The fare is the lowest ever offered by an Australian carrier but just 5000 are available and only to the airline's e-mail subscribers.

Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce said the new fare product would provide a fresh incentive to take a short leisure break or business trip on the carrier's expanding network.

"Many of our customers want the choice to travel for leisure or work with no checked-in baggage, and as our airline achieves real cost savings through this decision, we believe a lower air fare should be passed back as the trade-off,'' Mr Joyce said

"JetSaver Light gives our customers for the first time the choice to travel with carry on luggage only at even lower prices. Offering more choice to customers, allowing them to pay for only the services they value when flying Jetstar will, we believe, stimulate even greater demand for travel on our network."

The carry-on discounts are not available on fares to Japan or the US.


What they are really doing is charging for checked baggage! Talk about spin? This is start from the text written by Aer Lingus - nothing original from Jetstar. Next move will be to offer, just like Aer Lingus, a discounted baggage rate if purchased on-line two hours prior to departure. Why the 'no baggage discount' does not applky for travelk to the US and Japan?

Clearly, one cent fares inclusive of taxes and surcharges are being peddled at significantly less than the cost of production. Is this predatory pricing and an offence under the Trade Pratices Act?

Lastly, how could anyone possibly put a value on any of the 'services' offered by Jetstar as 'service' seems to be an oxymoron when applied to this mob.:E:E

[B A Lert]

From another story in The Australian

Jetstar said its offer of reduced fares to passengers with only carry-on luggage aimed to give it a competitive edge.

"The airline gets a saving because one of the biggest components of cost we have to pay is loading and unloading bags," chief executive Alan Joyce said.

"It gives more transparency to the consumer about who has the lowest airfares. We think it appeals to the business traveller and short-break traveller, and allows us to promote a lower airfare for those customers."

The airline keeps its 20kg checked luggage allowance for people paying the full Jetsaver fare, and noted this was 5kg more than Tiger's allowance.

People who book a Jetsaver Light fare and then decide to take luggage will have to pay the fare difference plus a $10 change fee. The discounts will not be available on the airline's more expensive Jetflex fares or on flights to the US and Japan.

Mr Joyce said personal experience prompted the decision to negotiate an increased carry-on limit with the regulator. "I know from my travels 7kg was a little bit tight if you wanted to do an overnight bag or go away for a couple of days," he said.

The spin must be making everyone giddy. As Jetstar say that the charges for loading will be less if there's less baggage, this means either there will be fewer loaders or loaders will be paid by the bag. I should think it will take a long time for any savings to be accrued apart from a minute saving as a result of lower fuel burns. How much more cr@p can we expect from AJ's spin doctors?

Anyone know what the increased carry-on limit is?

[BD1959]

B A Lert: increased from 7kg to 10kg.

BD

[dodgybrothers]

I really don't see what the problem is with this. Its been going on in the US and Europe for years and now Australian travellers have the opportunity to have a cheaper fare by 'selling' their baggage right. The problem will be if Jetstar do not portray the terms and conditions to the traveller to a comprehensible level. It will be a sh!tfight at the gate to the Jetstar staff when someone tries to sneak on a tea chest as carry on.

[capt.cynical]

More than likely they will trying 12-15 kg's.And who is going to police this at the gate !!
Once onboard and all the O/head lockers are full and the GS demanding push-back,guess who's left with the problem.The CC who else.:ugh:
I can see angry punters and delays due to offloaded baggage ahead.:rolleyes:
More delays will be inevitiable, but the "SPIN" sounds good.:mad:

[bob55]

Really illustrates that the domestic market will be Qantas vs Virgin, and Jetstar vs Tiger.

[airtags]

sigh.....Ryanair reinvented.....

just wait for the issues when the J* pax are xferred to QF flights......
I think the cargo doors will be closing a lot later due to gnd staff filling up the chutes.

but then it comes from that special kind of irish logic that suggested at a recent media soiree that he'd like to experimeemnt with a FREE seat policy and make the $ from the extras.......

..........jeez sounds like my divorce lawyer....$1 for p'copy, $50 to anser the phone, etc.,............$2 to talk to a FA, $10 if you want a safety demo.......betcha the bugger would even want to charge the punters for listening to the FO putting the cricket scores over the PA......

[MIss Behaviour]

What a ridiculous 'initiative'. Why do they assume automatically that something that works in Europe (if indeed it does) or the US will just take off here in Oz.

We saw that with the free seating policy when JQ first started flying in Oz & the general public hated it. It has left Jetstar with that cheap-arsed reputation that they'll never be able to shake off.

And as for changing the carry on baggage limit from 7 to 10 kilos. Clearly no thought went into that one. So many people have a journey that comprises more that one airline so they'll be okay for the JQ leg then be arguing with the F/A's on the next carrier about why 10kg is too much.

Even when pax are only travelling on JQ sounds like management just like creating more work for ground staff eg if a pax rocks up with a bag over 10 kg and thereby has to pay the diff between the carry on only fare vs the fare that allows a checked baggage allowance then another $10 change fee!

"The airline gets a saving because one of the biggest components of cost we have to pay is loading and unloading bags," chief executive Alan Joyce said".

Doesn't apply on the DRW-SIN flight as it's not uncommon to leave 50 plus bags plus behind because the A320 aircraft doesn't have the uplift required for that sector. This is on an aircraft minus the containers. When they add another half tonne for the extra 7 cans the problem will only get worse.

"It gives more transparency to the consumer about who has the lowest airfares. We think it appeals to the business traveller and short-break traveller, and allows us to promote a lower airfare for those customers."


If consumers want lower airfares they should stop going into travel agents thinking it'll be cheaper & start booking direct on the airline websites. Some agents mark up the web fares by ridiculous amounts and take advantage of the fact a lot of customers are too lazy to do their own ground work. By all means use the agents website to compare the fares for all airlines operating on that route but book your fare direct on the airlines site.

No credit card? Get a visa debit card and stop making excuses!

[windytown]

One likely benfit of this new fare type is that is makes it easier to advertise cheap fares, as you can often pick up extra revenue through checked baggage fees. In today's environment of frequent price based promotions this is useful.

Fo example with a $10 baggage fee (plus a $10 surchage if you check in at the counter) its a bit easier to advertise a $1 fare, knowing you will either save a bit on baggage handling or make it up on baggage fees.

Equally the $59 fare becomes advertised as a $49 fare.

[captaintunedog777]

Miss Behaviour

U are one angry and silly little camper

Doesn't apply on the DRW-SIN flight as it's not uncommon to leave 50 plus bags plus behind because the A320 aircraft doesn't have the uplift required for that sector. This is on an aircraft minus the containers. When they add another half tonne for the extra 7 cans the problem will only get worse.

Gee have you really thought the above statement out. Travelling with less reduces bags in the hold. More work for the groundies. Poo Hoo. Actually I thought less bags to be put in hold. Yeah whatever.

Jetstar offer a small incentive. A tiny one at that but who does it hurt. Gee 10 or 20 bucks. Still buys me lunch and on a $100 airfare still a 10% saving.

"What a ridiculous 'initiative'. Why do they assume automatically that something that works in Europe (if indeed it does) or the US will just take off here in Oz"

You sound paranoid. We are all still human. Just from down under

"Some agents mark up the web fares by ridiculous amounts and take advantage of the fact a lot of customers are too lazy to do their own ground work"

who cares.

Your pent up frustration could be fixed up if you let yourself go out and got a bit. PM me sweety. Don't worry about Jetstar they will do just fine without your input. The alternative is Virgin or Tiger.

Some agents mark up the web fares by ridiculous amounts and take advantage of the fact a lot of customers are too lazy to do their own ground work.

Who cares. I certainly don't. It's like geting an insurance quote and accepting the first or mum and dad were members of NRMA for 20 years. THere will always be idiots. THat's how money is made.

Why do you clowns insist Virgin are a full service carrier. They are another LCC like Jetstar and Tiger. Qantas v Virgin umm noooo. Virgin V Jetstar bingo!

Mainline = full service
LCC = Jetstar, Virgin and Tiger

Qantas will never lose market share when it is comprised of a full service carrier and an LCC.

Get it bloody right

[VH-JJW]

Here we go again - same old, same old.

Jetstar make an announcement - it really doesn't matter what it is (unless it's closing down) and the same group gleefully jump on the anti Jetstar bandwagon. No prizes for guessing which airline the majority of them work for. :oh:

On the other hand, their Union is desperately trying to convince the Jetstsar pilots that they should get into bed with them. :ugh:

As an aside, I wonder if the heavy landing in DRW had been a JQ aircraft would the Pprune response have been so mellow? Particularly if it had been a JQ A330....... mmmm I can almost hear the salivation from here - Pavlov eat your heart out. :}

[Pharcarnell]

Does the $10.00 discount apply to the $0.01 fares I wonder????
Will it mean they'll REALLY pay us to fly with them???:O:O

YEAH,RIGHT!

[Moniker]

Capt.TuneDog ..

How many international travelers do you know that only carry 10k in their luggage?

I thought Miss B's comment made sense.

You're a little bit touchy yourself!

[windytown]

Capt.TuneDog ..

"How many international travelers do you know that only carry 10k in their luggage?"


My children travel with less than 10kg Trans Tasman, especially for summer holidays

Also it would be possible, one way or another, for a family of 4 to arrange things so that they get away with 2 or 3 checked bags and use the Jet Light fare to money on 1 or 2 family members.

[BD1959]

capt.cynical: More than likely they will trying 12-15 kg's.And who is going to police this at the gate !!
Once onboard and all the O/head lockers are full and the GS demanding push-back,guess who's left with the problem.The CC who else.

With JQ: aren't the "Gate Staff" usually a mix of check-in and CC? I'm pretty sure that staff I've seen at JQ gates also act as CC (unless they've started cloning!!) Wouldn't it be in CC's own interest to refuse all oversize/weight at the Gate? Isn't this what they do now?

BD

[capt.cynical]

I have never flown Jetstar,you maybe right.
What I will say is with this increased cabin baggage allowance you are going to see alot more oversize bags at the gate.This will cause more of the "its only me" arguments and ensuing tears and tantrums:{,hence more delays.:*:ugh:

[Going Boeing]

One of the small number of survivors of the KAL B747 crash on approach to Guam was a Kiwi helicopter pilot. He attributes his survival to two things, 1. he was seated near the rear of the aeroplane and 2. at the time of the impact he was bent forward tying up his shoelaces, ie he effectively was in the "Brace" position and his head was below the height of the seat backs. Many of the pax seated around him perished as a result of severe head trauma when they were hit by sections of overhead bins which had broken from their mounts as a result of impact forces. He views overhead bins as lethal in a crash, so, does the increase in pax bag weight that Jetstar proposes mean that they will become more lethal in that they may break their mounts when lower forces are encountered? I agree with Capt Cynical in that pax will jam as much as possible in their cabin bags to avoid paying $10 for a checked bag.

[alangirvan]

How do they know that a bag is 10kg by looking at it? They do not have scales at the gate. If a passenger does On Line Check In (at home), no one from the airline will see them until they are in the departure gate. If they pull their wheelie case onto the plane and lift it into the locker, no one will know how much it weighs. Dimensions are more important if you want to fit 177 bags into the locker space of an A320 or 213 bags into an A321.


Will these baggage arrangements change the weight calculation for each passenger when the Flight Crew are Calculating the Take Off Weights?

[lovelondon]

You will only be able to tell a cabin bag weighs over 10kg when the passenger tries to place it in the overhead locker.

Thats when they ask the CC to put it in the overhead locker for them " because it is too heavy for me to lift ".

My answer to that is " Oh well if its too heavy for you then it must be too heavy for me as well ". Any bag that requires two CC to place in an overhead locker is too heavy and should be offloaded to be placed in the hold.

So CC will be expected to risk an injury putting heavier bags in lockers just so pax can save $10 ? WTF

[MELKBQF]

JQ often have to drop cargo containers due to the amount of bags checked in, i think its more about getting more cargo on each aircraft than saving PAX money.

[capt.cynical]

Now we are getting closer to the truth.:eek:

[captaintunedog777]

This is hillarious

Some people travel light and may save $10 big deal. Take it or leave it. Half the pax to Rocky or Mckay are prob there for the day anyway. They can take the friggin $10 and buy a sandwich. You jokers seem to think 177 people will take all their ****e in the cabin. If an accident were to occur bags of crap hitting people. The company wants more baggage space to carry freight. Aren't they in the business of screwing employees and making money. Even now sure if you can carry 30kg into the cabin you could do it anyway as long as the bag is the right dimensions. Most people don't bother some always will.

When will you ignoramuses get off the bandwagen get yourself a real job and forget about running a virtual airline.

You clowns always think the worse in everything. :=

[Thylacine]

Jetstar announce a "great deal" to celebrate the launch of JetSaver Light, at 8.00pm (AEDT) on Tuesday 19 February 2008, Jetstar will go on sale with 1 cent fares* on selected domestic routes for 1 hour (unless sold out prior)!

JetSaver Light is a new fare from Jetstar for when you travel with carry on baggage only. This sale is strictly limited to 5,000 seats on selected routes. Conditions apply.

I bet getting on to the Jetstar website as of 8.00pm (AEST) on Tuesday 19 February 2008 will be nigh on impossible as the site will be totally overloaded. And when you do the 5000 seats will be spread so thinly it will be nigh on impossible to find one or they will be at times and routes no one wants to travel on.

It smacks of desperation or a sad attempt to attract people to their web site in the hope they will book an alternative fare if they don't get a 1 cent fare once they are there. Can't quite figure how they can offer 1 cent fares (unless sold out prior)! Prior to what? Smacks of bargain discount store tactics offering 5000 cheap useless items they can't sell!

[captaintunedog777]

Thylacine

I bet you don't either but 5000 other lucky bastards will get the tickets. Cheap advertising in which the consumer benefits. What bastards.

Come on can't you clowns come up with something new.
bla bla bla

[capt.cynical]

I think I smell a TROLL.:E

[Chronic Snoozer]

All this palaver is far too complicated for the average punter to remember or plan for (different rates, different baggage requirements.) Sounds awfully like Jetstar is simply interested in molding a customer type which serves its best interests.

All of which vindicates my decision never to fly with them again after being shafted with excess baggage charges after my FF points flight changed codes.

[BurglarsDog]

Its all about choice versus cost! User pays etc etc.

Jetstar are almost the equivalent of Easyjet in Europe; LCC minimal cost point to point - same aircraft and similar uniforms. Check out the Easy website and see what you can choose from regarding cost choice! There are still further savings to be made:

Dont assign seating - first come first serve - causes tension at gate and stresses many pax. So ,AKA Easyjet, offer Speedy Boarding - extra $10 and you get called on first. Better still, Go the - Thompson Fly - route and allow pre booking of exact seat on line only,for the same amount. Everyone else is allocated a seat at check in. So thats the seating sorted - pay for what you want!

Regarding luggage. Again EasyJet - basic price = no check in, and one carry on 7- 10kgs . Who cares aboiut weight it makes no difference to fuel burn on a short European hop or Oz internal. Its more a case of luggage size and what you can lift above your head!

Or pay eaxtra and check in 1,2 ,3, 10 items. User pays! Easyjet and Thomson fly the same on this one I think. Jetstar allow pre booked excess baggage at a cheaper rate

But, for me, the best Service between Bris / Syd to FNQ, has been Quantas. After 40 hours on the road back from Europe, to be called forward, and thereby catch a flight I thougt Id miss (as per VB) whilst in a long queue at BNE domestic check in, after a bit of late landing on the International leg, and receive smiles from some very pleasant non trolley dolly like mature ladies, and an inclusive simple snack (Would you like an apple with that? " ) was worth almost double the fare of the low costs! The flight deck info regarding routing, level, weather, delays, (for an ATC er) was also first class. That said I would have booked LCC had a connection been available and just put up with the lack of service that I hadnt paid for! Not sure Id fly Int with QFA though as I dont like the negative publicity as per this Forum, and Etihad give me Business lounge access for only 30000 odd airmiles. Should Quantas wake up to this idea, they could have my money tomorrow, - for the next trip at least !
DogGone:E

[VH-JJW]

Perhaps he is a goat.

Perhaps like many he is not obsessed with the white rat being the centre of all things aviation.

Perhaps, assuming the above statement he is a phoenetic speller.

[BurglarsDog]

Perhpss I am as I am.

Knew somthnig was wrnog with the spellin but cuoldnt fgiure out what. Theer agian as long as the fiisrt and last lketter are corrcet the brain does the rset for you. Afterer all you dont raed evrey leter individually... or do yuo?

DogonGe!#:ok:

[Oh that's super!]

BurglersDog, not quite, regarding the easyJet luggage issues.

EasyJet hand luggage does not have a weight limit (unless they changed it recently), only size limit. EasyJet check-in luggage charges are charged by piece to the combined weight of 20kg (and the maximum number of pieces you can check in is eight) - after that, you pay per kg.

Only posting this because some people get caught out by the 'combined weight of 20kg' - many don't seem to realise this!

Signed: Pedantic one (and I don't work for easyJet - I merely travelled on them recently and tried not to get stung excess baggage charges)

[BurglarsDog]

OTS
Good point , well made,
I was only being generic And simplisticaly comparative.
But appreciate that some may take info here as the gospel and plan on it.

DogGone:O

[aulglarse]

If some ppruners get off by a spelling mistake like 'Quantas'-try typing this in search when you next visit ebay. Disgraceful indeed!:ugh::ugh:
Contact the seller and vent yourselves. ratsteJ anyone?:D

[Oh that's super!]

I was only being generic And simplisticaly comparative.
But appreciate that some may take info here as the gospel and plan on it.

Yeah I thought that you were using the figures figuratively (so to speak). Just that some punters (and others) seem to take what they read on PPRuNe too literally:} as you said.

[rick.shaw]

To reinforce a couple of points from above.

They must have a legal responsibility, surely, to ensure that the passenger standard weights take into account the probable increased amount of cabin luggage..

And I agree that it will be the poor cabin crew that will bear the brunt of this policy in dealing with f-wit passengers who try to sneak as much on as possible. Airline ground staff hate saying 'no' to passengers. Not entirely their fault as much pressure is brought to bear on them from higher levels to avoid pissing off passengers.

I take it the norm would be to audit on an occasional basis the actual weights of passengers and their carry on baggage to ensure that the standard weights used by an airline reflect reality. Will they introduce a special audit with such a major change in policy?

CASA would be remiss not to demand this of them as part of their monitoring responsibilities.

[alangirvan]

I think the worry would be dimensions rather than weight. I rang J* last week, and the (Asian) agent could only tell me the dimensions of a 7kg bag - old standard. I think a 10kg bag is the one that a lot of people have with wheels, and many people already use this as a piece of checked baggage.

The Overhead lockers are certified to carry the weight of several 10kg bags - and it is hardly the lockers fault if they do not survive when the aircraft if flown into the ground (CFIT).

Dimensions can be monitored at the departure gate