Plane Torture, say Passengers (Jetstar)
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Plane Torture, say Passengers (Jetstar)
e-travel blackboard
Plane Torture, say Passengers
Mon 31 January 2005
A young Melbourne family endured a late-night "torture" flight from the Gold Coast of lengthy delays, a plane change and a
detour to Brisbane.
Belinda Jones, her three children and other family and friends were among more more than 100 passengers on the Jetstar flight, which finally touched down at Tullamarine at 3.30am.
The six-hour nightmare was a bitter end to a dream holiday for the Craigieburn family.
Ms Jones said passengers often were not told what was happening, , and were only offered a complimentary drink and food more than four hours into the ordeal.
It was especially hard for her children, Jesse, 6, Blake, 3, and Leah, 18 months, she said.
"It was like torture for my kids.
"I'll have to really consider it before I fly again. I just felt sick."
Also, relatives who drove to the airport to pick up the group panicked for hours when the plane failed to turn up.
Even hours after midnight, information screens in the terminal still showed the original 11.30pm arrival time.
Ms Jones's brother, Robert Borg, who was also aboard, said his family feared the worst.
"They thought we might have dropped off the radar," he said.
Family members called Gold Coast and Melbourne airports, Jetstar and Qantas, but no one could even tell them where the plane
was.
Mr Borg said passengers could not use their mobile phones to call Melbourne because they were still aboard.
The Jones family was so late, Year 1 pupil Jesse had to miss his first day back at school on Friday.
Jetstar corporate relations manager Simon Westaway said staff acted in passengers' best interests to get them home
"The priority was to get the passengers to their destination, albeit late, rather than them having to stay an extra night in
Coolangatta," Mr Westaway said.
"I apologise if people were not getting enough information about what was happening."
The airline would investigate this, he said.
The 8.30pm flight was delayed by 35 minutes, but then returned because of a jet fault.
By 11pm, passengers were moved to another plane, going to Brisbane.
The plane later sat on the tarmac at Brisbane for almost an hour, waiting for fuel, then took off at 12.30am local time.
Mr Westaway said mechanical problems with the original plane meant it had to return to the Gold Coast. Airline staff then had
to seek approval from airport management to take off after the 11pm curfew.
Local refuellers had already left for the night, so a flight to Brisbane was the best option to get enough fuel to fly to
Melbourne, he said.
Mr Borg said he expected to get home at a reasonable hour.
"I do expect the airline to show some compassion for family waiting without word, and I expect to be reimbursed for a flight gone totally wrong," he said.
"Jetstar has its 30-minute policy, and you stand to forfeit your flight (if not there 20 minutes before departure)," Mr Borg said.
"But what happens when you lose a day's work?"
However, Mr Westaway said that Jetstar had recorded the best on-time performance of any Australian airline in six of the past seven months.
============================================
Plane Torture, say Passengers
Mon 31 January 2005
A young Melbourne family endured a late-night "torture" flight from the Gold Coast of lengthy delays, a plane change and a
detour to Brisbane.
Belinda Jones, her three children and other family and friends were among more more than 100 passengers on the Jetstar flight, which finally touched down at Tullamarine at 3.30am.
The six-hour nightmare was a bitter end to a dream holiday for the Craigieburn family.
Ms Jones said passengers often were not told what was happening, , and were only offered a complimentary drink and food more than four hours into the ordeal.
It was especially hard for her children, Jesse, 6, Blake, 3, and Leah, 18 months, she said.
"It was like torture for my kids.
"I'll have to really consider it before I fly again. I just felt sick."
Also, relatives who drove to the airport to pick up the group panicked for hours when the plane failed to turn up.
Even hours after midnight, information screens in the terminal still showed the original 11.30pm arrival time.
Ms Jones's brother, Robert Borg, who was also aboard, said his family feared the worst.
"They thought we might have dropped off the radar," he said.
Family members called Gold Coast and Melbourne airports, Jetstar and Qantas, but no one could even tell them where the plane
was.
Mr Borg said passengers could not use their mobile phones to call Melbourne because they were still aboard.
The Jones family was so late, Year 1 pupil Jesse had to miss his first day back at school on Friday.
Jetstar corporate relations manager Simon Westaway said staff acted in passengers' best interests to get them home
"The priority was to get the passengers to their destination, albeit late, rather than them having to stay an extra night in
Coolangatta," Mr Westaway said.
"I apologise if people were not getting enough information about what was happening."
The airline would investigate this, he said.
The 8.30pm flight was delayed by 35 minutes, but then returned because of a jet fault.
By 11pm, passengers were moved to another plane, going to Brisbane.
The plane later sat on the tarmac at Brisbane for almost an hour, waiting for fuel, then took off at 12.30am local time.
Mr Westaway said mechanical problems with the original plane meant it had to return to the Gold Coast. Airline staff then had
to seek approval from airport management to take off after the 11pm curfew.
Local refuellers had already left for the night, so a flight to Brisbane was the best option to get enough fuel to fly to
Melbourne, he said.
Mr Borg said he expected to get home at a reasonable hour.
"I do expect the airline to show some compassion for family waiting without word, and I expect to be reimbursed for a flight gone totally wrong," he said.
"Jetstar has its 30-minute policy, and you stand to forfeit your flight (if not there 20 minutes before departure)," Mr Borg said.
"But what happens when you lose a day's work?"
However, Mr Westaway said that Jetstar had recorded the best on-time performance of any Australian airline in six of the past seven months.
============================================
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topzalp - Despite the fact that I consider the airline an airborne dilate and curette, they do appear to provide accommodation for passengers stranded by an unserviceability etc. the NTL incident is a case in point. Despite the fact they rolled the A320 without the SLF the next morning, they did at least accommodate them overnight.
The ones I worry about are the cabin crew. They have had the shallow end of the gene pool inflicted on them with the ultra cheap fares. It must make a day at work a complete nightmare.
I was told today that land values on HTI are going China Syndrome due to the type of passenger being flown in on cheapies.
Brave new world?
Best all
EWL
The ones I worry about are the cabin crew. They have had the shallow end of the gene pool inflicted on them with the ultra cheap fares. It must make a day at work a complete nightmare.
I was told today that land values on HTI are going China Syndrome due to the type of passenger being flown in on cheapies.
Brave new world?
Best all
EWL
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This is a single report from an unreliable source - namely an e blackboard where absolutely no filtering of the information occurs. It should not really be used as ammunition against an airline.
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Were they made to stand on a box on tip-toes with a cone-shaped hood and fake electrodes on their fingers while grunts took snaps?
No?
Then it wasn't torture..... They just had a bad day and a mate in the media.
In fact even the above electrode-scenario wasn't really torture. Read "Bravo 2 0 " for a better idea of the definition.
And eel, don't you even start....
No?
Then it wasn't torture..... They just had a bad day and a mate in the media.
In fact even the above electrode-scenario wasn't really torture. Read "Bravo 2 0 " for a better idea of the definition.
And eel, don't you even start....
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Come on...as someone said, you get what you pay for.
People use to say Virgin were the guys who didnt get into Qantas. Well these are the guys who couldn't get into anyone !!! (Implulse).
The whole outfit from the day go has been measured as the GA airline who you dont want to be compared to. I would say this whole amature(ish) mob is on the comparison to the Greyhound bus service. Except most of the staff in greyhound have probably had more than two weeks in the transport industry.
A shonky company providing shonky service.... what a disgrace in what use to be a truely first class industry !!!!!
People use to say Virgin were the guys who didnt get into Qantas. Well these are the guys who couldn't get into anyone !!! (Implulse).
The whole outfit from the day go has been measured as the GA airline who you dont want to be compared to. I would say this whole amature(ish) mob is on the comparison to the Greyhound bus service. Except most of the staff in greyhound have probably had more than two weeks in the transport industry.
A shonky company providing shonky service.... what a disgrace in what use to be a truely first class industry !!!!!
Last edited by PureRisk; 2nd Feb 2005 at 02:51.
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Don't it make you feel good to know that big Trevor is there to fix the whole shebang though? 
Pure Risk, you can't blame the pilots with this one though. Yes, they are a disgrace and have been rejected by everyone else, but in this case it wasn't their fault.
Pure Risk, you can't blame the pilots with this one though. Yes, they are a disgrace and have been rejected by everyone else, but in this case it wasn't their fault.
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Yes, they are a disgrace and have been rejected by everyone else, but in this case it wasn't their fault.
what use to be a truely first class industry
a shonky company
Last edited by Lodown; 1st Feb 2005 at 18:16.
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When I was reading the headline I was half expecting to read an account similar to that of ...
"one of the engines exploded in mid flight causing the plane to enter into an inverted spin. We all thought we were going to die but the pilot managed to recover just a few feet above the trees. Unfortunately things got worse when we got to our destination, there was another plane was on the runway. The pilot conducted an emergency procedure by putting the remaining engine on full, the plane went up rather steeply and I was thinking 'this is it, we're all going to die!'. Thankfully the pilot managed to land the plane and things were OK, apart from the fact that the plane looks a bit second hand. The thing that really got up my nose however was the fact that we were'nt told what was happening."
"one of the engines exploded in mid flight causing the plane to enter into an inverted spin. We all thought we were going to die but the pilot managed to recover just a few feet above the trees. Unfortunately things got worse when we got to our destination, there was another plane was on the runway. The pilot conducted an emergency procedure by putting the remaining engine on full, the plane went up rather steeply and I was thinking 'this is it, we're all going to die!'. Thankfully the pilot managed to land the plane and things were OK, apart from the fact that the plane looks a bit second hand. The thing that really got up my nose however was the fact that we were'nt told what was happening."
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PureRisk it may be appropriate to refrain from denigrating a group of professional pilots about whom you obviously know nothing.
Most of us didn't fail spelling at school either!
Schnauzer , you too!
Most of us didn't fail spelling at school either!
Schnauzer , you too!
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"I do expect the airline to show some compassion for family waiting without word, and I expect to be reimbursed for a flight gone totally wrong," he said.
It's amazing the number of times that inconveniences can be equated to COMPENSATION. I thought that I left that behind in PNG!!
Mechanical things fail... workers go home after their regular shift if there's no work... the law precludes departures during certain hours. I don't know the Jetstar operation but it would appear from what is on this thread that they did a reasonable job - except for the communication with passengers. Notice that I said "from what is on this thread"!!
Been there and done that.
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Ahhh jeez. I was just having a bit 'o fun, Jan. Don't get your undies all twisted about.
But there are are remarkable number there who failed the testing! Lookout in the bunker! Incoming!
But there are are remarkable number there who failed the testing! Lookout in the bunker! Incoming!