Jetstar does it again!
Thread Starter
Jetstar does it again!
Once again, customer service and customer care appear to go out the window. Even if this story is half true, I am sure that any of Australia's state-run railways or buses could have done better than Jetstar - and that is saying something!
What an appalling rabble is this mob? Don't worry about the customer is the motto as we must look after ourselves is the message from their spin-doctor.
What an appalling rabble is this mob? Don't worry about the customer is the motto as we must look after ourselves is the message from their spin-doctor.
Passengers on eight-hour SYD-MEL flight left waiting again
Article from:
Patrick Horan
June 18, 2009 10:09am
YESTERDAY, it took them eight hours to fly to Melbourne from Sydney ... and this morning, the travel nightmare continued.
After their bizarre diversion to Brisbane yesterday, around a dozen passengers were again left waiting for a seat to return to Sydney this morning.
Booked on a 6.10am flight from Avalon - scheduled to arrive in Sydney at 7.30am - Jeffrey Waters is still in Melbourne and is unlikely to see Sydney before noon.
"I've had quite an eventful trip," Mr Waters said this morning.
Mr Waters said passengers were boarded onto this morning's flight at Avalon before being told to disembark due to foggy conditions.
After being left in a lounge for an estimated 45 minutes, passengers were informed the flight had been cancelled and they would be bussed to Tullamarine.
"We were told we were booked on a Qantas flight to Sydney at 9.30am," Mr Waters said.
"I went to ask at the desk and they said 'we know nothing about you'."
Eventually, Mr Waters was booked onto a 10.30am flight to Sydney, with an estimated arrival time close to noon, more than four hours after his scheduled arrival time.
He said there was around a dozen "familiar faces" in a similar predicament, who had also spent eight hours getting from Sydney to Melbourne for last night's Australia v Japan match at the MCG.
"I came down for the game, I might think twice about coming down again," he said.
"I just hope there was no FIFA officials on the flight."
Yesterday's routine Sydney to Melbourne flight turned into an eight-hour, 3700km journey for about 130 Jetstar passengers.
Avalon bound flight JQ603 was due to arrive in Melbourne about 8.30am yesterday, but because of heavy fog the plane was diverted 1400km north to Brisbane.
It arrived there at 11.15am and did not depart until 1.15pm, finally reaching Avalon at 3.30pm.
All but 18 of the passengers, many travelling south to watch tonight's Socceroos match, had to sit in the A320 Airbus for more than eight hours.
Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said thick fog meant the pilot could not land at Tullamarine or Avalon, and after circling for an hour the aircraft was ordered to Brisbane.
"It's quite unprecedented circumstances where both airports were fogged out," Mr Westaway said.
He said the decision to fly to Brisbane was to try to get that aircraft back on track, as it was scheduled to fly to Brisbane after its planned Melbourne landing.
"It was going to go Sydney-Avalon then Avalon-Brisbane.
"So what we've done is isolated the issue on to the one aircraft line."
Sydney couple Maureen and John Hildred, on their way to watch the World Cup match at the MCG, said passengers were grumbling when they were told they would be heading to Brisbane, and then were not allowed off the plane.
"We could have flown to Singapore in the same amount of time," Ms Hildred said. "And we were only given a roll and drink as compensation."
Ian Donaghy and his father Keith were also headed to the match.
Mr Donaghy said they were not happy, but were just glad to have arrived.
"It would have been quicker to drive," Mr Donaghy said.
About 18 passengers are believed to have disembarked in Brisbane after its arrival there at 11.15am and caught flights back to Sydney, abandoning their Melbourne trips.
Article from:
Patrick Horan
June 18, 2009 10:09am
YESTERDAY, it took them eight hours to fly to Melbourne from Sydney ... and this morning, the travel nightmare continued.
After their bizarre diversion to Brisbane yesterday, around a dozen passengers were again left waiting for a seat to return to Sydney this morning.
Booked on a 6.10am flight from Avalon - scheduled to arrive in Sydney at 7.30am - Jeffrey Waters is still in Melbourne and is unlikely to see Sydney before noon.
"I've had quite an eventful trip," Mr Waters said this morning.
Mr Waters said passengers were boarded onto this morning's flight at Avalon before being told to disembark due to foggy conditions.
After being left in a lounge for an estimated 45 minutes, passengers were informed the flight had been cancelled and they would be bussed to Tullamarine.
"We were told we were booked on a Qantas flight to Sydney at 9.30am," Mr Waters said.
"I went to ask at the desk and they said 'we know nothing about you'."
Eventually, Mr Waters was booked onto a 10.30am flight to Sydney, with an estimated arrival time close to noon, more than four hours after his scheduled arrival time.
He said there was around a dozen "familiar faces" in a similar predicament, who had also spent eight hours getting from Sydney to Melbourne for last night's Australia v Japan match at the MCG.
"I came down for the game, I might think twice about coming down again," he said.
"I just hope there was no FIFA officials on the flight."
Yesterday's routine Sydney to Melbourne flight turned into an eight-hour, 3700km journey for about 130 Jetstar passengers.
Avalon bound flight JQ603 was due to arrive in Melbourne about 8.30am yesterday, but because of heavy fog the plane was diverted 1400km north to Brisbane.
It arrived there at 11.15am and did not depart until 1.15pm, finally reaching Avalon at 3.30pm.
All but 18 of the passengers, many travelling south to watch tonight's Socceroos match, had to sit in the A320 Airbus for more than eight hours.
Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said thick fog meant the pilot could not land at Tullamarine or Avalon, and after circling for an hour the aircraft was ordered to Brisbane.
"It's quite unprecedented circumstances where both airports were fogged out," Mr Westaway said.
He said the decision to fly to Brisbane was to try to get that aircraft back on track, as it was scheduled to fly to Brisbane after its planned Melbourne landing.
"It was going to go Sydney-Avalon then Avalon-Brisbane.
"So what we've done is isolated the issue on to the one aircraft line."
Sydney couple Maureen and John Hildred, on their way to watch the World Cup match at the MCG, said passengers were grumbling when they were told they would be heading to Brisbane, and then were not allowed off the plane.
"We could have flown to Singapore in the same amount of time," Ms Hildred said. "And we were only given a roll and drink as compensation."
Ian Donaghy and his father Keith were also headed to the match.
Mr Donaghy said they were not happy, but were just glad to have arrived.
"It would have been quicker to drive," Mr Donaghy said.
About 18 passengers are believed to have disembarked in Brisbane after its arrival there at 11.15am and caught flights back to Sydney, abandoning their Melbourne trips.
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Australia
Posts: 2,382
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ultra LCC's: You get what you pay for. People want fares at these levels then the money has to come from somewhere.
It might be high time to get some CAT 3 a/b/c for cities like Sydney and Melbourne or are we going to continue with ndb's and cat 1 ils'. Yes I know its in the pipeline but geez its nearly 2010 you know!
It might be high time to get some CAT 3 a/b/c for cities like Sydney and Melbourne or are we going to continue with ndb's and cat 1 ils'. Yes I know its in the pipeline but geez its nearly 2010 you know!
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Oz
Posts: 469
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Apparently fog only affects Jetstar!
Fog would never upset the operations of those paragons of aviation excellence at Tiger, QANTAS or Virgin now would it.
I realise Jetstar is a soft target because it is so different to what some have been used to, Golden Whingers Clubs and the like, but the world has ( and continues to) change since the cosy 2 Airline Policy was abandoned nearly 20 years ago.
Everyone thinks they can run an airline better than those actually doing so apparently.
Whilst one regrets the inconvenience passengers sometimes experience, the alternative to diverting because of in this case, fog, is to continue the approach and potentially splatter everybody across the landscape. That's a really good alternative, yes!
tipsy
Fog would never upset the operations of those paragons of aviation excellence at Tiger, QANTAS or Virgin now would it.
I realise Jetstar is a soft target because it is so different to what some have been used to, Golden Whingers Clubs and the like, but the world has ( and continues to) change since the cosy 2 Airline Policy was abandoned nearly 20 years ago.
Everyone thinks they can run an airline better than those actually doing so apparently.
Whilst one regrets the inconvenience passengers sometimes experience, the alternative to diverting because of in this case, fog, is to continue the approach and potentially splatter everybody across the landscape. That's a really good alternative, yes!
tipsy
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Auztraya
Posts: 121
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Whats the problem !
Ken ....are you a pilot.?... are you CC.?.... are you Ops?.
Do have anything to do with the aviation industry at all ?.
AV fogged in and Mr Waters arrived in SYD 4 hours late after being bused to Tulla and put on Qantas !.
I would say thats a reasonable recovery program and they deserve a pat on the back.
Just lucky (or unlucky ) Tulla wasn't fogged in as well then Patric Horan could have written about everyone there being put out , at the fault of all the airlines no less.
I wounder if Tulla had of been fogged in and AV was clear if a story titled
"Jetstar Saved The Day " would have appeared as everyone was bused from fog sticken Tulla to AV.
Must have been a slow news day for the Herald.
I suggest to you Ken if you never want to have your air travel disrupted by Fog ,then you should catch the bus or train .
Do have anything to do with the aviation industry at all ?.
AV fogged in and Mr Waters arrived in SYD 4 hours late after being bused to Tulla and put on Qantas !.
I would say thats a reasonable recovery program and they deserve a pat on the back.
Just lucky (or unlucky ) Tulla wasn't fogged in as well then Patric Horan could have written about everyone there being put out , at the fault of all the airlines no less.
I wounder if Tulla had of been fogged in and AV was clear if a story titled
"Jetstar Saved The Day " would have appeared as everyone was bused from fog sticken Tulla to AV.
Must have been a slow news day for the Herald.
I suggest to you Ken if you never want to have your air travel disrupted by Fog ,then you should catch the bus or train .
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,188
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Whilst one regrets the inconvenience passengers sometimes experience, the alternative to diverting because of in this case, fog, is to continue the approach and potentially splatter everybody across the landscape. That's a really good alternative, yes!
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,188
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Just lucky (or unlucky ) Tulla wasn't fogged in as well then Patric Horan could have written about everyone there being put out , at the fault of all the airlines no less.
"It's quite unprecedented circumstances where both airports were fogged out," Mr Westaway said.
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Australia
Posts: 185
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
New Inflight service to serve. Cans of Toughen The F*** Up
What a sook!
Makes perfect sense to me bus people to Tulla.
Makes perfect sense to me that if ML and SY are both foggy that they go to AD or CB or BN. and given that the aircraft had to end up BN you only have 2flights disrupted and not several!
They should make a training DVD to show passengers just what goes on behind the scenes of an airline. They shouldn't be allowed to board an aircraft untill they have watched it !
Makes perfect sense to me bus people to Tulla.
Makes perfect sense to me that if ML and SY are both foggy that they go to AD or CB or BN. and given that the aircraft had to end up BN you only have 2flights disrupted and not several!
They should make a training DVD to show passengers just what goes on behind the scenes of an airline. They shouldn't be allowed to board an aircraft untill they have watched it !
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Lord Howe
Age: 44
Posts: 193
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hell what is JS meant to do , it's called FOG. Bloodly pax get a life. Would be nice to have CAT 2 at SY, ML, BN , CB., but its all about cost.
Cat 1 is 800m in AUS.
Cat 1 is 800m in AUS.
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Posts: 86
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I don't think fog is the issue, its the fact customer service telling you you're on an alternative flight and they have fixed everything for you when infact they haven't
Fritz, thats due to the low ticket cost as well.
If we didn't pay these front line staff the minimum wage working crap rosters with not enough colleagues to get the job done properly, then they would offer better customer service.It's human nature. But we don't, because the dollar wins out and the LCC model works. Simple.
If we didn't pay these front line staff the minimum wage working crap rosters with not enough colleagues to get the job done properly, then they would offer better customer service.It's human nature. But we don't, because the dollar wins out and the LCC model works. Simple.
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Australia
Posts: 39
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
So you got Qantas (under staffed) who are dealing with their own pax's, (who are the premium customer) and then all these extra pax's appear, already p****d off from an airline that is slowly taking away your conditions of service then finally your job and people wonder why customer service is crap!
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 1,188
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Your spot on Tassie Devil.
I believe the new check-in system would automatically be offloading lower yield, lower priority, non premium customers to later flights whilst looking after the higher yield, higher priority passengers first.
Does Mr Waters really believe he could bump a full fare passenger with a different airline with his $69 J* fare.
I believe the new check-in system would automatically be offloading lower yield, lower priority, non premium customers to later flights whilst looking after the higher yield, higher priority passengers first.
Does Mr Waters really believe he could bump a full fare passenger with a different airline with his $69 J* fare.
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Australia
Posts: 2,382
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Reality check.
Cat 1 rvr 550m / 800m
Cat 2 rvr 350m
Cat 3a rvr 200m
Cat 3b rvr 50m
And yes what Airline you fly can make a difference. Some of the QF aircraft (73-800) with HUD's are on the aerobridge/bay reading the fin review whilst others are in a holding pattern or diverting.
As for passenger experience then if you buy a 5 dollar ticket with tiger/airasia/jetstar and expect things to go smoothly 100% of the time then you are living in a very strange reality. You get what you pay for and that can include better equipment up front.
Bit tired of hearing excuses about the cost of a decent ils at either one of the main international airports in Australia. Are we in Africa here?
Cat 2 rvr 350m
Cat 3a rvr 200m
Cat 3b rvr 50m
And yes what Airline you fly can make a difference. Some of the QF aircraft (73-800) with HUD's are on the aerobridge/bay reading the fin review whilst others are in a holding pattern or diverting.
As for passenger experience then if you buy a 5 dollar ticket with tiger/airasia/jetstar and expect things to go smoothly 100% of the time then you are living in a very strange reality. You get what you pay for and that can include better equipment up front.
Bit tired of hearing excuses about the cost of a decent ils at either one of the main international airports in Australia. Are we in Africa here?
Last edited by Mr. Hat; 18th Jun 2009 at 05:59.
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: The Land Downunder
Posts: 765
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
As someone who has just converted to an OZ ATPL I must admit more than a bit of shock when I discovered that there are no CAT III approaches in Oz. This really is a 3rd world situation. Even most airports in Eastern Europe that I have visited have atleast a CAT II. In this day and age to have severe delays due to fog with a RVR greater than 300m is a disgrace
I think the issue is more the amount of money spent for the amount of used it would get. How many days a year would SY BN and ML get fogged and closed to all departures and arrivals. I think you would have a hard time justifying a Cat 3 in BN and SY for maybe 1-2 days a year. ML will have a CAT III running one day but will the domestic operators be prepared to pay for the extra training and recurrency? I agree that for such international airports they should have CAT III but who is willing to spend the money?
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Somewhere over the rainbow
Posts: 234
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I am fully aware of the effects of fog, but the part I don't really like very much is the fact that the flight the day before left SYDNEY for MELBOURNE when Melbourne was fogged in with only one hour's hold fuel before diverting to BRISBANE. Why would you depart Sydney with Avalon fogged in with no prospect of improving?
The decision was because that was where the flight was next operating to.
When you have a passenger load, your responsibility is to those passengers and how they can be best accomodated in terms of future flights... to fly them to Brisbane instead of Hobart, Launny, Adelaide or Sydney where they would have had a faster turn around and return flight in order to keep the next flight on track is very strange. Even stranger is only having an hour's hold before having to divert in the domestic environment... this isn't longhaul flying.
As to CAT III... it has been promised for Melbourne for this winter, and as you can see the works have certainly been commenced... new stop bars, holding points, and the new ILS a year or so ago. The AIP now includes the Low Vis information, so it is clearly coming... just have to wait and see how long.
It is the airport operator's responsibility to provide these services, and as part of operating an airport they should be required to provide those approaches, especially MEL and SYD.
The decision was because that was where the flight was next operating to.
When you have a passenger load, your responsibility is to those passengers and how they can be best accomodated in terms of future flights... to fly them to Brisbane instead of Hobart, Launny, Adelaide or Sydney where they would have had a faster turn around and return flight in order to keep the next flight on track is very strange. Even stranger is only having an hour's hold before having to divert in the domestic environment... this isn't longhaul flying.
As to CAT III... it has been promised for Melbourne for this winter, and as you can see the works have certainly been commenced... new stop bars, holding points, and the new ILS a year or so ago. The AIP now includes the Low Vis information, so it is clearly coming... just have to wait and see how long.
It is the airport operator's responsibility to provide these services, and as part of operating an airport they should be required to provide those approaches, especially MEL and SYD.