JQ Bali turnaround 'unsafe'
 

I flew JQ38 from Bali Friday 25 June (delayed until 4.20am Sat 26 June). The crew had been on duty since 4.50pm (Melbourne) and the flight arrived 11am (Sydney). With a direct turnaround the cabin crew worked 18+ hours on this pair.

As a passenger I feel the fatigue level of the cabin crew is too high - if we had an emergency at the end, how would they respond?

I note that the flight crew (pilots) do disembark and stay in Bali. But the cabin crew should not be expected to work this way, on an A330 which does not have the same crew rest facilities as a 747 or A380.

Jetstar should let the crew stay in Bali, or fly a second crew while the first crew deadhead back to Sydney/Melb.

Thank you!
 

Julius G,

Thank you for recognising that Cabin Crew ARE HUMAN. 18+ hours is an awful long time to be on duty without proper rest. Undoubtly if an emergency occured on the return sector the Cabin Crew would not be able to perform to 100% of their ability.

Please put your concerns in writing to CASA (www.casa.gov.au) and Bruce Buchannan at Jetstar.

Once again thank you for your concern and insight.

I have just filed a REPCON, and will write to Jetstar.

And you really think that JetStar will care?

All that will happen is the bosses will ask, 'Did they get back OK?" not give a damn they are tired as hell and service was effected and not alert, then they will find some way to may 18hr days the norm. Maybe they can be the same as pilots now and pay to work there.

Nice touch to email them though, I fear it will back fire with JQ Management. :ugh:

Very nice of you to show some concern.

Unfortunately working conditions in the Qantas Group for cabin crew have "changed" over the years and now show a remarkable similarity to those endured by workers in the late 1800s during the UKs Industrial Revolution.

Airlines and their bosses have become our time's equivalent of the "cotton mills" run by the robber barons/industrialists of that era. Maximum hours, minimum pay/conditions coupled without even a pretence of concern for the welfare of the individual.

As cabin crew we're not even permitted to be issued with the woollen uniform component for those long night sectors as it is deemed too "dowdy". This, despite the fact that it is available to and worn by, our ground staff. :yuk:

The head of Cabin Services is reputedly on record being heard describing her business model as, "get them young and burn them out".

Sadly no one cares, much less the Australian regulator.

QF cabin crew can now operate [without a choice] to 20 hours in unplanned circumstances. JQ will probably be worse.

Any query to management about the morality of such issues is met with the following reply.

"It's legal".

I guess they will care if you email these two :E

Contact form for Today Tonight on Yahoo!7

A Current Affair > Feedback

I am afraid that CASA must bear the brunt for these practices. I have been constantly suprised since returning to Oz from the UK at just how useless the flight time limitations here are. I am afraid if it is legal then ALL airlines will work crews to the limits. It is up to the individual crew members to report 'sick' due to fatigue if it is too much for them. Unfortuantly a couple of pax commenting that the crew must be really tired isn't going to make any difference.:confused:

Trust me when I say that Jetstar will NEVER out of the goodness of thier hearts decide to nightstop crew when legally they can operate both sectors. I am sure on this occassion the flight crew probably were limited by something in the EBA which doesn't cover cabin crew.

Not correct. CASA do intend to introduce F&D type limits for cabin crew.

When, though is another matter.

Which is the point everyone is trying to make.

Industrial agreements [negotiated at the barrel of a gun] deem that these types of inhumane and unsafe flight duties are legal.

As I said before.

QF's response.

"It's legal".

QF has duty limits much higher than I had thought, I withdraw my previous comment. The Company I work at has duty limits much much lower than this.

QF cabin crew may be able to do 20 hours BUT they have suitable HORIZONTAL inflight rest facilities. JQ have a pathetic seat in economy which cannot even be compared to QF.

Don't bother contacting Today Tonight as their morning show is sponsored by Sh*tstar. Channel Seven very rarely if ever, have anything negative to air about them.
When people get killed, that's when.

Yes but only on the 744 and A380.

Not so on the A332/3 or 767.

The fact that Jetstar management can't even provide a Y/C seat for their cabin crew is nothing short of disgusting.

:ugh:THIS IS HOW THEY IMPROOVE THEIR BOTTOM LINE WORK THE A OF THE EQUIPMENT AND THE CREW REPLACE THEM AFTER THEIR WORN OUT THE GO AT IT NEW PLANE NEW CREWS AROUND IT GOES WHEN IT ALL GOES A UP EMPLOY DE SPIN DOCTOR

Didn't she just have to reapply for her job after being made redundant along with the other "customer service" management?

.........must have hurt that kick up the bum!

Didn't Ansett cabincrew do a DPS rtn exMEL? How many duty hours was that pattern?

Flightcrew also did MEL-DPS-MEL return on Ansett - having said that, that was normally their entire weeks work too !

Ansett also carried 3 pilots and had a curtained off rest area in J class for them. As for us in the cabin, we had 4 curtained off seats in Economy. Still a tiring duty nonetheless. :zzz:

That brings to mind the infamous quote from George Orwell:

"What can be done about a lunatic who makes out they are more intelligent than yourself, gives your arguments a duplicitous hearing and then simply persists in his lunacy"! :cool:

Mate of mine and family were booked on JQ4 Thursday to Hawaii and just got a call from JQ the A330 is broken ( 2 days in advance ) and there are no seats. " we will give you a refund " that will help the holiday plans ? JQ were trying to get QF B767 to pick up the pieces for school holidays.
Hawaiian Airlines stepped in today and saved the pax all be it at a repurchase of tickets at higher price. JQ did not want to know anyone after the cancellation.
JetStar should give it away happens every school holidays, paint the JQ tails red and give the experienced airline (QF) the reins.:eek: