Another pathetic News Article

[Greg F]

Jetstar blamed for missed reunion with dad

9:59a.m. 9 April 2008

Never again. That’s how Trish Henderson feels about booking a flight with Jetstar after a few minutes standing in a queue prevented her from being reunited with her father for the first time in 20 years.

Trish is still seething after being told her $270 return ticket from Maroochydore to Melbourne was worthless when she reached the front of the line on Friday night.

Her family had been planning the reunion since December and she had been looking forward to seeing her father and meeting her half sisters for months.

The Buderim woman said she arrived at the terminal at 5.55pm for the 6.45pm flight and joined the sole Jetstar queue just before 6.10pm.

“There were two people behind the Jetstar desk but only one check-in counter was open and about six people in line,” Trish said.

Trish said that after waiting their turn: “I gave (the ticket counter staff) my ticket and he said, ‘This ticket is no good – you’re four minutes late’.

“I could understand if I had got there late but not when I had been standing in line.

“After the way I was treated I’m never flying with them again, that’s for sure.”

Jetstar said its policy was that passengers must check in 30 minutes before departure. It said Trish had had even more leeway than usual because the flight was unexpectedly delayed.

Airline spokeswoman Simone Pregellio said the check-in was left open for an extra 15 minutes and staff made an announcement to passengers and combed the queue for anyone still waiting to check in before closing the flight.

Ms Pregellio said she understood Ms Henderson arrived 15 minutes prior to the scheduled time of departure, and by then the flight had closed, paperwork was completed and staff were preparing to board passengers.

“Our check-in staff, whilst sympathetic to Ms Henderson’s situation, were unable to assist her to meet this flight due to her very late arrival,” Ms Pregellio said

The Media in Australia Really do make me wonder!:confused::confused::confused:
Maybe the woman should use the Web-Check its so easy! And maybe get there on time, Some people are just lazy just rock on up to the desk when they feel.
I fly JQ all the time! They call people up when there is large queues.

[Sarah C]

Its Jetstar - they make news for everything. The media just love reporting any bad stories about them but no positive ones make the news.

If the same thing happened on DJ it wouldn't make news

[Greg F]

I know that is so dodgy, the media are so anti JQ.....
But come on its almost to the standard of.......

'Oh No Old Lady Missed the Bus This Morning'
Bus Operator should be ashamed for being on time!

[Paul Waters]

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Maybe we should also have the headlines "Person from YSSY Board finds article they don't like".

As much as we don't like the media, the continual media bashing on this board seems to go on and on and on like a bad record.

Paul

[Marty H]

Its Jetstar - they make news for everything. The media just love reporting any bad stories about them but no positive ones make the news.

If the same thing happened on DJ it wouldn't make news

What makes you come to that conclusion? Think before you type Sarah

[Greg McDonald]

Its Jetstar - they make news for everything. The media just love reporting any bad stories about them but no positive ones make the news.

If the same thing happened on DJ it wouldn't make news

There are 2 factions on this board as there was on the old one. One is pro QANTAS/Jetstar, the other is pro DJ. Three guesses which one Sarah belongs to (and always has):D

I personally don't like Jetstar for a number of reasons (now I've declared my faction!!) but in this case I can't see that they've done anything wrong at all. Those that know the Maroochy airport and area will know that it's not normally a congested traffic area and therefore there is really no excuse for personal tardiness. I know a number of people that have been denied access to flights because they were late for booking in when they have all known Jetstars rules. It's REALLY simple folks...allow a decent amount of time to get to the airport.

[Daniel M]

Its Jetstar - they make news for everything. The media just love reporting any bad stories about them but no positive ones make the news.

If the same thing happened on DJ it wouldn't make news


The same thing wouldn't happen at DJ Sarah, because DJ don't have ridiculous no-leeway cutoff times for their flights. Their flgihts close at 20 minutes before departure and even still, we are often accepting Last Minute Customer's.

It's a ridiculous policy, but obviously Jetstar think its fine as its something they haven't budged on since day 1.

[Liz E]

And then there is another faction known as the pragmatists who fully understand that the media publish stories that will be read, raise hackles, controversy and even sometimes debated in forums.

The legitimacy of the actions of the parties involved in the story has no bearing on the decision to air the report. The primary goal is to get the greatest number of people to view the advertising. A very simple and incredibly successful concept.

[Robert Zweck]

You could use airport security footage to verify the pax story.

[Andrew M]

I would change the title of this thread to "Another pathetic customer, who expects the world for a $270 return ticket arrives late at the check-in and wonders why they missed their flight"

:):D

So we will assume the article is correct, she arrived somewhere between 15-35mins before the flight was meant to depart ?

The customer only has themself to blame

Simple as that

Seeing at the customer will never fly JQ again they will proabably never fly again, as its these type of people who purchase the cheapest fares possible, arrive late to the airport and then whinge to the media about it.

[Nigel C]

There are 2 factions on this board as there was on the old one. One is pro QANTAS/Jetstar, the other is pro DJ.


Then there's those of us who really couldn't give a toss, buy whatever is the cheapest of most convenient ticket, and abide by its terms and conditions at the time of purchase.
We're the ones who turn up with ample time spare, are more interested in just getting to our destination than critiquing the aircraft/airline/service provided, and are just happy when we arrive in one piece. We aren't really interested in comparing full/partial/low service airlines because we understand the simple principle of you get what you pay for.

[Andrew M]

Then there's those of us who really couldn't give a toss, buy whatever is the cheapest of most convenient ticket, and abide by its terms and conditions at the time of purchase.
We're the ones who turn up with ample time spare, are more interested in just getting to our destination than critiquing the aircraft/airline/service provided, and are just happy when we arrive in one piece. We aren't really interested in comparing full/partial/low service airlines because we understand the simple principle of you get what you pay for.

That is me :D

[Rhys Xanthis]

what did she expect getting into the queoe at 6:05pm? You need ample time! And what time was scheduled departure then if she was given more leeway?

I agree with Nigel here.

[Adrian B]

OK here is my 2 cents wort, and a solution (havent seen any of those around....)

I understand the reasons for, and agree with the principal of closing a flight 30 mins before departure. I also understand that people need to take some responsibility for their own actions, and get in early.

That said I here that there are instances where people have been in line for 'some time' and waited to be served, only to miss out because the service desk has been busy.

Here is the solution. 1 queue per flight. at 35 minutes, close the queue, not the service desk. It is up to the service desks to ensure that any pax who is in the queue prior to closure is checked in. If there are multiple desks, they should help to clear the queue for the next departing flight. In Sydney, I saw an Avalon queue with 10 ppl, and a Brisbane(?) queue with no one, yet the service desk did not take pax from that queue. I made a comment and the agent walked away.

However

If you arrive late, and you do not acknowlege calls from the check in team when your flight is called, then it is your own problem and not that of the airline.

There are times when people need to stop whinging and accept that they did the wrong thing, however the airlines should also be fair, firm but fair.

[Greg F]

The same thing wouldn't happen at DJ Sarah, because DJ don't have ridiculous no-leeway cutoff times for their flights. Their flgihts close at 20 minutes before departure and even still, we are often accepting Last Minute Customer's.

It's a ridiculous policy, but obviously Jetstar think its fine as its something they haven't budged on since day 1.

Hmmm... Maybe thats the reason DJ has such high operating costs....

The Late $50 passenger isn't worth waiting for in the eyes of a LCC....


And anyway DJ aren't a LCC anymore, they really don't try to be the cheapest anymore, they run a good business however with loyal customers.

[NickN]

No matter what the lady turned up far too late. If she was that keen to meet her dad after 20 years and her half sisters she should have done the sensible thing and turned up well in advance.

15 mins prior to the scheduled departure is asking for disaster.

[Mick F]

Where does it say she turned up 15mins prior to departure??

In the article it says she arrived at the terminal at 1755 for an 1845 flight (50mins prior), then joined the Jetstar queue at 1810. My maths makes that 35mins prior to departure.

Floody

[Matthew Hogg]

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Maybe we should also have the headlines "Person from YSSY Board finds article they don't like".

As much as we don't like the media, the continual media bashing on this board seems to go on and on and on like a bad record.

Paul

Haha sounds to me to me this is a case of:

"Paul Walters, National Nine News."

You arent a journo by any chance are you Paul?

[Marty H]

Hmmm... Maybe thats the reason DJ has such high operating costs....

The Late $50 passenger isn't worth waiting for in the eyes of a LCC....


And anyway DJ aren't a LCC anymore, they really don't try to be the cheapest anymore, they run a good business however with loyal customers.

How did you come to that conclusion?

[Paul Waters]

Might help if you get my name right first Matthew.

I'm actually a pilot, however I have noticed over the several years that I have been looking at this board, that all you all do is bag the media out for their reports.

They're not going to change their techniques, so I suggest you all just get over it.

Paul

[Radi K]

no press is bad press ..

just look at the share price :p

[Jason Carruthers]

She arrived at the terminal at 1755 for an 1845 flight then joined the Jetstar queue at 1810.
Floody

Hmmm I wonder what she did in the 15 minutes between arriving at the terminal and joining the queue to check in last time i used MCY that took about 5 seconds. She should have joined the queue when she arrived then she would have been fine serves her right for joining the queue 5 minutes before cut off time.

[Andrew M]

Where does it say she turned up 15mins prior to departure??


She "joined the sole Jetstar queue just before 6.10pm" so 35 mins before departure according to her!

Jetstar "Ms Pregellio said she understood Ms Henderson arrived 15 minutes prior to the scheduled time of departure"

So anywhere from 15-35 mins based on who you want to believe.

Either way she gave herself 5 mins to get through the queue

[D Chan]

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

As much as we don't like the media, the continual media bashing on this board seems to go on and on and on like a bad record.

Paul

Well, considering how many passengers miss their flights everyday around Australia - is this passenger's experience with Jetstar make it more worth reporting than all the other ones?

And secondly, articles like these aren't 'news' :rolleyes:- what is new about it that we have not heard of before? I'm damn interested to see the actual number of articles published by the press for this year alone, especially for Jetstar.

[Andrew M]

Okay - So how does the media get hold of such a story and why is it published.

People that generally are after the cheapest fare, who don't fly often expect the world. They are the ones that make the most noise when something goes wrong. No doubt ringing the local talk back radio, ringing the news papers etc etc. Eventaully they will get a reporter out of stories and it gets published.

[Scott Loveday]

Folks,

Does it make the papers because Australians in general still aren't used to the concept of Low Cost Travel, or more specifically, the whole concept of a low cost airline? Compared with the US and Europe, it's still a relatively new concept for Australia.

Remember that a great number of the Australian public have only ever experienced the (relatively) full service of Qantas, Ansett and TAA over the years. These are the only comparisons they can draw. To many of these people, and airline is an airline. Differences are semantic in their eyes.

I believe this sort of stuff will eventually disappear once the low cost revolution has become an Australian norm.

Apart from the same old on TV shows like Airline or Airport, I hardly see anything being written about this type of incident as a 'news' article in the US or Europe.

[Robert Zweck]

Every working day I get to witness last minute arrivals at the Qantas, Virgin, Jetstar and Tiger departure gates.

97% of pax do the right thing , there always seems to be someone who mucks it up. Rarely is it an individual, often a group of 3 or 4.

A common reason is that they did not hear the boarding announcement in the bar.

Often they check in and then leave the terminal.... ( to do what? ) Go home again?

[Mark D]

Often they check in and then leave the terminal.... ( to do what? ) Go home again?

Well you see.. I did that one day, checked in, then went to visit a mate in the Control Tower. So my bags were on board (good), if they'd called for start / airways clearance I could have fixed that and got the controller to say wait for the last pax. When I got to the terminal 10 min before ETD the staff were all a flutter. I think it was East-West, and THEIR idea of on time was to be wheels off at the time on the schedule, unlike most operators where that is the brake release time.

I did feel guilty as I walked down the aisle of the BA46 to the last row, with the rest of the pax strapped in & waiting.....

[Adam P.]

I could have fixed that and got the controller to say wait for the last pax

There's nothing like knowing the right people, is there, Speedy??? http://www.geocities.com/kookabat/eusa_whistle.gif