lovetravellingoz
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2006
- Posts
- 12,704
Well I have just returned from Bali..less than happy with Jetstar.....unlike some of the other travel reports on here.
However perhaps one reason is because when they flew the plane was not full.???
Now in the Air all was ok, or as ok as it could be in the circumstances...the problem was that we had upgraded to Starclass for the trip over....on the Jetstar Promo...but on arrival in Sydney was told that only 4 of us could fly in Starclass and 1 had to fly in economy..
& that of the 4 in Starclass only 2 could be together...the other two scattered.
This for a family of 5, with 3 kids !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our little touch of luxury to start the holiday had turned into a complete waste of money.
..........all this after having bought the original flights back in the original July launch. The upgrade to Starclass Promo were bought back in January.
At that time the Staclass cabin was virtually empty.
As little as a fornight before flying the Starclass cabin was only showing half full. The economy section also showed as only half full.
Now some more background....we flew from Melbourne on QANTAS as part of the airfare booked through Jetstar. However unlike others who have reported on here, that while they checked our bags through.....they refused to issue Boarding passes for the JQ37 flight.
My wife and I are also both QANTAS Club members...though this is probably not relevant..except that we checked in via the QC desk.
In Sydney on arrival after having to join the queue again..which still had people waiting in the queue...but initially oddly kept letting people go past them. We later discovered that they were families of staff waiting for last minute seats..if any.
We were then advised that we could not all fly Starclass...and that one person had been "bumped done".
The Jetstar rep kept stating that we had to be there 2 hours prior (which in fact is not the case...and quite frankly impossible for interstate tranfers such as us).
Also note here that were originally had booked a flight at 12 noon for a 6pm deaprture as that was all I could get in the launch sale)..but that Jetstar had later moved this to 2:30pm fora 5;45pm connection. Also note that in Sydney that one has to get a bus from the Domestic Airport to the International...).
Result is that interstate connections get in AFTER all the Sydney people have checked in.
Now we flew Easter school Holidays..so the flight was full.
The Jetsar families waiting to fly (School Holiday demand I guess ) ensured that every seat was full.
Naturally I tried to insist that we get 5 seats in starclass..but was told all seats had been issued..and that only 4 plus 1 in economy was left..that was it.
Now naturally I was not at all happy...but accepting that this was going to be all that we could get I then asked what was going to happen about the Bumped down fair.
I was told again that we should have checked in 2 hours ago!!!!!!!!!!!!
I reminded the check in person that the starclass fair was an extra cost to an economy ticket and asked what was going to happen about this..
I was told..quote unquote "You will have to take it up with them".
I asked who "them" was and advised the check in staff that "them" was Jetsra and hence surely her as their representatitive as I had made my booking online direct with Jetstar and there was no third party.
She then said that my fare was only a Starclass Promo....
I asked her what the relevance of that was as it still meant that I had paid extra to fly Starclass and now was not being given that option and so therefore some form of compensation should suely being offered.
She refused to give any further comment on the issue.
Flight was now boarding so we had to depart.
On the flight we spoke with a Queensland couple who had arrived on a Jetstaar connection not long before us.
They had 2 tickets in Starclass but were seated apart...but had managed to get them put together.
So two things:
1/ IF you are flying Jetstar with an interstae connection...at a peak time when the interantional flight is likely to be full do not allow Jetstar to book you on flights with minimum flight connections as they take no account of this...and will issue your seats to those in the departing city first despite the fact you may have effectively checked in well before them!!!!!!!!!
2/ How do forumites recommend I go about getting some form of compensation for the Starclass upgrade that I was denied?
I am mightily annoyed that we had one seat bumped down..but evcen more annoyed that there was no compensation offered for the downgrade even when I asked what compensation would be given.
PS Purely as speculation as the body language of the Jetstar check in staff was odd..and with the people waiting around who were later identified (we asked them who they were and they told us)... I think a bit of funny business was going on witha big priority for them being to get as many family of Jetstar staff on the flight as possible.
a fortnight prior...the plane was showing half empty.....so they must have hada large sudden upsurge in ticket sales??????? possible being school holidays I guess.
Even at the boarding gate there was a mother and daughter that we knew to be staff-family who were told to wait till last to board.
However perhaps one reason is because when they flew the plane was not full.???
Now in the Air all was ok, or as ok as it could be in the circumstances...the problem was that we had upgraded to Starclass for the trip over....on the Jetstar Promo...but on arrival in Sydney was told that only 4 of us could fly in Starclass and 1 had to fly in economy..
& that of the 4 in Starclass only 2 could be together...the other two scattered.
This for a family of 5, with 3 kids !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our little touch of luxury to start the holiday had turned into a complete waste of money.
..........all this after having bought the original flights back in the original July launch. The upgrade to Starclass Promo were bought back in January.
At that time the Staclass cabin was virtually empty.
As little as a fornight before flying the Starclass cabin was only showing half full. The economy section also showed as only half full.
Now some more background....we flew from Melbourne on QANTAS as part of the airfare booked through Jetstar. However unlike others who have reported on here, that while they checked our bags through.....they refused to issue Boarding passes for the JQ37 flight.
My wife and I are also both QANTAS Club members...though this is probably not relevant..except that we checked in via the QC desk.
In Sydney on arrival after having to join the queue again..which still had people waiting in the queue...but initially oddly kept letting people go past them. We later discovered that they were families of staff waiting for last minute seats..if any.
We were then advised that we could not all fly Starclass...and that one person had been "bumped done".
The Jetstar rep kept stating that we had to be there 2 hours prior (which in fact is not the case...and quite frankly impossible for interstate tranfers such as us).
Also note here that were originally had booked a flight at 12 noon for a 6pm deaprture as that was all I could get in the launch sale)..but that Jetstar had later moved this to 2:30pm fora 5;45pm connection. Also note that in Sydney that one has to get a bus from the Domestic Airport to the International...).
Result is that interstate connections get in AFTER all the Sydney people have checked in.
Now we flew Easter school Holidays..so the flight was full.
The Jetsar families waiting to fly (School Holiday demand I guess ) ensured that every seat was full.
Naturally I tried to insist that we get 5 seats in starclass..but was told all seats had been issued..and that only 4 plus 1 in economy was left..that was it.
Now naturally I was not at all happy...but accepting that this was going to be all that we could get I then asked what was going to happen about the Bumped down fair.
I was told again that we should have checked in 2 hours ago!!!!!!!!!!!!
I reminded the check in person that the starclass fair was an extra cost to an economy ticket and asked what was going to happen about this..
I was told..quote unquote "You will have to take it up with them".
I asked who "them" was and advised the check in staff that "them" was Jetsra and hence surely her as their representatitive as I had made my booking online direct with Jetstar and there was no third party.
She then said that my fare was only a Starclass Promo....
I asked her what the relevance of that was as it still meant that I had paid extra to fly Starclass and now was not being given that option and so therefore some form of compensation should suely being offered.
She refused to give any further comment on the issue.
Flight was now boarding so we had to depart.
On the flight we spoke with a Queensland couple who had arrived on a Jetstaar connection not long before us.
They had 2 tickets in Starclass but were seated apart...but had managed to get them put together.
So two things:
1/ IF you are flying Jetstar with an interstae connection...at a peak time when the interantional flight is likely to be full do not allow Jetstar to book you on flights with minimum flight connections as they take no account of this...and will issue your seats to those in the departing city first despite the fact you may have effectively checked in well before them!!!!!!!!!
2/ How do forumites recommend I go about getting some form of compensation for the Starclass upgrade that I was denied?
I am mightily annoyed that we had one seat bumped down..but evcen more annoyed that there was no compensation offered for the downgrade even when I asked what compensation would be given.
PS Purely as speculation as the body language of the Jetstar check in staff was odd..and with the people waiting around who were later identified (we asked them who they were and they told us)... I think a bit of funny business was going on witha big priority for them being to get as many family of Jetstar staff on the flight as possible.
a fortnight prior...the plane was showing half empty.....so they must have hada large sudden upsurge in ticket sales??????? possible being school holidays I guess.
Even at the boarding gate there was a mother and daughter that we knew to be staff-family who were told to wait till last to board.
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