Late calling of JQ flights in QC? Missed flight

[Aussie_flyer]

They don't do it because they care about the pax and want them to arrive on time to their destinations. They only do it to save as much time and money.
I prefer an airline like QF who calls me to ask where I am and how long will it take me to reach the gate if I'm a few minutes late.
I'm sure most pax won't mind waiting for a while if someone is late because it can happen to anyone at some point.

And you do pay more on the whole for that. Jetstar is a NO FRILLS, LOW COST AIRLINE and people here seem to forget that regularly.

 

[eastwest101]

And you do pay more on the whole for that. Jetstar is a NO FRILLS, LOW COST AIRLINE and people here seem to forget that regularly.

Which is fine if they really are low cost then good on them. Trouble is - they aren't really that cheap anymore so they are actually a low service airline, not a low cost airline, if they are going to be rude to their customers then most people are going to spend the extra $5-$10 for example:

 

[Aussie_flyer]

It's very easy to pick examples like that but I don't think it's a good gauge of the overall market. And yes, like most people, if the fare is $5 more on Virgin then of course I would fly them instead.

I rarely pay more than $50 to fly JQ on MEL-SYD (thanks to PBG) and I do that at least every month and even at short notice, e.g. I paid $40 for a flight next week (booked 5 days ago), Qantas doesn't come anywhere near it, I managed to book Virgin for next week on last weeks happy hour for $85, not bad.... but still more than twice as much.

 

[boomy]

And you do pay more on the whole for that. Jetstar is a NO FRILLS, LOW COST AIRLINE and people here seem to forget that regularly.

Yes I know that, I fly JQ on regular basis. All I said was I prefer the way QF treats it's customers and that JQ don't strictly enforce their rules because they care about their pax, in fact they couldn't care less about them and their appalling customer service is a testimony to that.
JQ is definitely a no frills airline and SOMETIMES it's also low cost.

 

[kpc]

No calling of JQ flights in F lounge - Missed flight

[h=2]Poor Mel QF F lounge service[/h]

 

[Alanslegal]

They don't do it because they care about the pax and want them to arrive on time to their destinations. They only do it to save as much time and money.
I prefer an airline like QF who calls me to ask where I am and how long will it take me to reach the gate if I'm a few minutes late.
I'm sure most pax won't mind waiting for a while if someone is late because it can happen to anyone at some point.

They don't care about the odd passengers who is late, for whatever reasons, and I support that. The rules are the rules and if someone is not at the gate prior to a designated time for whatever reasons, then too bad too sad - get the next available flight! I do not want to wait for anyone who "at their own fault" or not delays the flight, even if its Qantas who forgets to make the boarding announcement.

Jetstar, like all airlines, are on strict time frames and missing an allocated departure slot can cause delays. Luckily its not long of a delay in Australia but I recall AFF's resident pilot jb747 saying that missing a slot at a busy airport such as JFK can mean you have to wait hours for the next free spot or at worst won't be allowed to take off that day.

 

[boomy]

Jetstar, like all airlines, are on strict time frames and missing an allocated departure slot can cause delays. Luckily its not long of a delay in Australia but I recall AFF's resident pilot jb747 saying that missing a slot at a busy airport such as JFK can mean you have to wait hours for the next free spot or at worst won't be allowed to take off that day.

We live in Australia not in America and I've never had to wait hours on a plane here because someone was late. Sometimes there are unfortunate circumstances like getting delayed in security check or forgetting the mobile in the lounge (happened to me) and the fact that QF waits for a few minutes is much appreciated.
I'm sure that QF also care about on time departure, they just care about their customers a bit more.

 

[ogs70]

Well unsurprisingly I decided to exercise caution on my return SYD-MEL-PER, turning up more than 30 minutes before boarding at the gate. Unfortunately the aircraft this time was estimated to have a 1.5 hour delay due to technical problems at the gate.

Amazingly, as this would have resulted in missing the connecting MEL-PER flight, the fantastic J lounge staff were able to offload us from the Jetstar flight and switch us onto a QF direct flight (did not expect JQ ops would authorise this?) which involved being escorted by a lounge staff member back through immigration and bus to domestic terminal.

Was glad to be back on Qantas, the JQ experiment is officially over for me.

 

[jakob01]

The information I’ve received from the Perth Qantas lounge regarding Jetstar flights and boarding have been a little contradictory. I have been told by staff on numerous occasions to NOT view the board at all, as the boarding screens are automated from Melbourne and the “Go To Gate” “Boarding” and even “Closed” notifications are meaningless. I have confirmed that a few times, with a “Boarding” screen call flashing for a delayed plane that has yet to land. “We will call that flight so ignore the screen” I was told, which does make it difficult to know if you should indeed wait later than the “be at gate 25 minutes before departure” rule.


I have paid the price of relying on that information, whereby a call was made on a PER-MLB flight, so I went maybe 5 minutes after the call and saw many people standing around the Gate 8 and Gate 9 area where all Jetstar flights used up until recently. With nobody boarding, I patiently sat and put on my headphones. No boarding or movement for 20 minutes, so I thought I could have stayed in the lounge a little longer. I did notice a “Final Call” flashing above me, but I thought you suckers, I am on to you. I have it on good faith from the people upstairs to ignore that as I can clearly see nobody is boarding.


Of course, next thing I see a Jetstar plane taxi out and it hit me that was the Melbourne flight from Gate 9. These people were waiting for the Sydney flight from Gate 8 which departed in an hour. That means the flight boarded earlier than expected. I took much of the blame for that, as I waited the 5 minutes to head downstairs and probably acted like I knew the system better than I should. It was surprising not a single person boarded Gate 9 in all that time. I expected to turn around and go home knowing it was basically my error, but I thought I’d join the Jetstar queue downstairs to hear what they would say. They happily not only put me on the PER-SYD flight and connection SYD-MLB in the morning, I didn’t have to pay anything. I was happy to pay a top up fare or even the additional sector flight, but they were more than accommodating. While it was a Starter Plus fare, I wonder if the Platinum QFF Card influenced their generosity?


In summary, I think the onus falls on the mere Jetstar customer to expect the worst. I’ve learnt not to hang around for another quick wine and then head down as I would with a Qantas flight. Considering the Jetstar flights are once daily to the eastern ports (2 at best, although cancellations of Gold Coast and Brisbane runs suggest things are going backwards in their scheduling), there’s no flight in a hour to look forward to. I feel for the OP who then had to wait another day.

 

[dajop]

Maybe the best approach for all concerned is like they do in the Singapore QF lounge - not call Jetstar flights (or at least Jetstar Asia flights, not sure about the JQ flight to MEL). Last time I used the lounge flying Jetstar they reminded me on entry that they do not call the flight and that I would be responsible for getting to the flight on time.

 

[MelUser]

When I hear all this stuff about Jetstar I think of the Magda Szubanski jumping star and her shouting "Lets fly Jetstar"!

 

[JohnK]

Which is fine if they really are low cost then good on them. Trouble is - they aren't really that cheap anymore so they are actually a low service airline, not a low cost airline, if they are going to be rude to their customers then most people are going to spend the extra $5-$10 for example:

Just for a laugh search for airfares SYD-BKK departing 22 Dec and returning 17 Jan. JQ is definitely not the cheapest and is more expensive than some full service carriers.

I really feel sorry if someone books them at those sort of high airfare levels.

 

[Austman]

An incident today.

I had 2 relatives both travelling CBR-ADL in J with a transit in MEL.

I went to meet them in MEL. Their MEL-ADL flight was at 18:15. At 18:00, I went to the monitors at the J-lounge entrance. It said "Go to Gate". I asked the counter staff. They said "Wait for our announcement".

I went back to my relatives and said an announcement will be made at any moment. They began getting ready. A couple of minutes later the announcement was made and off they went.

I stayed in the lounge for a bit longer, finishing my drink and snack and heard them being paged to go to the desk at 18:10. I went to the desk and told the staff that my relatives had already left for the gate when boarding was announced.

I then sent my relatives a text, wondering of they had got lost. But they were at the gate, with the flight displayed as "Closed". They were quite upset! But when they boarded they said other pax were even behind them.

I don't know. Announcing a flight as "Boarding" at 18:05 and "Closed" at 18:10, doesn't seem quite right to me...

 

[Alanslegal]

Happened to us a while back in the MEL F Lounge on a JQ run to Sydney. No announcements, nothing, so we went to the front desk and they tried calling the gate. No one picked up at the gate as there was a gate change, so we decided to go to the gate anyway. Another couple was enquirying as well and was advised to stay put. Anyway, our names were being called as we were heading to the gate, we got there and everyone had boarded and the agents were upset at us for being slow. I told them there were no announcements in the F Lounge and there was another couple who are probably there on the same flight. The other couple did make it though, just.