What shoud Jetstar have done in this situation?

[sinophile888]

Last week, my daughter flew SYD -> PER on Jetstar. The flight had finished boarding but then ground staff discovered that one passenger (1E), who had checked in his luggage, had failed to board. The plane left the aerobridge and started to taxi towards the runway. The pilot then stopped and returned to the aerobridge. He announced that it was quicker to allow 1E to board than to unload his luggage. The safety announcement was repeated for the late passenger.

My daughter commented that she would rather the latecomer’s luggage was unloaded and that he be obliged to buy another ticket, even if it meant a longer delay to the passengers on board.

 

[Ansett]

Didn't think they were allowed to leave the gate with the non boarding passengers luggage still on board?

I for one would want to know that a no show's luggage was removed.

If JQ Left with no show luggage on board I would be very very concerned about this as what IMHO is a safety breach.

JQ should have off loaded bot the passenger and luggage if the customer was late.

 

[opusman]

My daughter commented that she would rather the latecomer’s luggage was unloaded and that he be obliged to buy another ticket, even if it meant a longer delay to the passengers on board.

Seems a bit childish. Would she have said that if the roles were reversed?

 

[Grimace1]

Seems a bit childish. Would she have said that if the roles were reversed?

Agree, there could be many reasons that one passenger (1E) was a running a bit late, sure it's good to be at the gate at the required time but many things could have happened.

 

[JessicaTam]

I am surprised that the aircraft pushed back with a no-show's luggage still onboard.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I knew a 1E pax who had a permanent seat. It's not about Jetstar but their overall importance to the Qantas group.

They shouldn't have left the gate. Tut tut

 

[snabbu]

Agreed, aircraft should not have left the gate with a pax missing and his/her luggage on board.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

it's heresay that it left the gate. perhaps the door was just closed and the jetway removed.

 

[RooFlyer]

Sorry sinophile888, I'm usually one to take recitation about 'what happened on the flight' at face value, but the outline below so completely breaks a "well known" rule that if it happened as recounted would really be a worry and I would appreciate confirmation. Not doubting what you say, just would like t get un-ambiguous confirmation. My bolding in the below.

Last week, my daughter flew SYD -> PER on Jetstar. The flight had finished boarding but then ground staff discovered that one passenger (1E), who had checked in his luggage, had failed to board. The plane left the aerobridge and started to taxi towards the runway. The pilot then stopped and returned to the aerobridge. He announced that it was quicker to allow 1E to board than to unload his luggage. The safety announcement was repeated for the late passenger.

My daughter commented that she would rather the latecomer’s luggage was unloaded and that he be obliged to buy another ticket, even if it meant a longer delay to the passengers on board.

1. The airline 'crew (on-board FAs and the gate agent(s)) allowed an aircraft to "depart" - doors closed, push back - knowing beforehand that a pax had failed to board while having checked luggage in the hold. How did daughter know this?

2. The pilot's announcement suggest there were 'second thoughts' about departing with checked bags but the owner not on board, so 'might as well go back'. Is this how you interpret it?


Again, not doubting what you have recounted; but surely this is more serious than your post suggests: departing while knowing while there are un-accompanied bags in the hold must be more than a trivial contravention?

 

[opusman]

I have been told in the past by QF staff that they don't routinely offload bags on domestic flights for fail-to-board, although that was quite a long while in the past, so it could easily be different now.

 

[sinophile888]

How did daughter know this?

My daughter is an adult and a very experienced flyer. She is always very careful to be at the boarding gate with plenty of time to spare.

She heard a ground staffer say to the FA that there was a no-show in 1E. Her seat was 1C.

She estimates that the plane taxied for about 3 - 4 minutes and she felt it had traveled far enough to be lined up for take-off before the plane returned to the gate. She was looking out the window watching the land pass by.

The flight pushed back at 20:10 but didn't take off until 20:30, which was the departure time when she originally booked.

Sorry, I don't know how to do multiple quotes.

 

[RooFlyer]

Thanks. Again, not doubting at all what was recounted.

Very odd, to say the least.

 

[eastwest101]

Possibly someone on the ground working for Jetstar alerted operations to the fact that they had a fail to board passenger which was then radioed to the flight crew - hence the taxiing around and then coming back. I would imagine that its standard procedure that manifests are finalized and exact number of passengers finalized before the doors close, but maybe just a once off oversight/mistake? The other possibility may be that the baggage handlers didn't get the message to offload baggage through some sort of mis-communication which was then picked up by someone in Jetstar, so then the request was made to return to the gate.

Does seem very strange though....

 

[RooFlyer]

I might ask jb747 what the situation in the coughpit is wrt non boarded pax.

 

[nlagalle]

I have been told in the past by QF staff that they don't routinely offload bags on domestic flights for fail-to-board, although that was quite a long while in the past, so it could easily be different now.

I've had at least 2 flights I remember where the bags were offloaded for a no show.. one was a 767 flight and it took about 40 mins to find the bag.

 

[tuapekastar]

Had a no-board a few years ago on a QF flight who eventually did board, winning the race between himself and the baggage handlers searching for his luggage. An FA remarked to me that thank goodness they would have the security technology before year's end that would allow them to take off without having to offload non-boarders' bags. He may have been premature with that comment, though I would be happy to see the day it became reality.

 

[Alanslegal]

I might ask jb747 what the situation in the coughpit is wrt non boarded pax.

I read your post on the pilot thread and felt it might be an area that relates to security process/procedures eg the signing off procedure, so doubt jb747 would answer that question as he choose (and I concur) to not answer any questions/comments regarding aviation security.

 

[Alanslegal]

My daughter commented that she would rather the latecomer’s luggage was unloaded and that he be obliged to buy another ticket, even if it meant a longer delay to the passengers on board.

Parts of me agree with this, punishment can be used as a deterrent and the bag should be offloaded but then again, do I want to be delayed xx minutes? or in the worse case scenario, the baggage offload causes the plane to miss its takeoff slot and consequently there is no more takeoff slots (or similarly, landing slots at destination).

 

[Himeno]

or in the worse case scenario, the baggage offload causes the plane to miss its takeoff slot and consequently there is no more takeoff slots (or similarly, landing slots at destination).

Such as with DXB and EK414. It seems EK will do anything to get 414 going because if it departs more then 10 minutes late, it won't get to SYD before curfew.

 

[jb747]

I'm prepared to bet a lot of money that the crew did not depart the gate with the knowledge that there was an unaccompanied bag in the hold. They would have asked if the person who failed to board had luggage, and if they were told 'no', then they would have gone. A very high percentage of domestic passengers have no luggage.

Errors happen. Given how much luggage is carried, I'm amazed that the vast majority gets to wherever it is intended to go...same with passengers. Sometimes they will be misidentified (or directed) in the system. Sometimes they simply don't exist.

As for waiting for the luggage to the unloaded, instead of taking the offending passenger...whilst I'm generally of the opinion that there should be some push back against those who intentionally delay aircraft (you know who you are), they exist in a very small minority. Mostly when passengers are late it's because of all sorts of innocent factors. The cost of being late is measured in hundreds of dollars per minute (well it was Jetstar, so perhaps cents), but in any event the cheapest option will be the quickest. So, normally when faced with a missing passenger, I have the offload started immediately. If he gets there before we find his bag, then he gets to go.