Further to my below complaint to Jetstar they provided me with the following apology response and a $100 credit, which I reckon is pretty decent and I appreciate it !!
Dear Dominic,
Thank you for contacting Jetstar. I'm concerned to hear about your check-in experience when you travelled with us to Melbourne on 1st December 2017.
At Jetstar we provide ‘point to point’ air travel at a very low cost. We do this by focusing on efficient aircraft utilisation, quick turn-around times and improved on-time departures. Which we achieve through a range of measures including, same team crewing, effective staff rostering and adherence to our check-in and excess baggage rules.
This means that our airport staff are balancing a number of important responsibilities and are required to communicate with other teams throughout the airport while meeting very strict timelines. Unfortunately though, sometimes we will experience staff shortage at a particular area due to reasons like staff being held up by operational reasons (i.e. attending to a disrupted or delayed flight in another gate), or staff reporting sick.
Further, I’m sorry to hear that you could have missed your flight should you had continue to wait in line, and that the other passengers who remained in line had missed their flight, incurring penalty charges on them. I know it doesn't change the situation for you, but I can assure you that it was certainly not our intention to cause inconvenience to our passengers, and we are very sorry if it had. We would be happy to consider the extra flexible options that are available to the affected passengers should they write in to us.
It is always disappointing to receive feedbacks like this, but without it, it's much harder for us to identify where we need to improve so we genuinely appreciate your comments. I would also like to assure you that your feedback will be included in my report to our leadership team.
As a gesture of goodwill, I'd like to offer you a complimentary Jetstar Travel Voucher to the value of AUD $100.00 for you to use on a future Jetstar service. The voucher will be emailed to you within 48 hours. Please take note of the terms and conditions printed on the voucher.
Bookings must be made through Jetstar.com or Jetstar Telephone Reservations on 131 538 within 6 months of the date of this letter, for travel on any available Jetstar flights at the time you redeem this voucher.
The voucher isn’t transferable and must only be used by the recipient. The voucher can only be redeemed in one booking, any remaining amount will be lost and no credit will be given.
Thank you again for contacting us. I hope that despite this experience, we are able to welcome you on board a Jetstar flight in the future.
Yours sincerely,
Tiffany - Jetstar Customer Care Executive
ATT Jet Star customer care
Dear Sirs
Re: Complaint Re Flight Booking ZY525L 2.05pm 1st Dec
I’m a regular traveller between Sydney and Melbourne, as is my girlfriend and I’m writing to lodge a complaint in relation to the above flight that I took last Friday when I arrived at least 1.5 hours in advance.
I checked in at one of the auto booth terminals, printed my tags and of course because there’s no automated drop-off bag facility (offered by say virgin in Melbourne) I then had to stand in one of the very long queues.
What shocked me was that out of the approximate 14 check-in desks only two were manned by staff and one of these was dedicated to imminent departures.
To say that it was shambolic is an understatement. I patiently waited in line until I realised my flight was about to leave in 35 minutes at which point I jumped over to the imminent departure lane. Unlike Virgin staff who ask publicly whether any travellers are on an imminent departure and to come forward, I wasn’t afforded this basic requirement at all.
However some other imminent flight travellers were only to find when they arrived at the subject check-in desk that their flight/s were closed. There was justifiably considerable angry towards your understaffed personnel who appeared to be completely frazzled.
It literally was because I had chosen to jump the queue and because of the closed flights ahead of me that I was able to make it through with a less than five minute window.
It is beyond my comprehension why Jet star would so poorly staff your check in booths when you don’t have an automated drop-off system. This isn’t the first time in the middle of the day I’ve experienced a similar scenario with Jet Star and the operating staff quizzically asking why haven’t more staff turned up for work today.
In my opinion those poor travellers who entirely missed their flights should have been fully refunded or given an alternative ticket free of charge.
Given that Choice magazine is hotly pursuing the airlines on these issues I intend to forward on a copy of my letter, being a member and look forward to your response within your prescribed 10-15 reply period.
Yours unhappily
Dominic Ogburn
6.11.17
Comments
Jetstar have stolen money
Jetstar have stolen money from me in November this year and I will never fly with them again and I will recommend and warn people against dealing with them. They have been conning and robbing people for years. My email is (email address removed by admin) if anyone else has a similar story. I am a regular traveller on the east coast of Australia and a Frequent Flyer Member. I was booking a flight from the Sunshine Coast to Melbourne in November 2017 and near the end of the (complicated add-on extras everywhere) booking the Jetstar site went down. I tried again after waiting a couple of minutes - no, the same thing happened. I needed to get to Melbourne the next day so I went on to the Virgin site and checked for a flight. Instead of spending 30 mins trying with no luck, I was able to do the whole process smoothly without any add-ons in less than 10 mins and for nearly $200 less than Jetstar's price. Next time you are flying don't be sucked in by Jetstar's advertised price because it is really a lie. Make sure you check out Virgin's quoted price. Honestly the ACCC should take a look at Jetstar's activity. And by the way - they charged me for that expensive flight even though their site crashed. I found it on my Bank Statement. So like so many other people who have been robbed like that, if anyone is interested in joining a class action with me against Jetstar, you have my email. We can't let dirty companies get away with this behaviour against everyday Australian - or anyone for that matter. I called and sent my letter a month ago and haven't heard anything.
Steve, I removed your email
Steve, I removed your email address from your post above. Having it easily visible on the page like that will likely get you inbox filled with spam.
If you want to post your complaint on it's own page, there is a link to do so in the main menu, or go to http://www.dontflyjetstar.com/node/add/complaint
Yes Dominic. Very grubby
Yes Dominic. Very grubby airline practice and they don't care about their client. They take their money upfront and forget everything else. Customer service is a foreign language to them. Good luck but don't hold your breath!!