My parents brought my 13 yr old daughter a flight from CHCH to Auckland a 1 hour and 20 min flight in the same country, for her christmas present to go up and see them as she hasn't seen them in 2 years. They booked it in Oct. On Dec 20th they put a notice up on the website that all young travellers travelling over the holidays need to have student I.D or a letter saying they attend secondary school....Secondary schools all closed on the 17th. I found my daughters acceptance letter to High School...They won't accept it. Her flight was for the 1st of Jan 2014 where she would technically be a secondary student, but as she is not "currently" a secondary student she is not allowed on the flight! But you have to pay adult fares for 11yr olds upward, though they are considered unaccompanied minors till they are 15! My parents, my partner and I will never use Jetstar again as we believe it is discriminating and they are obviously not customer orientated....
Comments
Why do people continue to fly
Why do people continue to fly Jetstar?
It's just not worth the hassle & bullshit this poor excuse for an airline put people through.
My parents booked with them
My parents booked with them as they were cheap flights and they had to do double shifts to get the money for her to fly up.....Then my father reads the Jetstar update about students....So on Jan 29th my daughter can fly with Jetstar as an unaccompanied minor but only having been at school for a day....Their excuse? They cannot accept mentally challenged children onboard! But a 14 yr old who legally has to go to school can get a secondary school letter and still have the mental ability of an 8 yr old! That is discrimination!!!! But they would have to accept that person!
They can accept mentally
They can accept mentally challenged children onboard but only with a carer or aide to accompany them, much like children who have not yet commenced Year 7. The unaccompanied minors policy is pretty confusing but is outlined in detail on the website. As a matter of fact your parents would have needed to list your daughter as an adult passenger when making the booking in order to place her on the flight alone otherwise it wouldn't have let them complete the booking without adding an adult passenger to accompany her.
It is not a matter of discrimination at all, it's a matter of the safety of the children travelling unaccompanied on a low-fares airline which does not have the staff capacity to mind a child (which is what Air NZ does) - if they had staff on the plane who could dedicate all their time to unaccompanied children then they wouldn't have been "cheap flights" in the first place.