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A Jetstar customer service gem

by Whaleoil on March 1, 2013

 

via ibtimes.com

Adam Strange – via ibtimes.com

In the news this morning

Jetstar refused to shift a booking for the mother of shark victim Adam Strange to fly to Auckland after his death.

Jeanette Strange, of Paraparaumu, had already booked return flights from Wellington to visit her son next week.

But after police broke the news to her on Wednesday of her son’s death at Muriwai Beach, her sister rang Jetstar to transfer the booking, telling the airline about the horrific reasons for the change.

“They put me on hold for 10 minutes to talk to a supervisor, then said they were very sorry but could not transfer the booking. She would have to pay $321 for a new ticket,” sister Kay Cresswell said yesterday.

“We were trying to calm Jeanette, saying hang on, hang on. They said there was a plane leaving [Wellington] in one-and-a-half hours with three spare seats.

“I was disgusted with their lack of compassion and hung up.”

Why are people still flying that airline?

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  • http://www.facebook.com/john.ascroft.3 John Ascroft

    She then contacted Air New Zealand, and was told there were two seats left on a flight to Auckland.

    She was escorted to the Koru lounge, given refreshments, a diabetic food package for the flight, and was escorted to the plane.

    “The police were brilliant. Air NZ was marvellous,” Mrs Cresswell said.

  • tarkwin

    I was on a Jet Star flight from Christchurch to Auckland in December. We sat on the tarmac at Christchurch for an hour. No explanation was given and the crew chatted and joked with each other like a bunch of school kids. Will never fly with them again.

    • starboard

      With respect, I find it hard to believe you sat on the tarmac for one hour and nothing was said, by the pilots or the air crew. That just doesnt happen. Something must of been mentioned, engineering problem, fuelling problem, weather ?

      • unsol

        It happened, it happened to us also….and after they told us at check in that our flight we booked 4 months ago no longer existed (with no text, email anything to let us know before we got up at 4am!) & that we had to wait for another hour before checking in. They gave us a $150 voucher to compensate, which of course we never used.

        • starboard

          dont believe they never contacted you to tell you the flight had been cancelled. They are not that inept. I work in aviation so I know all the goings on within the business.

          • unsol

            Our voucher & apology letter proved that they didnt….

          • Bunswalla

            “I work in aviation so I know all the goings on within the business.”

            And you’re all lying. LIARS LIARS LIARS

          • starboard

            no. no at all. Jetstar sure do have their fair share of issues but some things some people are moaning about just dont stack up from where I sit.

          • Mr_Blobby

            Then pull head out of arse, sit up and smell the coffee.

          • starboard

            Bawhahahaha!! You obviously haven’t been told today Mr_Fatshit…allow me…get fucked.

      • tarkwin

        Nothing was mentioned. I was right at the front, they kept telling us we’d be leaving soon and they made bugger all effort to inform anyone further back. When we got to Auckland the Police were waiting, that may have something to do with it. The bottom line is Jet Star cabin crew were worse than useless. If you got that kind of service in a shop you would walk out.

  • Phar Lap

    We still need Jetstar.Air New Zealand would begin their fare gouging again if there was no competition.Check their prices to NZ destinations when and where there is no compettion.How do you think they made A HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS already this year?being benevolent.

    • Dave

      Come on Phar lap get real $100 mil is not a realistic ROI given the investment & Risk factor profiles I believe Air NZ are the best airline in the world but their service levels are such their competition will always be miles behind as most of us are still prepared to pay for service. Ron Fyfe ran a cost cutting exercise to reduce costs while also running a very successful cultural change program. They have achieved the near impossible a lean business yet a customer focused and fiercely proud team delivering outstanding service and travelling experiences. As long as Jet Crap is owned by Qantas they won’t ever compete.

      • Chris

        That’s right, but that doesn’t mean we still don’t need Jetstar. Rob Fyfe did do all that you say, but that doesn’t mean things can’t slip backwards again, especially now Fyfe’s gone.

        • Gazzaw

          Correction. Chris Luxon is a very fine man in the mold of Rob Fyfe.

      • Phar Lap

        Reading some of the other bloggers Dave,i rest my case.Would like to know what other airlines have you flown on as a comparison to Air New Zealand.

        • Dave

          Other Airlines, Cathay Singapore, JAL, Fair Weather Airlines (AKA Qantas) Jetstar, Virgin, Emerites, RyanAir, Air China, Thai, Air Pacific, Etihad, and a few more. Best OVERALL service and satisfaction goes to Air NZ. Perhaps thats why they win so many awards.

      • Mr_Blobby

        “best airline in the world” Bullshit.

    • starboard

      dead right Phar Lap..people have short memories. Air NZ would rape and gouge nz’ers again if they had the skys to themselves..ffs just look at what they charge on regional flights ! Why ? Because they can get away with it…no competition.

      • island time

        Correct – their business model has been the same for years…gouge the domestic customers where there is less competition. Look at their detailed results and you will see the most profitable margins are earned on the domestic routes. I am happy to pay extra if the service is better , and Air NZ are pretty good.

        • Gazzaw

          Air New Zealand has no competition on 95% of its domestic routes yet very competitive fares are offered on all regional services. Sure, if you want to travel at the last minute then you are going to pay the full fare but Air NZ does not have that policy exclusively.

          Air NZ was dreadful in the past – worse than Jetstar but a massive series of overhauls has made them one of the most efficient & user-friendly LCCs (low cost carriers) on the globe. There is zero mileage for Air NZ in going back to its old ways.

          • TeacherUnionsRscum

            Exactly – look at how Telecom was before the overhaul.

            A case for selling off deadweight government assets?

      • Marc Williams

        You only have to look at airport companies to see the effect of no competition – Wellington in particular. They see nothing wrong with expecting a return of 12 – 15% on their (over) inflated self valuation, and as for car parking charges and taxi fees! Ned Kelly would be ashamed.

        • Gazzaw

          Marc, if you are unhappy with an airport company making 12-15% return then buy some shares in AIA or Infratil. That’s the beauty of capitalism.

          • Mr_Blobby

            The only good thing I have to say about Auckland International Airport is taking a dump in there toilet.

        • Mr_Blobby

          Yes Auckland Airport is an international embarrassment. The parking charges are absolutely extortionate, no thanks to the corporate mafia Wilson Parking. Two greedy corporate monopoly ripoffs. When an open air piece of concrete 2 meters by 3 meters is worth more per hour than the net minimum wage, something is sadly wrong.

          Last year on one of our overseas trips we met up with a friend on the same flight to my horror she had brought 3 bottles of nice bubbly wine,duty free, $35, the problem was that the same wine was on special that week, at count down for $19.90. Given that the TAX on cigarettes is something like 90% duty free cigarettes cost just over half what it does retail. The half priced cigarettes are the best value and probably the best seller. But I would still recommend that you buy them offshore, and spend as little as possible at the airport itself.

          • Gazzaw

            Mr B, AIA doesnt control the pricing in the duty free shops & neither does it control Wilson Parking. By your own admission you used the AIA-owned shithouse – did that cost you?

          • Dave

            Blob. Suggest you try parking at other international airports in major cities, try PErth, Adleiade then try Sydney, if you want to park outside the terminal, expect to pay upwards of $75 aussie a DAY. But, try parking at AirNz Parking and get their fab Shuttle service, you will pay as little as $11 a day for outside parking, and $13 for covered parking. Shuttle service if fab as well.

  • Bunswalla

    Jetstar are complete muppets and weasels. It’s like they wrote the playbook on how to give the worst possible service, with chapter 2 being “how to get the worst PR possible.”

    This is the weaselly faux-apology from them, in the same article:

    “Jetstar appreciate this would have been a stressful situation and regrets if the service received by her relative from our call centre was perceived as unsympathetic,” a spokesman said.”

    In other words, we regret that YOU perceived our service as unsympathetic. This is all your fault – if only you hadn’t PERCEIVED our service as unsympathetic, we would have had no cause for regret. As my four-year old tried once when caught doing something he shouldn’t have and I gave him the stink-eye, Jetcrap are saying “You made me feel bad!”

    Correct response to this PR disaster is as follows:

    “Everyone at Jetstar is appalled at the lack of service and compassion shown to Mrs Strange and we apologise unreservedly. Both the call centre operator and her supervisor have been disciplined and will be given further training to ensure they understand the correct way to respond to a tragic situation such as this. Jetstar has issued Mrs Strange a full refund of her ticket and sent flowers to the family in Muriwai. We’ve also credited Mrs Strange’s account with $500 to be used for any future Jetstar flight she wishes to make.”

    Yeah, right.

  • hagar

    The guts is, you have a contract, you want to vary the contract, the other party doesnt have to agree with the one who wants to vary the contract. In this instance one can buy insurance. I had simalar problem with Air New Zealand, bought a grab a seat cheap, they offered insurance, I didnt take insurance, I couldnt make the trip, I lost my money.

    • Gazzaw

      Exactly hagar. We are really lucky in NZ – there aren’t too many countries where so few strings are attached to low cost air fares. Take a look at Ryanair for example.

      ‘Grab a Seat’ has changed so many lives, students at Otago get to see family & vv,
      senior cits can afford to fly & businesses in the leisure sector now have a nationwide customer base. I went to a mates 60th birthday lunch in Wellington last month – the airfare was $68 return from Auckland. Couldn’t have done that a couple of years ago.

      • Bored in Red Beach

        Competition in the airline business means we get service at all ends of the spectrum. My brother-n-law just got shafted by Air NZ on a return flight to Vancouver, which he prepaid 6 months in advance. They “lost his reservation”, then they changed his seat, then they wanted to charge him $100 to change back to an aisle seat. He paid the $100, but he still flew Air NZ because Qantas service is even worse. We need more competition on our routes so that there is pressure to provide better service

        • hagar

          Did he not get a reservation/confirmation number when he booked? if not he should have asked questions then, with a reservation number (hard copy) here would have been no problems, you be surprised thea mount of wrong info given by passengers when booking especially on line. Then th MOANING starts.

    • Marc Williams

      Have you ever read the insurance contract terms hagar? The chances that you would ever get a refund would be less than you winning PowerBall twice in a row. Even if you croaked, that would probably be seen as a pre-existing foreseen condition. Interested to hear of anyone that has actually had a payout.

      • hagar

        yep i had read the terms and didnt buy the insurance, I couldnt travel so lost my money, I didnt MOAN. In 2011 I broke a camera in Singapore, claimed off Souhtern Cross Travel policy I had, got what I expected from the policy, I didnt MOAN about the excess that was deducted as that was in the contract. If you cant read a simple travel insurance policy then DONT TRAVEL, and dont MOAN, i would have thought that if there was a death in the family, the last thing I would be doing was MOANING to the press, Jeez its only $300. This world id too full of MOANERs who cry when upon analysis they havent a legal leg to stand on!!! TOO many bleeding heart liberals out there who want something from someone else for free or done for them for free or discount.

        • Bunswalla

          What a cock.

          • hagar

            I am not surprised at your respose Bunswalla, Typical bleeding heart liberal.

          • Bunswalla

            For someone that doesn’t moan, you sure seem to MOAN a lot.

          • hagar

            Bunswalla, I was told never to argue with an idiot, 1- it drags you dwn to their level, and 2-. you cant win against a fool. I rest my case.

  • TeacherUnionsRscum

    This is going to be hated, but she should get CryBaby of the day.

    I understand she suffered a personal loss but how is that Jetstars problem? If she so urgently needed to get to Auckland, she should have bought another ticket.

    Should I get a free tank of gas because I go to BP and cry about needing to go visit someone?

    Jetstar could have given her a free flight for publicity sake, imagine the positive publicity they’d get for it from the Herald, missed opportunity.

    • Bunswalla

      Mate if you accidentally drop $20 down the drain, you’ve suffered a personal loss. Your son being eaten by a shark? That’s a bit more serious in my book.

      • TeacherUnionsRscum

        My point is, why is it Jetstars problem? Every time somebodies son dies should Jetstar incur the cost of seat changes?

        • Mr_Blobby

          How much does it really cost to change a seat given you are already dealing with the customer anyway.

    • JimboBug

      It isn’t Jetstar’s problem – but compassion is worth it for the adverse PR that anything else will generate … and, with the right team, could be put to generate good PR (as happened with Air NZ, with escorts, lounge entry etc).
      I worked for easyJet when the Madeleine McCann abduction happened. Pretty much the first thing we did was give the McCann’s free flights to and from Portugal so that they could come and go without worrying about costs. It generated a bit of PR at the beginning (with them being shown leaving and arriving off an easyJet flight, but, most importantly, it was the right thing to do).

    • Mr_Blobby

      I don’t think she was asking for a free ticket just a flight change, on compassionate grounds. 1. If there is an unsold seat and it is not likely to be sold I don’t see the problem, the plane would have taken off with a bum in the seat or not. 2. The seat at a latter date is then available to be resold probably to the same lady for the funeral.

      Personally if I took advantage of a extra cheap seat and then couldn’t use it I would just write it off. The Taxi from my place to the Airport is way less than the airfare.

  • SerSydney

    My father worked for Air NZ for 30 years and I received plenty of free air fares in the 70s and 80s, so I have a lot of reasons for brand loyalty.

    But now I’m a middle class worker paying my own way, I have to go with JetStars significantly cheaper prices.

    I guess I will continue to do so until they punch me in the face.

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