Bad experiences, good experiences. It's about the people you deal with.

I am not about to comment on the other stories here, as I don't have a right to judge and I am not about to outright defend the airline either. We are all biased in our own way, no matter which side of the playing field we're on.

I have two experiences to share, though. One awful, and one wonderful.

My worst experience with Jetstar was on a flight between Melbourne and the Goldcoast quite a few years ago when I was a very young teen. It was the middle of summer and sweltering hot, the plane reaked of sweat and people kept asking for water - which simply was not coming. If you paid for bottled water, you'd get it after a delay. But otherwise it just wasn't happening - unacceptable considering the conditions, and on a 3 hour flight. We must have asked 4-5 times and until we paid for some we weren't provided any. And everyone knows how damn expensive it is to buy bottled drinks on planes. The hostesses were irritable and aloof throughout the flight. It was just nasty.

However, 2 years later on a flight between Launceston and Melbourne, I became very suddenly ill on the flight. The staff could not have been more helpful - they isolated me from other passengers, kept me warm as I was shivering with fever and provided me with water. I had someone with me at all times and all the flight attendants were so helpful and very, very kind even though I had vomited twice. I didn't see them cringing, they didn't treat me like I was any sort of hinderence. I felt like I was a top priority.

When I arrived in Melbourne I was examined at the airport and transported to the nearest hospital. This, I assume, had been prearranged while I was en-route so the staff on board had definitely done their job properly. As it turns out I had a very severe bacterial infection that required intravienous antibiotics and observation overnight. Had treatment been delayed I could have become much, much worse. To this day I cannot thank the staff enough for being so prompt and so professional about it.

Domestic
Australia-Melbourne - Tullamarine
Australia-Gold Coast