Jetstar Staff reflect their business

On Thursday the 1st of December, myself and my partner Jeremy Thomason were due to fly with Jetstar at 6:25pm to Melbourne (Avalon). I had already checked in that day over the web (SMS boarding pass) and arrived at 5pm. Arriving so early we decided to go Subway, which is located in the food court in the Qantas area (I later found out by another angry Jetstar customer that announcements by Jetstar are not made in other airline areas, even the food courts, which would have been helpful to know). We then proceeded to our appropriate gate which we had taken note of before eating. When we started noticing our plane hadn’t arrived at 6:15pm, we were not too worried as we noticed all the other flights had been delayed due to bad weather. At 6:25pm I hadn’t yet heard any further instructions about our flight but still saw “Melbourne” on the gate’s screen and continued to listen keenly to the information being announced – which was mainly directed at the two other flights near us. At 6:45pm I started becoming very worried that something was not right, and then logged onto Jetstar mobile to notice the flight’s status had just changed to “departed” at 6:40pm (approx). Not having heard anything over the speakers I was very confused and a flight attendant near us confirmed my fears by letting me know it was gone and that I should go see the service desk. Being flustered, my partner and I ran to the desk.
At arrival at the service desk, we immediately asked the lady (Jetstar employee) why we had not heard the gate change announcement or the announcement of our names before the flight had left. She immediately was rude to us and said she was the one who made the announcements (both the gate and our names) and implied that we would have heard it, when we obviously hadn’t. She then started accusing us that we couldn’t hear, or didn’t bother, when I know that I was actively listening from 6:10pm – I had even stopped reading. We did try to explain but she constantly patronised us and was very condescending and even another Jetstar employee (who was not involved in the conversation) began to gang up on us, I felt as though I was being bullied and made to feel like I was stupid. This only aggravated us, when we were already flustered about missing our flight. She then accused my partner of swearing directly at her, when in truth he looked away and said “this is f***ed” as a general comment. After that comment she tried to stop us flying to Melbourne, I had to beg her to let us on the next flight. It came across as though she was abusing her power to make us feel like idiots and making me beg her made it apparent. We then paid $120 to get on the next flight to Melbourne.
Never in my life have I ever been bullied, patronised and made to feel like an absolute idiot by someone who is meant to be assisting us. She could have started by saying, “Sorry you missed your flight, but it had departed, there is nothing I can do about that…(etc)” in a more soothing voice as we were obviously flustered, but instead her attitude was completely unnecessary and I cannot stress how disgusted she made me feel about Jetstar, it actually made me feel like vomiting. I once worked in hospitality and am now self-employed as a graphic designer in media and I have experienced some of the worst clients, but I have always been taught to handle any situation in a mature and professional manner, trying to reach an outcome which will please all parties and ensure a stress-free experience with my business. I don’t believe the customer is always right, but they are still your customer, and I would never, ever talk to a customer let alone a stranger with that attitude and lack of manners.
After that terrible situation, we were then put on the Jetstar flight at 8:05pm to Melbourne (Tul), which was then delayed to 8:50pm. There was then an unfortunate medical incident once everyone had boarded. Paramedics had removed the lady at around 10pm and no announcements had been made to update the passengers as to what was happening to the flight, and whether it would take off at all. Jetstar staff stood in back area and talked amongst themselves. I understand that staff working on her did a great job in a highly stressful situation should be dismissed and replaced, but since this the second time this has happened on a flight of mine, by now Jetstar should have protocol for this type of situation. Last time I was involved in the similar situation the flight was cancelled after 2 hours of waiting, so I was concerned it would happen again. Both times it has happened Jetstar have looked to be unprofessional and VERY vague and uninformative. Our flight then left at 10:50pm, after sitting in limbo for 2-hours. Arrival at Melbourne was 2:15am and by that time most passenger’s lifts had given up and gone to bed and most had to catch a $75 cab fare to the city – we know this because most passengers were talking about this to us. A passenger sitting in front of us casually asked one of the female Jetstar employees who appeared to be one of the ground staff in charge, what was happening to the flight at one point and she responded in a very rude manner “We are more concerned about debriefing then getting you to Melbourne” and roller her eyes when she turned away towards us.

Domestic
Australia-Brisbane
Australia-Melbourne - Avalon