Jetstar website caves under pressure

Jetstar doesn’t deal with pressure well. Whether it’s the weight of a hefty passenger slowing down the plane or a deluge of traffic for a sale, the airline just can’t seem to get nimble. A deal to kick off its new domestic service in New Zealand led to digital mayhem.

The Australian low-cost carrier offered $1 fares on its website. This drew 50,000 bargain-hunters at once, causing the Jetstar website to collapse. Even success leads to failure for this hapless airline.

The promotion was actually pretty generous. Jetstar put 20,000 $1 one-way tickets on the table for use between July 22 and September 22. The two-hour sale was extended by 30 minutes, and the inventory was sold out.

As with any super-bargain, there’s always room for complaint. A $1 ticket actually cost $3 when the customer paid with a credit card. Checked luggage was not permitted under the deal. In some cases, transaction costs reached as high as $8 … the horror!

Needless to say, this is the most effective online travel gimmick since Leading Hotels of the World disappointed would-be travelers by under-powering its website for a sweetheart hotel deal.

[Via Sydney Morning Herald]

Jetstar charges passengers by the pound

The debate has gone on for years. Larger people have had to deal with shrinking plane seats. We all complain, with the svelte arguing that the not-so-trim should have to purchase an extra seat. I have to be honest, here. I believe that you should pay for what you consume. If you take two seats pay for them. Apparently, low-cost Australian airline Jetstar agrees, with much more zeal than I would have ever imagined.

For some, airfare must be purchased by the pound … and I’m not talking about the British currency.

Samantha Scafe, a 350 pound transgender passenger on Jetstar, was forced to pay for a second seat “for other people’s comfort” after twice being assured that this would not be necessary. Jetstar later apologized for the debacle, saying that it doesn’t provide overweight customers with “two-for-one deals.”

Obviously, she’s filing a lawsuit over this.

Now, let’s give Jetstar credit for follow-through. Not only do they offend a passenger, but the two seats they gave her had a slight problem: they were separated by the aisle. If she occupied them, she’d have had the flight attendants all over her for not getting out of the way of the drink cart!


These women should’ve been charged for their “crimes”!


[Via news.com.au, Blackbook]

Woman said her drink was spiked on flight to Thailand

According to Anamaree Correia, a former flight attendant, three Australian soldiers wanted to have bit of fun with her on a Jetstar flight from Sydney to Phukhet, Thailand. This wasn’t the flirting kind of fun that leaves you feeling gloriously giddy. This was the giddy that gets you groggy and passed out. Correia said she was sitting next to a soldier with two others in front of her and they must have spiked her water while she trotted off to the toilet. The weird feeling she had in her head after drinking her water wasn’t because of the wine she drank before she drank the water–it was what was in the water.

Whatever was put in the bottle made her pass out and pee on herself, as published in the Herald Sun. Okay, this happened a few days ago, but there hasn’t been any more news about it that I found. Correia didn’t want to press charges at the time of the incident, but I’m wondering, wouldn’t she have gone for a test to find out what was put in the water, if anything? If something was put in my drink, I sure would want to know what it was. Also wouldn’t it be good to stop drink spikers?

The article also doesn’t say if the soldiers were questioned. We’ve posted stories about urine troubles on airplanes before. Add this one to the mix as another hard to believe, but stranger true things have happened, type tale.

What strange things have been found on planes?


Click the image to read the bizarre story…

Low-Budget Airline Jetstar is Going Places

What happens when flight attendants do their own traveling? That is some of what you’ll see if you live in Australia and have access to the new documentary Going Places, a creative marketing tactic from the folks at budget carrier Jetstar. While it’s not exactly an Aussie version of Flight Attendant School, the eight-program series (which premiered today on Channel Nine) will follow eight Jetstar cabin crew members during training maneuvers and travels to several Asian countries and Hawaii. (Of course, these are all destinations where the carrier flies.)

Promotional material for the series claims that Jetstar is going behind the scenes at it “moves into the highly competitive international market.” As Neil noted earlier this year, the airline was named Best Low-Cost carrier by Skytrax. The Australian-based airline runs dozens of flights within OZ and to destinations throughout Asia, including Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia and others. They also fly to Honolulu from Melbourne and Sydney. (I recently flew them round-trip on a short hop from Melbourne to Hobart and was satisfied with the service and budget price – US $170.)

You can view an intro and clips from episode one — looks like your standard reality-TV without too much excess drama. Will it make you want to fly Jetstar on your next vacation or sign up to work for the young company?