Cancelled flights, plane swaps, passenger chaos: What’s wrong at Jetstar?
Jetstar’s reputation took another hit this week with the start of a smaller aircraft on Bali routes meaning hundreds of passengers could no longer fit on flights.
The timing could not have been worse.
After a month of damage control over numerous international flight cancellations, Jetstar was this week again under fire from passengers left hanging by another round of disruption.
Once again it was travellers overseas and expecting to return home, who were caught up the mayhem.
“Absolute disgrace of an airline,” blasted Linda Boreham on Jetstar’s Facebook page after another engineering issue emerged.
“Sitting at Bali airport waiting to board after flight delayed three times within an hour. Were assured plane was in the air, only to find out from brother-in-law back in Perth flight had been cancelled.”
Another customer was informed her flight home from Bali had been scrapped as passengers were lined up to board.
“They’ve lost us,” said Donna Frey.
Karen Hall chimed in with “don’t think you can be called an airline, you’re never in the air”.
Engineering issues have been the airline’s go-to excuse for disruption since late August, after dozens of scheduled flights were cancelled.
But this week another gremlin emerged for travellers in the form of a “fleet change” that saw a smaller single-aisle aircraft being brought onto routes normally operated by widebody Boeing 787s.
The A321neos can carry up to 232 passengers in an all economy configuration, 103 fewer than the 787s which have 21 business class seats and 314 in economy.
Despite planning for the entry into service of the A321s since 2018, Jetstar had continued to book passengers for the larger aircraft on Bali routes.
When it came to the crunch, the airline was left scrambling to re-accommodate passengers, many of whom had paid extra to fly in Jetstar business with extra leg room and deep recline seats.
One passenger saw her flight changed three times leaving her wondering if she would ever get to take her long anticipated post-Covid holiday.
In a statement, a Jetstar spokesman confirmed “some adjustments had been made to their international schedule as a result of some 787 services to Denpasar now being operated by the new A321neo”.
“Given the A321neo is a smaller aircraft compared to our Boeing 787, a small number of passengers have been rebooked on an alternative service with the majority travelling within 24-hours of their original flight,” said the spokesman.
“We are contacting impacted customers to give them as much notice as possible, and thank them for their flexibility as we introduce the new aircraft on to our Bali services.”
In Ms Boreham’s case, 24-hours was too long to wait to return home to a sick child in Perth, and ended up paying $1000 to fly on another airline.
“Jetstar will only refund $70. Never again,” she said.
A Jetstar spokeswoman denied they would offer only $70, saying passengers of cancelled flights were entitled to a full refund of their fare.
Despite the almost relentless complaints about Jetstar and its at times questionable reliability, there was no shortage of customers willing to take their chances in return for a low fare.
A promotion this week to “return for free” when booking a flight to selected destinations with Jetstar was seized upon by travellers with the allocation of seats quickly exhausted.
At the same time, new data revealed Jetstar had cancelled almost one in ten domestic flights in September, and two out of five were delayed.
But if there was any inkling that months of disruption and flight mayhem was hurting Jetstar or owner Qantas financially, a market update this month put paid to that.
Forecasting a mammoth half-year underlying profit of up to $1.3bn, Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce said planes had never been fuller.
“Seat factors in particular are extremely high,” he said.
Pent-up travel demand aside, there was no escaping the fact much of the reason for the packed aircraft was less capacity in the market.
Fewer airlines were operating to and from Australia in the wake of the Covid pandemic, and in many cases were using smaller aircraft – like the A321neo.
With Jetstar taking delivery of three more long-range neos by the end of January, passengers may have to get used to travelling in the single aisle jets on longer routes.
Featuring three bathrooms to the 787’s six, there is no question the narrow-body aircraft are an experience to be endured rather than enjoyed over a six-hour flight.
Inform Aviation marketing manager Jan Uphues said the move to narrow body over wide body aircraft on longer routes was a global trend.
While it is true that wide-bodies such as the Airbus A330 and A350 and Boeing’s 777 and 787 are ideally suited for the longest routes, it is also a fact that they come with higher ownership and operational costs than their smaller, narrow-body counterparts,” said Mr Uphues.
“They also carry higher financial risks. Due to these realities, as well as the greater range now available in models such as the A321 and B737, these aircraft are likely to gain more use in 2022.”
It all adds up to a significant challenge for the woman appointed to replace Jetstar CEO Gareth Evans at the end of the year.
As Qantas chief customer officer, Steph Tully has no shortage of experience dealing with controversies following the airline’s bumpy return to flying post-Covid.
Ms Tully is expected to take up her role in December, just in the time for the busy Christmas holiday period.
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