Hey Jetstar (budget domestic airline in Aus). FUCK YOU

The BBQ Pit
1

So my bestie is having her 60th birthday a few thousand km south of me in Sept. I booked myself a ticket through Jetstar, it’s cheap and it’s only a 3 hour flight all good ** I’ve flown with them heaps of times both domestically and internationally, and yeah, I’ve never been burned.

Well it turns out she will be having her grandson up for the party, so I suggested I bring MY grandie down so the kids can hang out for a few days instead of her poor fella having to be around old farts like us.

Tried to add him to my booking on the website. Nup. Can’t do that. Can’t add a child’s fare to an already existing booking??

Rang the Jetstar number…on hold for 59:27 minutes before some fucker answered the phone.

Now Sandeep was happy to add the kid, all good, we go through all the personal details and just as we’re about to finalise the booking, he tells me the price will be $545 thankyewverymuch.

Da fuq? “Hey Sandeep, I only paid $380** for my adult ticket, what gives?” He then patiently explained that the prices change all the time, to which I replied, “Hey Sandeep, I get that, I notice changes in the fares regularly , but I was just on the website, and the ADULT price was only $$460**. How can the price have jumped so much in just a few minutes??”

Well, in the end I (silently) told Sandeep to go fuck himself, and sometime in the near future I shall book the kidlet an ADULT ticket, from the website, especially when the prices go down. I shall also clear my cookies frequently. :slight_smile:

** I fucked up my first booking, accidentally putting in the return date a week after I wanted to return. (Yes, I fucked up, no need to tell me that again, mea culpa). To fix that, it was a $55 fee, PLUS an increase in the ticket price (of course). But strangely, the increase in ticket price went down from a couple of days ago, so I jumped at the opportunity to only be ripped a new arsehole by 5cm instead of the customary 10.

Fuckers.

2

This is why I never book anymore on “budget” airlines. Sure, their airfare may be cheaper…until they nickel and dime you for every bloody thing that higher tier airlines just throw in. Baggage of any kind, meals - even a sodding blanket and pillow! The last time I did so, if I actually came out ahead over Qantas or similar, I’d be amazed.
That, and just the sheer inconvenience of having to deal piecemeal with all the small but necessary parts of travel - drives me up the wall. Oh, you’ve got a checked bag and a carry-on? Be sure to add it on to the bill at the booking, or you’ll pay twice that when you get to the airport, and we’ve got you where we want you. Hey, we’ve got a package - either too little and cheap, or way overboard and expensive.
Nope. No more.
Qantas, American Airlines, etc. for me for the rest of my travelling life.
( I realize this doesn’t really relate to your rant, but you touched a nerve. Still, when you book cheap, you get cheap, and that includes service.)

3

Yeah, that’s nice, but it is just a flight from Cairns to Sidders. For a weekend. No luggage or meals or other shit needed. I just need a seat on a plane.

4

Sorry. As I edited in above, your rant reminded me of my rant against these budget airlines. Mea culpa. :pray:

5

Yer’ forgiven. Namaste. :stuck_out_tongue:

6

Coming home from my last o/s trip I landed in Sydney for my final leg to Cairns, back in March last year. And the Jetstar boarding staff were bloody feral about the carry-on luggage. Mine was app 1.5kg overweight apparently. So I had to offload a book, some toiletries and other shit…but whilst I was was doing that, she was weighing up the luggage of a very handsome young fella who was FIVE kg overweight…and she let him through.

I couldn’t let that go unchallenged, could I? :stuck_out_tongue:

Got all my stuff back. Fuckers. :stuck_out_tongue:

7

Or leave you stranded…

My kid flew by himself from San Francisco to New York, and chose Spirit Airlines just because they were cheapest. Even after he paid for his backpack and his laptop bag and in-flight water (and a cushion on the seat, presumably).

But they landed at O’Hare and told everyone the second leg of the flight had been cancelled. No explanation (eventually they claimed “weather,” on a beautiful sunny day coast-to-coast). And no refunds because they offered to book everyone on “the very next flight”… two days later.

Seriously, they fly Chicago>NYC on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Unlike REAL airlines.

8

I used to call Spirit Airlines a Greyhound with wings, but I realized I was being too unkind to Greyhound. Mrs. D_Odds and I have had several (very) minor arguments over my refusal to ever fly Spirit again, regardless of the price. Long ago, we were able to book Spirit business class seats for less than their coach seats (how is that for stupid pricing algorithms?); I let her have that win even though I really, really didn’t want to fly Spirit. Well, Spirit business class is still worse than most non-discount airlines cattle class. Never, ever again. I’d rather stay home than fly Spirit.

9

I’ve always had good experiences with Southwest, and I fly with them by far the most. I actually like the free-for-all seating, which IME is often much more organized and orderly than assigned seating on other airlines. You get two checked bags free, and they’ve yet to lose anything of mine. I’ve never had a flight cancelled for non-weather related reasons and they are almost always right on time.

On the other hand, the “big boys” Delta and American Airlines have fucked me over one way or another almost 100% of the time. Bullshit fees, lost luggage, arbitrary cancellations, delays for no apparent reason, I will not fly with them unless I absolutely have no other choice.

10

Not to hijack this plane thread (ha!) but I’ve ridden Greyhound multiple times and it’s not too bad for what it is. Traveling across the country for 2 days on a bus is going to be miserable no matter what but they didn’t do anything to make it worse. We had reasonable stops at convenience stores and diners along the way for food and such. If you can’t afford a plane ticket (and in my younger days I certainly couldn’t) it’s not the worst way to travel.

11

(I don’t mind, I love me some hijack)

If you want to really see the country instead of flying over it (or driving past on a freeway), Greyhound or Amtrak is the way to go.

Even before Covid, I was trying to avoid planes (and the demeaning TSA/check-in/seating experience) , and trying not to put any more money in airlines’ pockets. I even turned down far-flung conferences in favor of ones I could drive to.

But I’ve found that when I drive, I don’t get to just stare out the window like I’d prefer, AND the quickest route is around cities on generic-looking freeways.

But bus and train stations are often in the more colorful parts of town… or at least the more industrial (in which case the color is rust). I loved taking the train cross-country and seeing a lot of cities “from the backside”.

And now I’m spoiled since I started taking the bus to Chicago on weekends… or sometimes bussing as far as Harvard, IL and grabbing the train (Metra line). See the city, no worries about wandering then having to get back to the car… and hey, no crazy parking fees!

12

When I was little, my parents would put us on a Greyhound bus from SoCal to San Francisco every summer, to stay with my grandparents.

And we’d usually get a new brother or sister the following spring, for some reason.

13

These days we have Netflix and chill, I guess back then they had Greyhound and pound.

14

This my parents we’re talking about, so ew.

Also, LOL

15

The Alco bus?

16

Spirit Airlines! The flight is a steal but then: “Oh, you are taking clothes on your trip and you need a seat assignment?! Oh, well then …”

17

While budget airlines do nickel and dime you for basics, you can avoid most of them with planning and preparation. The real big difference is that a major airline will make a significant effort to get you to your destination in the event of missed flights, mechanical failures, or weather. They have agreements with the other majors to put you on whatever flights are going. The budget airlines won’t put you on another airline, and will often simply cancel flights and refund your money, which is small consolation when stuck in Tulsa.

18

Yeah, I really should grow up and choose comfort and convenience and dependability over The Cheap Adventure.

I’ve taken a lot of trips I really couldn’t afford by rolling the dice and taking a chance. I used to check sites like Priceline for “bargain basement refurbished take-me-somewhere-near-Europe rates” where they don’t tell you what carrier or layovers you’ll have until you pay for the flight.

One time I flew to London via Midway/Charleston (7 hr layover at night)/JFK/Gatwick. But it was 800 RT… WITH 5 nights’ lodging (at a to-be-revealed-after-we-get-your-CC-number hotel).

And months from now, I’ll probably do it again…as soon as I know I’m not carrying some weird USA Variant around the world. “Any time next week, no specific destination, everything in one carry-on”. And yeah, I’ll choose some mystery flight on a plane with thin fiberglass seats (last Frontier flight had those… and they didn’t recline!).

Damn, i’m pushin’ 70, you think I’d’ve learned by now.

19

Youz guyz are just making my point - I was being far too kind to Spirit Airlines by calling them a Greyhound with wings.

20

This is pretty much my experience with Southwest, although they don’t quite fit in the same category with Jetstar and Spirit. Southwest is a budget airline, but not a bare-bones airlines like those ones.

I will sometimes fly United if the prices are good, because I’m still on their frequent flyer program, with enough miles built up for an international flight, and I’ll occasionally book one of the other legacy carriers if they’re the only options out of certain airports, but I’ve flown Southwest far more frequently than any other airline over the past ten years or so.

I love their free checked bags policy, because I hate lugging a suitcase onto the plane unless it’s absolutely necessary. When I’m in the waiting area before a flight, I like just having a small satchel with my tablet, a newspaper, and some snack. The 15-minute wait at the carousel for my bag after landing is a small price to pay for traveling light on the plane.

About my only criticism of Southwest is that, given their free checked bag policy, I wish they policed the size of cabin luggage a bit more. Some people drag fucking massive suitcases onto the plane, and it sometimes delays boarding, especially because some people are fucking idiots when it comes to boarding efficiently anyway.