Jetstar passengers FURIOUS after luggage is taken off plane without their permission
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- Replies 11
Going on holiday is meant to be an exciting time. But for these Jetstar customers, the prospect of a trip to Bali was met with chaos, stress and frustration - all thanks to a luggage blunder.
Declan Carruthers and Somaya O’Donnell were among many would-be holiday-goers on a JQ116 Jetstar flight from Perth to Bali that arrived an hour behind schedule on Wednesday night.
The couple had arrived at the airport on schedule, but as people began to line up, they learned that takeoff had been delayed.
'At that point, we thought the flight was cancelled since we could see baggage handlers taking luggage off the plane,' Declan recalled.
'But then we started boarding and all the flight attendants said to us was that operational maintenance was to blame for the delay.'
When the couple arrived in Bali, they rushed to the carousel to find their belongings - but their bags were nowhere to be seen.
He continued: 'We were with all these other passengers just waiting for about an hour and then eventually we saw people piling up in the corner filling out forms for lost baggage.'
'We were told by a woman who worked at the airport the bags were left due to bad weather in Perth, but it was 30 and sunny and perfect weather.'
As it turned out, a similar issue had occurred on a Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Bali that same day. So Declan suspected bags were taken off the plane to keep the weight down.
'Why else would they pack and then unpack our bags?' he asked.
The couple is now in Bali with friends until January 5 and are without their clothing or valuable items like camera equipment.
'It’s quite pathetic for Jetstar not to communicate with their customers to let us know our bags weren’t on the plane,' Declan added.
'We paid $1500 return each as far back in August, and for what?! Have to spend hundreds of dollars for items to tide us over a few days.'
Facebook groups were full of comments from passengers on the flight who were desperately searching for their belongings with many without medication, baby essentials and even their clothes.
One comment read: 'My bag is still missing. I tried calling the number that guy gave me last night with no luck. No phone number to call Perth. And Jetstar wasn’t too much help.'
'My holiday is seriously ruined. Booked it like 7 months ago, paid for the luggage … and for what?!?! Have spent couple hundred of stuff just to tide us over a few days!'
A Jetstar representative has since confirmed that because of thunderstorms in Bali, they had to carry extra fuel onboard the flights in case there was a need to divert to another airport – meaning some customers’ bags were taken off the plane.
'Our teams have been working really hard to get passenger’s bags to them as soon as possible, with the majority of bags now delivered to customers,' the spokesperson said in a statement.
'We know it’s frustrating when your bags aren’t available when you land and we thank customers for the feedback that we need to provide more regular updates.'
Jetstar said that it will conduct a review of its processes 'so we can do better next time'.
The statement concluded: 'We also thank customers for their patience.'
We can only hope that Jetstar does the right thing here, notifying customers of what happened and offering compensation.
Members, if you’ve ever had anything like this happen to you while travelling, please let us know in the comments below.
Declan Carruthers and Somaya O’Donnell were among many would-be holiday-goers on a JQ116 Jetstar flight from Perth to Bali that arrived an hour behind schedule on Wednesday night.
The couple had arrived at the airport on schedule, but as people began to line up, they learned that takeoff had been delayed.
'At that point, we thought the flight was cancelled since we could see baggage handlers taking luggage off the plane,' Declan recalled.
'But then we started boarding and all the flight attendants said to us was that operational maintenance was to blame for the delay.'
When the couple arrived in Bali, they rushed to the carousel to find their belongings - but their bags were nowhere to be seen.
He continued: 'We were with all these other passengers just waiting for about an hour and then eventually we saw people piling up in the corner filling out forms for lost baggage.'
'We were told by a woman who worked at the airport the bags were left due to bad weather in Perth, but it was 30 and sunny and perfect weather.'
As it turned out, a similar issue had occurred on a Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Bali that same day. So Declan suspected bags were taken off the plane to keep the weight down.
'Why else would they pack and then unpack our bags?' he asked.
The couple is now in Bali with friends until January 5 and are without their clothing or valuable items like camera equipment.
'It’s quite pathetic for Jetstar not to communicate with their customers to let us know our bags weren’t on the plane,' Declan added.
'We paid $1500 return each as far back in August, and for what?! Have to spend hundreds of dollars for items to tide us over a few days.'
Facebook groups were full of comments from passengers on the flight who were desperately searching for their belongings with many without medication, baby essentials and even their clothes.
One comment read: 'My bag is still missing. I tried calling the number that guy gave me last night with no luck. No phone number to call Perth. And Jetstar wasn’t too much help.'
'My holiday is seriously ruined. Booked it like 7 months ago, paid for the luggage … and for what?!?! Have spent couple hundred of stuff just to tide us over a few days!'
A Jetstar representative has since confirmed that because of thunderstorms in Bali, they had to carry extra fuel onboard the flights in case there was a need to divert to another airport – meaning some customers’ bags were taken off the plane.
'Our teams have been working really hard to get passenger’s bags to them as soon as possible, with the majority of bags now delivered to customers,' the spokesperson said in a statement.
'We know it’s frustrating when your bags aren’t available when you land and we thank customers for the feedback that we need to provide more regular updates.'
Jetstar said that it will conduct a review of its processes 'so we can do better next time'.
The statement concluded: 'We also thank customers for their patience.'
Key Takeaways
- An Australian couple and many other Jetstar customers were left scrambling to find their belongings after their flights arrived in Bali missing piles of baggage.
- The couple suspected something was awry when they saw baggage handlers taking luggage off the plane.
- Jetstar confirmed that the delay and missing baggage were caused by bad weather in Bali.
- The airline admitted they need to provide more frequent updates to customers and are reviewing their processes.
- Many other passengers were also affected on flights from Perth and Melbourne, with some missing medication and baby essentials.
- The ordeal follows another incident where a Melbourne-Bali flight was forced to turn around due to a communication error.
We can only hope that Jetstar does the right thing here, notifying customers of what happened and offering compensation.
Members, if you’ve ever had anything like this happen to you while travelling, please let us know in the comments below.