We've all heard horror stories (not the spooky kind!) about budget airlines – cancelled flights, long delays, and surly staff. For one Queensland woman, flying with Jetstar turned into the most humiliating and degrading experience of her life.

In a dramatic demonstration of just how poorly the budget airline cares for its passengers, Natalie Curtis was forced to crawl to her waiting wheelchair after a series of misfortunes left her stranded on the tarmac of a Thai airport.

To avoid unfair extra fees, Ms Curtis had to crawl down the aisle of the plane to get to her wheelchair. Credit: 9News.

Severely paralysed and in a wheelchair since high school, Ms Curtis was offered an 'aisle' wheelchair by Jetstar to board her flight from Singapore to Bangkok.

For someone in Ms Curtis' situation, an 'aisle' chair is a critical piece of equipment that enables her to be properly strapped in a seat and safely secured on the plane.

But when they landed, she was told that she would have to pay extra money just to use another chair to get off the plane – an outrageous request considering how much money she had already paid for her ticket.

'I didn't really comprehend it, and I was like, "No, I'm not paying to be able to get off this plane",' said Ms Curtis.

Ms Curtis was travelling with her friend Natasha Elford, who had a knee injury at the time and was, therefore, unable to carry her off the plane. As a result, her only option was to crawl on the ground for eight rows until she could reach her wheelchair.

'It was extremely humiliating,' she said.

Ms Curtis was travelling at the time with her friend, Natasha. Credit: 9News.

Ms Elford, in the meantime, was in complete shock as she watched the ordeal unfold. 'My first instinct was I was pretty much gutted. I was like, "Is this actually happening?"' she recalled.

'I couldn't physically lift her, so I felt really hopeless, and I couldn't believe this was really happening.'

Ms Elford said she also tried to find out whether it was possible to fast-track a wheelchair to Ms Curtis, but the flight attendants 'didn't really try to do anything'.

'I was shell-shocked. I thought there was going to be somebody coming. There wasn't anybody.'

A Jetstar spokesperson has already reached out to Ms Curtis and her friend and sincerely apologised for their experience. They also offered a refund and additional compensation.

'We unreservedly apologise to Ms Curtis for her recent experience while travelling with us,' they said. 'We are committed to providing a safe and comfortable travel experience for all our customers, including those requiring specific assistance.'

The representative said that Ms Curtis was not charged by Jetstar for bringing her wheelchair on board and that the misunderstanding over whether or not there would be any additional charges was due to a language barrier.

'We are looking into what happened as a matter of urgency,' they added.

Key Takeaways

• A woman was forced to crawl down the aisle of the plane to reach her wheelchair after being told an accessible ‘aisle chair’ cost extra.
• Her friend watched as the flight attendants 'did nothing' to help Ms Curtis.
• Jetstar has already issued an apology, citing a language barrier as the cause of the error.

However, Natasha believes that the airline needs to do more to ensure the same awful experience doesn't happen to anyone else.

'I think the big thing for me was that it was in front of younger staff,' she said. 'It's just not OK for somebody to be exposed like that.'

Members, what are your thoughts on this? Have you ever had a similarly unsatisfactory experience with the customer service provided by an airline? Tell us all about it in the comments!

 

[Suzanne rose]

This is Disgusting but it doesn't surprise me with jetstar.
I remember going to Melbourne maybe 10 years ago for a long weekend with hubby and friends.
Going to the airport on our way home we took a wrong turn and it added 40 minutes to our trip.
When we arrived at the airport hubby and his friend took the rental car back and his wife and me went to check in.
When we arrived we found that all the check in kiosk were down, so we went to the jetstar check in and was told we couldn't check our husbands in . My friend had to check in as she had purchased a suitcase and filled in with gifts to take overseas.
I called hubby and said he needed to hurry, they were held up but wasn't concerned because they thought we checked them in.
Our husbands arrived literally 2 minutes late and wouldn't allow them to check in.
My friend boarded and I had stayed back as I had hubby's wallet ect
We slept in the airport over night and took a Qantas flight home which we had to pay for.
I called jetstar and emailed them but never got any response

 

[Chrisalis]

Language barrier! What utter nonsence. Those staff should be sacked immediately.

 

[Vombat]

Typical of Jetstar. I have had several bad experiences with them and am sick of being treated as a second class citizen. They are good at apologising , but never again

We've all heard horror stories (not the spooky kind!) about budget airlines – cancelled flights, long delays, and surly staff. For one Queensland woman, flying with Jetstar turned into the most humiliating and degrading experience of her life.

In a dramatic demonstration of just how poorly the budget airline cares for its passengers, Natalie Curtis was forced to crawl to her waiting wheelchair after a series of misfortunes left her stranded on the tarmac of a Thai airport.

View attachment 8171

To avoid unfair extra fees, Ms Curtis had to crawl down the aisle of the plane to get to her wheelchair. Credit: 9News.

Severely paralysed and in a wheelchair since high school, Ms Curtis was offered an 'aisle' wheelchair by Jetstar to board her flight from Singapore to Bangkok.

For someone in Ms Curtis' situation, an 'aisle' chair is a critical piece of equipment that enables her to be properly strapped in a seat and safely secured on the plane.

But when they landed, she was told that she would have to pay extra money just to use another chair to get off the plane – an outrageous request considering how much money she had already paid for her ticket.

'I didn't really comprehend it, and I was like, "No, I'm not paying to be able to get off this plane",' said Ms Curtis.

Ms Curtis was travelling with her friend Natasha Elford, who had a knee injury at the time and was, therefore, unable to carry her off the plane. As a result, her only option was to crawl on the ground for eight rows until she could reach her wheelchair.

'It was extremely humiliating,' she said.

View attachment 8172

Ms Curtis was travelling at the time with her friend, Natasha. Credit: 9News.

Ms Elford, in the meantime, was in complete shock as she watched the ordeal unfold. 'My first instinct was I was pretty much gutted. I was like, "Is this actually happening?"' she recalled.

'I couldn't physically lift her, so I felt really hopeless, and I couldn't believe this was really happening.'

Ms Elford said she also tried to find out whether it was possible to fast-track a wheelchair to Ms Curtis, but the flight attendants 'didn't really try to do anything'.

'I was shell-shocked. I thought there was going to be somebody coming. There wasn't anybody.'

A Jetstar spokesperson has already reached out to Ms Curtis and her friend and sincerely apologised for their experience. They also offered a refund and additional compensation.

'We unreservedly apologise to Ms Curtis for her recent experience while travelling with us,' they said. 'We are committed to providing a safe and comfortable travel experience for all our customers, including those requiring specific assistance.'

The representative said that Ms Curtis was not charged by Jetstar for bringing her wheelchair on board and that the misunderstanding over whether or not there would be any additional charges was due to a language barrier.

'We are looking into what happened as a matter of urgency,' they added.

Key Takeaways

• A woman was forced to crawl down the aisle of the plane to reach her wheelchair after being told an accessible ‘aisle chair’ cost extra.
• Her friend watched as the flight attendants 'did nothing' to help Ms Curtis.
• Jetstar has already issued an apology, citing a language barrier as the cause of the error.

However, Natasha believes that the airline needs to do more to ensure the same awful experience doesn't happen to anyone else.

'I think the big thing for me was that it was in front of younger staff,' she said. 'It's just not OK for somebody to be exposed like that.'

Members, what are your thoughts on this? Have you ever had a similarly unsatisfactory experience with the customer service provided by an airline? Tell us all about it in the comments!

 

[Keith Neivandt]

We've all heard horror stories (not the spooky kind!) about budget airlines – cancelled flights, long delays, and surly staff. For one Queensland woman, flying with Jetstar turned into the most humiliating and degrading experience of her life.

In a dramatic demonstration of just how poorly the budget airline cares for its passengers, Natalie Curtis was forced to crawl to her waiting wheelchair after a series of misfortunes left her stranded on the tarmac of a Thai airport.

View attachment 8171

To avoid unfair extra fees, Ms Curtis had to crawl down the aisle of the plane to get to her wheelchair. Credit: 9News.

Severely paralysed and in a wheelchair since high school, Ms Curtis was offered an 'aisle' wheelchair by Jetstar to board her flight from Singapore to Bangkok.

For someone in Ms Curtis' situation, an 'aisle' chair is a critical piece of equipment that enables her to be properly strapped in a seat and safely secured on the plane.

But when they landed, she was told that she would have to pay extra money just to use another chair to get off the plane – an outrageous request considering how much money she had already paid for her ticket.

'I didn't really comprehend it, and I was like, "No, I'm not paying to be able to get off this plane",' said Ms Curtis.

Ms Curtis was travelling with her friend Natasha Elford, who had a knee injury at the time and was, therefore, unable to carry her off the plane. As a result, her only option was to crawl on the ground for eight rows until she could reach her wheelchair.

'It was extremely humiliating,' she said.

View attachment 8172

Ms Curtis was travelling at the time with her friend, Natasha. Credit: 9News.

Ms Elford, in the meantime, was in complete shock as she watched the ordeal unfold. 'My first instinct was I was pretty much gutted. I was like, "Is this actually happening?"' she recalled.

'I couldn't physically lift her, so I felt really hopeless, and I couldn't believe this was really happening.'

Ms Elford said she also tried to find out whether it was possible to fast-track a wheelchair to Ms Curtis, but the flight attendants 'didn't really try to do anything'.

'I was shell-shocked. I thought there was going to be somebody coming. There wasn't anybody.'

A Jetstar spokesperson has already reached out to Ms Curtis and her friend and sincerely apologised for their experience. They also offered a refund and additional compensation.

'We unreservedly apologise to Ms Curtis for her recent experience while travelling with us,' they said. 'We are committed to providing a safe and comfortable travel experience for all our customers, including those requiring specific assistance.'

The representative said that Ms Curtis was not charged by Jetstar for bringing her wheelchair on board and that the misunderstanding over whether or not there would be any additional charges was due to a language barrier.

'We are looking into what happened as a matter of urgency,' they added.

Key Takeaways

• A woman was forced to crawl down the aisle of the plane to reach her wheelchair after being told an accessible ‘aisle chair’ cost extra.
• Her friend watched as the flight attendants 'did nothing' to help Ms Curtis.
• Jetstar has already issued an apology, citing a language barrier as the cause of the error.

However, Natasha believes that the airline needs to do more to ensure the same awful experience doesn't happen to anyone else.

'I think the big thing for me was that it was in front of younger staff,' she said. 'It's just not OK for somebody to be exposed like that.'

Members, what are your thoughts on this? Have you ever had a similarly unsatisfactory experience with the customer service provided by an airline? Tell us all about it in the comments!

I have experienced difficulties with jetstar as well, plus charged for a glass of water in Australia on a 4 hr domestic flight I REFUSE TO FLY JETSTAR and anything QANTAS ever again . The big australian .. my arse .

 

[Pat T]

On an 11pm flight from Cairns to Brisbane we had 2 flight attendants stand behind our seat ALL the way. By the time we got to Brisbane we knew the life history of both of them. So rude. That was 12 years ago only time we flew JetStar and avoid Qantas where possible.

 

[Ezzy]

I believe the airline wanted to charge her $30 for the "privilege" of using their wheelchair.

No good apologizing because we know there was no sincerity in this.

Jetstar already have a bad name & that mire is getting deeper. Throw enough s..t & some of it sticks. In their case l think they are drowning in it.