In Reply to: Jetstar - Can anyone tell me good things posted by Frenchie on Sunday, 31. December 2006 at 16:33 Bali Time:
I flew Jetstar in December. On the flight when seeing prices on board thought I was overcharged with meal costs but sorted out with Jetstar on return. The hostie couldn't figure out the cost problem either so gave me a free sparkling wine which was nice. On return, trying to speak to someone in customer service was impossible which gave me the feeling the customer service section doesn't actually exist. After kicking up a stink, refusing to write to customer service and demanding help they did call me back within two hours with the right answer so cant fault that.
Someone else posted somewhere my flight was freezing but each to their own. I do feel the cold and wore my normal plane clothes (a thin cardie and long pants) and I was actually surprised it wasn't overly cold. The seats werent as squashed as I had thought and legroom was OK (have been in much worse). The food was standard airline food, the entertainment pack was fine. I didn't like having to surrender my drivers licence (photo ID) for the DVD player and did wonder what would have happened if I didn't have my drivers licence with me as I would not give my passport.
In hindsight I probably wouldnt have booked the food and entertainment beforehand as I didnt really use the entertainment on the way back. Its only a 6 hour flight and they do have shows on the TV screens but in the mad scramble to get tickets that first day of the sale I didnt think.
On the way back I had pre-booked an extra 5kg but was still over and had to pay but we all knew they would be strict. My attitude is basically if you are over, cop it sweet and pay up, that's the Jetstar rule and if you don't like the rule, fly another airline. On one trip last year I flew Garuda where they also wanted to charge for just over 1kg excess but I was lucky enough to rearrange weights into hand luggage and dump some clothes. In reality the fees collected from excess luggage will probably keep Jetstar in business and I certainly like the competitiveness of two airlines flying to Bali.
PS: They took a long time to find the pre-booked 5kg in their system after I refused to pay for 5kg again so if you have pre-booked extra kgs make sure you have a printout of the itinerary with that cost on it (unfortunately I had the original itinerary which didnt have it).
Putting it all in perspective I paid $14 for return flights excluding taxes (which would have been there no matter which airline I flew) so cant complain. Jetstar means more cheap trips to Bali (and Hawaii) in the next six months that I wouldnt normally have been able to afford - they got me there and back safely which is all I ever ask for in an airline. I am going in March too so hope that last weekend's troubles are rare.