Okay, I haven’t been updating my blog much or AT ALL…because I have been busy getting used to being pregnant. My husband and I just came back from a Babymoon (a new term for modern parents) in New Zealand. We had a brilliant time exploring Middle Earth and basking ourselves in the beauty of this virgin land. Amazing and we love it!!
Anyway, before the trip, I planned our entire travelling itinerary. We drove through North and part of South island. Due to our limited time, we had to fly to certain places. I was ecstatic to discover that Jetstar fly domestically in NZ!! Nothing more welcoming than the discovery of a low-cost airline during this financial crisis. Anything to reduce our cost of travelling. Besides, Jetstar is rather reputable in Australia, that was my thought before arriving in NZ. Little did I know that they just started operating in NZ 2 weeks before we arrived! Naturally, as for any new operation, there are always teething problems.
As soon as we arrived in NZ, the first thing that I saw in the local news was how unreliable Jetstar is. Rescheduling all the time, refusing late check-ins and their planes are not equipped with an anti-fog system!!! That was why flights to and from Queenstown were regularly cancelled. Imagine how worried I was as we had 2 flights with Jetstar, Wellington to Christchurch and Queenstown to Auckland.
In order to avoid any surprises, we called Jetstar a few hours before our scheduled departure to reconfirm and went to the airport at least 1 1/2 hours before to check-in. Despite many swore never to travel with Jetstar again (that was how bad it is), we had quite a pleasant experience with Jetstar. Both our flights were rescheduled once and that was it. They did inform us in advance, once through email and another through text message. They even called me in Malaysia to inform me!! A day before our scheduled flight, they would text us to remind us that the check-in will close 30 minutes before departure and advice us to check-in on time. In a way, it is fair for them to reject those who arrived late. Punctuality is an important trait but unfortunately not many posses this trait.
Therefore all-in-all, we had a wonderful experience with Jetstar and they do provide the lowest fare. I believed the initial boo-boo that they made with some of the passengers were due to teething problems. Give them a few months to accustom themselves with the NZ system. I am sure they will only improve with time 🙂
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Posted by Jeri on July 27, 2009 at 7:52 pm
I was delayed for 3 hours…. not impressed with Jetstar !!!!
Posted by Fil on September 2, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Well i’m glad you had a great time in New Zealand, I love the place to and i’m from Aus.
However, my first experience with Jetstar New Zealand was terrible. This was end of June 2009 and i was to fly from Queenstown to Auckland. They cancelled my flight after 3 hours due to some fog (while other planes flew) and then bused us 7 hours to Christchurch and then cancelled that flight. Then they said they cant say when another flight is available but will be tomorrow sometime. We had to arrange our own accommodation at around 9-10pm. Then later Jetstar refused to refund the ticket and said it was beyond their control. I turned up in Auckland 23 hours late (missed my meetings with friends) and over $500 out of pocket. I wish i had your experience, but unfortunately Jetstar NZ have very poor service, not enough people have your expeience…flying Jetstar is a gamble.
I set up a website with my experience at http://www.jestar.info if you want to read more…it also covers travelling in New Zealand. If you can suggest places to travel in NZ in my forum that would be good.
cheers
Posted by kareensyl on September 7, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I’ve got to admit, I could be the lucky few. Then again, Jetstar just started operating in June and their planes are not fully equipped. I supposed it is safer for them not to fly than to fly in a foggy situation. Lets just hope that they will eventually sort themselves out and able to provide better services to all 🙂