NSW: Stranded Jetstar passengers swear off airline

AAP General News (Australia)
04-15-2007
NSW: Stranded Jetstar passengers swear off airline

SYDNEY, April 15 AAP - Jetstar passengers stranded in Honolulu for two days after their
plane broke down have sworn they will never fly with the budget airline again.

About 300 Australians were left at Honolulu airport for two days after Jetstar botched
attempts to get them home.

Two aircraft flew the tired and frustrated passengers back to Melbourne and Sydney
today, with some travelling for three days to get home.

The trouble for around 100 passengers began on Friday morning when their Jetstar flight
was cancelled after an electronics problem prevented the plane leaving Australia to pick
them up in Honolulu.

The passengers were moved to a Saturday morning flight but the problems worsened when
the Airbus A330 scheduled to take them - and another 200 passengers - was grounded.

Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said the plane was inoperable because of a fault detected
in its fuel gauge.

"It's an unusual fault and required a number of tests on the indicator inside the left
wing where a large section of fuel is held," Mr Westaway said.

"It required the wing to be drained of fuel."

He said passengers were kept informed of the problems, were looked after at Honolulu
airport and given overnight accommodation.

But angry passengers at Melbourne airport had nothing but criticism for the airline's
customer service.

Father-of-three Braham Shnider has sworn off the airline after the ordeal.

"I certainly wouldn't fly with them again," he told the Seven Network.

"I would say there would not be a single soul on the aeroplane that would fly with them again."

Other passengers, who did not gave their names, echoed his sentiments.

"I'm very tired, and Jetstar is very terrible at customer service," one woman said.

"Everybody had something different to say, nobody knew what was going on."

"I will never fly jetstar again, ever," another woman said.

Mr Westaway denied passengers had been left in the dark.

"The airline rejects accusations that we haven't sought to get the problem rectified
as quickly as possible," he said.

"We used other airlines to move customers and people have got to understand that there
are not myriads of services between Honolulu and Australia each and every day.

"We think we have done a pretty good job in difficult circumstances," he told the Nine Network.

"We think people will continue to fly with us."

AAP acb/jt/cdh

KEYWORD: JETSTAR NIGHTLEAD

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