Is It Just Me or Jetstar and Qantas Are Not That Bad

In the last 2 years to date I’ve taken 49 flights from both Jetstar and Qantas. A lot more pre COVID going back to 2012.

I’m well aware of the common held view that they’re both terrible but in my experience they were not that bad especially JQ with the bad rap.

Apart from the 30mins - 1 hour delay with Jetstar, the only 3 times I’ve got a significant delays were with:

  • 5 hours delay with Qantas going from Melbourne to Auckland but they didn’t cancel the flight and that was in June 2022 when COVID travel were a thing.
  • 3 hours delay with Jetstar going from Sydney to Ho Chi Minh in July 2022.
  • 2 hours delay with Jetstar going from Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City in May 2023.
  • 1 cancelled flight from Sydney to Ho Chi Minh in October 2022. Rescheduled to 22 hours later.
  • 1 misplaced pram in July 2022. Got it 24 hours later.

3 major delays and 1 cancel and 1 missing pram out of 49 flights is a pretty good run IMO.

Am I too easy on them or have I been considered lucky ?

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Comments

  • +1

    Well, we found Alan Joyce's OzB account at last!

    • +4

      shhhhhhh. I earn 24mil a year but still get a rush when there's a bargain on.

  • I'm about to take an international flight with Jetstar and my first flight with Jetstar in a long time so will let you know about how that goes but I have always found Qantas domestic to be great. Used to fly Virgin from time to time (pre Bain era) and it was sh!thouse.

    • I see Virgin doesn't get a bad rap as Jetstar does but obviously a lot of comments here have problem with them yet somehow they get away.

  • +1

    Then obviously your standard is pretty low.

    Please compare this to Singapore Airlines (and before you protest they are not comparible, they are. Both are national carriers and both have A380s and both have international travel) and you will see the difference is heaven and earth.

    For a start, SQ doesn't delay as often as Qantas/Jetstar. In fact, so far my experience with SQ has been no delay.

    • sure. My SQ from Auckland to Singapore in March 2022 was delayed by 1.5 hours. 22:00 to 23:30. but again I got to where I want to go so not a big deal.

      • I think the issue is QF/Jetstar have a bigger propensity to cancel. With SQ, had a delayed departure but arrival on time so to me, that doesn't count as delay. I don't know how but that was the case the last time I travelled SG to MEL overnight on A380.

    • I only flew SQ once and that was the first time I experienced delays, they took us onto the plane twice, the first time we were sitting inside for hours on end for their engineer to fix some mechanical issue only to escort all of us out to do it again in another hour. In total that 2 hour flight turned into something like 5+ hours.

      I had pretty much flew Jetstar since launch and the worst delay I got from them was 1 hour, but to be honest my parent's flight with them got cancelled last year and was put back onto the following date, but their communication regarding the cancellation was pretty bad. Through Flight radar I knew that flight would've been delayed or cancelled at least 10 hour before hand but they were only informed during check in.
      To fly with Jetstar and not having a heart attack you need to be a little bit agile but it's still excellent value for money.

  • +1

    The majority of the time they are good or even above average. The issues tend to be around when you have a problem everything from their phone support to desks at airports are useless bureaucratic black holes that involve being passed around, told it is your fault or waiting for hours on end for help that will never come. I fly qantas and haven't had many problems, however I submitted an issue to their support in February, 4 months later I got a reply to say I should call number X as they will be able to assist instead, when I called them they said the support people were wrong and I will need to go back to them and no they can't reopen the support ticket I will need to start I new one with them, consequently I abandoned try to get the discrepancy fixed.

  • I haven't flown with either for a long time but did fly with Jetstar on their Brisbane/Tokyo route a number of times and didn't have any issues at all.

  • +1

    If you are flying alone that is fine

    If you are flying with family I wouldn't risk it

    • What's the difference?

      • +2

        for me

        if flying alone you would mental capacity of delays and rescheduling

        if you got a family with you and especially if you have young kids, adds a bit of stress to do the whole work around. I wouldn't use Jetstar and personally had few bad experiences to learn from. It's not as family friendly as Virgin or Qantas.

        • True, that delays will be more stressful with kids but they'll cope.

          I've flown Jetstar with a young family before. I think there was 1-2hr delay. No big deal in the overall scheme of things.

          • @JimB: ya every family is different but if it was less than a couple hundred bucks and can buy smooth sailing I would fork out the $

            my issue with Jetstar is more customer service and not at the airport

            • @Poor Ass: yeah for a couple of hundred more, I'd also fork out for a full service airline… but I noticed these days the difference is much greater on the days I wish to fly.

              • +1

                @JimB: full service hahaha yes please

                • @Poor Ass: Who doesn't want full service in Bangkok?!

  • Maybe I'm easily pleased (and never had a major delay/cancellation that wasn't the fault of the airline- Covid, airport issue) but I have no issues with Qantas/Jetstar or other budget airlines. They are all not so great but they get me to where I want to ago.

    I don't expect Jeeves to serve me on the plane, but I note that all the older Qantas attendants are jaded and should have retired years ago.

    I do admit Singapore Airline attendants are better (and better looking too) but would I pay significant more to fly Singapore? Probably not. A couple of hundred more than Qantas/Jetstar, yes.

    I've just booked Jetstar to fly overseas next year, using credit from a Covid cancelled flight. I can't say I'm a fan of Jetstar but there's not much of an alternative if you want to save on flights. Even without the credit, I'd still would have booked with Jetstar.

    • +1

      The golden handshake should be revoked.

  • +2

    At the end of the day yeah jetstar is a bit s##t, but who else is doing japan return for $370. Travel insurance is a must. Never rely on them if you have a connecting flight. My family will likely fly virgin or ana to tokyo next time. But it may be 3 times the price, but reliability and flying directly into tokyo also have their own value.

    • Thank you for making me feel a lot better with your “Never rely on them if you have a connecting flight” comment.

      This scenario ruined my 76 year old mother’s dream holiday to see her family who she hadn’t seen since 2003.

      Got an email at 4am the day of our flight to Phuket. We had a connecting flight to Mumbai the next day but because they cancelled this Jetstar flight at 4am the day we were meant to fly at 3pm via an email was the most upsetting experience for my mother and us as it terminated our holiday before it even began.

      The planning which was almost a year before we flew went down the drain in a flash upon reading the email and the whole drama that followed after trying to make it somehow in time to not miss our connecting flight went down in vein.

      Never again Jetstar. Never again. Their customer service, complaints dept, the Aviation Ombudsman (another story) were the worst we have experienced by large when compared to any other business or company.

      Enough said. Thinking about this situation again makes my blood boil.

  • Greedy feckers. I will actively avoid Qantas. No issue with Jetstar

  • +3

    I travelled both Qantas and Jetstar roughly 30 times this couple years. Qantas 7 flights and ~23 Jetstar flights. Well, Jetstar is cheap if you score a sale as an early bird and Jetstar club, and I am no need luggage or meal or choose seats (You can ask the check in counter for your preferred seat and 100% rate they will give it to you.)

    So far,

    Qantas has 3 flights delayed and 1 flight cancelled out of 7 flights:
    1. Melbourne to LAX delayed 3 hours ($15 voucher given).
    2. LAX to Sydney delayed 2 hours. We boarding on time and sit on the plane and wait for AA flight from JFK to LAX (AA delayed so we had to wait for them).
    3. Perth to Melbourne (QF10) delayed for 2 hours, sitting at Perth (International) airside and no compensation.
    4. Melbourne to Sydney cancelled and put on the next flight, which was an hour later. No Compensation. (I booked earlier flight for work purposes and pay extra $40).

    Jetstar has 3 flights delayed and 1 Cancelled out of 23 flights:
    1. Melbourne to SGN cancelled and rebook the next day 11AM (No Compensation)
    2. Melbourne to SGN delayed 3 hours due to operational issue?? No Compensation
    3. Melbourne to OOL delayed 2 hours (Some of us were put to a QF flight which was took off 25 minutes early compared to the new rebook JQ flight).
    4. Sydney to Melbourne delayed for 1 hour due to late incoming plane.
    *Some of the rest delayed 30 mins but not really notice.

    Will I fly Jetstar again? YES SURE, as long as they are cheap.
    Will I fly QF again? Hmmm Probably not. They ARE EXPENSIVE and not better than Jetstar.

    • +3

      This is accurate to how I feel about the two airlines.

      When I fly Jetstar, I know to expect an average flight, with add-ons for everything.
      Plane might leave on time if lucky, but usually ~30min delay.
      Cheap flights.

      Qantas is the same price, or more, than other top class airlines like Singapore Airlines.
      Random flights cancelled, delays, average service. (No add-ons)
      Why would I pay Qantas prices to get Jetstar quality without the extra fees for food?

      • +2

        Jetstar service, qantas price

        Thats the qantas motto

    • +2

      If they brought in european style penalties Qantas would be broke

  • A 10% cancellation or delay rate

    Damn, you are easy to please

    Thats a totally shit tier stat if you ask me

    • Based on what statistic for you to say it’s sh*T tier? Curious.

      • +2

        If 1 in 10 of my flights where going to be cancelled or delayed, thats pretty poor form

        No difference from any other consumer good or service.

        Leco comes and fixes something for you, 10% chance itll break. 10% chance your car service wasnt done properly and you breakdown. 10% chance that icecream you ate has a piece of glass in it

        I only accept airlines cancellations or delays if its because of weather or stuff out of their control. Not issues because of poor maintenance because you offshored it, staffing issues because you terminated all your experienced workforce, lost bags because you made all your baggage handlers join a subcontract company, poor customer service because you off shored it all - except for your top tier customers

        • Fair. But when I look at the most punctual airlines in the world and they sit at 88.**%. I say I’ve got it good since the top in the world is a pretty good base. If the top in the world is 100% then I’ll reconsider my opinion.

        • Only 1 in 10 would be industry leading across the world. Anything in the 80-90% is fantastic, high 70s is considered OK. Remember anything from wind, fog, storms or a raft of other items in any major airport will have ripple effect across dozens if not hundreds of flights for the day across the country.

      • why not type shit?

  • +1

    As an aside, why is the issues with Qantas now being blamed on Labor? Didn't Scomo give them that money? Same with the money he gave Gerry Harvey.

    Please correct me if I've misunderstood, but that was my understanding.

    • +2

      Its the decision to block Qatar airways that Labor made

      • Ahhh fair enough. The only article I saw about it was press saying they should pay the covid money back because they're sacking staff.

  • I don’t fly regularly so I’ll comment on supposed “perks”.

    Qantas gave me a muffin and a coke for a one hour flight.

    I got 3 tiny party pie sized pies on a 3hr melb-cairns flight and another coke. The inflight “entertainment” over 3hrs was 30mins of cheery (none) news on a shared screen. That was it.

    I do like their self check-in baggage system though. But Not sure how this justifies the extra “premiums charge”.

    • That's fine for a 1 - 3 hour flight though, right? I usually just bring headphones, listen to a podcast and I've landed. I don't go on domestic flights in the hope for a 5 star meal or amazing entertainment personally.

      I appreciate others might though.

      • I mean although with a good baggage check-in system, 3 tiny pies and unreliable punctuality, doesn’t justify calling them a premium airline or the extra costs

        • +1

          Oh that's fair. I have no brand loyalty to either of them. I mean I am on OzBargain so that should be assumed.

        • Most major domestic routes have actually good wifi over Australia. That is definitely better than most other internet I've used on a plane. Sad they don't have it internationally but this is one point for Qantas. (No problems streaming videos).

  • Its just you
    Customer service at qantas is a PITA

  • I've been lucky to have flown Jetstar & Qantas and experienced no cancellations.

    I've seen too many CANCELLED/DELAYED words on the airport board though to know it's a gamble nonetheless.

  • I've never had a cancellation or delay, but i a month ago i flew business on Qantas Melbourne to Tokyo and it felt average & staff felt quite unprofessional, on the way back went Malaysia Airlines and it felt way better

  • +1

    I reckon Alan Joyce will retire early because of this thread.

    • And he has lmao

      • Picked it like a nose

  • Main thing Albo's son gets unlimited caviar.

    Now the chick got in quicker, all is fine, so they say…..

    • You should read and watch all of Rupert Murdoch's stuff. You'd love it. Not just the Courier Mail, go for the Australian, Sky News Australia, The Sun, Fox News. Go full gambit.

      • I am sick of the print and mainstream TV media!
        With Albo's son tending to be a Hunter Biden, the Australian dollar dropped!

  • +1

    just like anything else, you will hear a complaint immediately.
    dont forget for that 1 person complaining, there are 199 passengers that had no issues on that same flight.
    i love qantas for longer flights, and jetstar for short flights. i never have any issues.

  • +1
    • +1

      How hard is it to:

      A) keep an appropriate list of your QFF members to know who not to bump.
      B) ask if someone is willing to move
      C) be more generous than a pissy 5000 points

      🤦‍♀️

      • ikr! Common sense is not so common after all

  • i think a lot of people follow the word of mouth but they havent actually experienced the problems themselves.

  • +2

    Where's the poll?

  • +3

    The plural of anecdote is not data

  • +5

    Courtesy of the Chaser team:

    ‘If only my flight had been cancelled’, Wagner boss regrets not flying Jetstar

    Military-for-hire, Wagner Group have been left devastated from the loss of their boss following a plane crash just weeks after he’s attempt military coup of Russia. In response, representatives for the company have expressed regret for his passing, saying if they had just booked Jetstar the flight would have never even taken off in the first place.

    “Weeks of avoiding windows all gone to waste,” said the now former boss as his plane went down, “I did everything I could to avoid dying, but now in hindsight I see I should have prepared properly for my trip by booking Jetstar, where my flight probably would have been cancelled and I would be safe waiting for hours in the customer service line.”

  • Eh? You've had roughly 10% issues on a day-to-day service (5/49), and you consider that ok?
    Imagine if your car failed to start roughly 1 in 10 times?
    Or your cooktop failed at the same rate, or….

    Having said that, I believe Jetstar is ok given the price. Qantas doesn't provide value.
    Both shove the political/social opinions of their leaders down my neck when I'm travelling, which I don't appreciate from any business which I'm paying for a good or service, particularly when belted into a seat.

    • it isn't failing to start 10% of the time, it is more imagine if your car got stuck in traffic 10% of the time. Only 10% delays would be better than every other airline in the world. But I agree Jetstar given price is fine, Qantas definitely is struggling to show value and it was a slap in the face for Australians when Labor decided to block competition for a company that just announced record profits off the back of overcharging Australians.

  • I recently flew Jetstar from Melbourne to Bangkok. It left on time and there was absolutely no problems. I didn't realise but I booked my seat in the small economy section at the front. Which I thought was awesome as it felt like a more private area. The staff and other passengers were all fine.

    I was expecting an absolute horror trip based on everything you see in the media. But I actually enjoyed my flight.

    • Yet without this thread we wouldn’t hear your normal story and would hear about how horrible they are on every single Jq/QF deal.

  • +1

    I don't mind Jetstar because it's cheap, the planes are good, I reckon its pretty safe. Why would you pay a premium for Qantas though? It's the same as Jetstar except the flight attendants look like they work at DJs instead of KMart.

  • I fly Qantas too and I can't complain except for the shit food and drunk rich bogan.

  • Delays can happen with 'any' airline it is how that manage it when it happens Jetstar in particular is a bit of a disgrace but it is very much a 'you get what you pay for' as it is generally the cheapest to sly with now tiger has died

    Qantas i have never had any issues but i prefer to fly Singapore or NZ air ways

  • +1

    If you are happy to fly with Q or J then fly with them.

    I have no loyalty to airlines. I flew scoot to Athens and at the minute I’m in Phillipines for a week on my way to Tokyo with Cebu.

    I fly whatever and wherever the specials take me.

    (This year I flew Sydney<->Perth with Q; only because of the deal). If it matters it was delayed.

    Since covid, I always stay a night now when transiting regardless of the airline.

  • 30mins - 1 hour delay I guess is OK
    once on JS, 5hrs stuck in airport on a stopover (90% of flight stayed on next leg), b4 they decided plane was broken. shipped to a hotel at 1am (no food since lunch), told to be ready at 5am at lobby for bus pickup to next flight.
    I'm told qantas etc would have a spare plane in this situation? And maybe dinner?

  • +1

    I once had a Jetstar to singapore flight. Got 6 hours delayed, and after 6 hours, it was 11pm in Melb, they canceled the flight, and told us to go home. We were told we would have our cab rides reimbursed, and our next day breakfast reimbursed to $20 in person.

    When we tried to contact CS to get this reimbursement, they told us they don't do that. They pretty much blatantly lied to our face.

  • I flew Singapore to Sydney 2 years ago (Qantas). Then domestic both this year and nothing to complain about. Great service .

  • +1

    Rather than just anecdotal experiences, there are monthly and yearly published statistics on this. See here for latest yearly for example:
    https://www.bitre.gov.au/statistics/aviation/otp_annual

    This shows that Jetstar does have the worst rates for on time flights (71%), and the highest amount of cancellations (11.9%).

    So yes, you have been lucky as on average, you'd expect 5 of your flights to have been cancelled and 15 of your flights to be delayed.

  • Why are people still defending JS and Qantas? JS CEO literally apologised for poor performance and we all know what happened to Joyce and new CEO also admitted they need to rebuild trust.
    Smh

    • its not so much defending as a "as a whole it's not as terrible as everyone makes it out to be" post.

      Lots of things can be improved on, but again as a whole it's not "terrible".

  • Haha, even Qantas staff is aware of the problem and incompetent management.

    A former Qantas pilot was onboard a flight when he saw staff celebrating the news that Alan Joyce stepped down early.

    “It was about five minutes before we touched down, and I saw staff high-fiving [among] themselves,” the airline’s former pilot Richard de Crespigny told Melbourne radio station 3AW.

    • What is really to be celebrated (or high-fived) of a CEO who is about to leave anyway and getting his handshakes and never have to worry about work anymore and I am pretty sure he will get another CEO gig again somewhere else if not Australia.

      If anything, Qantas has done him the favour of no longer having to confront Senates/media/radio/angry customers. This is the best outcome he could ever dream of.

      I mean wouldn't you do the same?

      In fact, he should have been forced to deal with this mess until the end without pay.

      • Totally agree with you there.
        I was trying to point out to the usual Q/JS supporters here that Q/JS are truly bad. I don't get the logic why they keep their blinkers on to defend the indefensible. I thought they might be employees but employees know they are bad too. I have seen the poor JS staff at the service counter rolling their eyes and complaining when another flight got delayed again.

  • Jetstar are the worst. They cancelled a flight of mine at the airport in Christchurch, New Zealand, and only offered passengers an $8 food court voucher and said 'come back at 6am tomorrow and we'll see what we can do'. Disgusting.

    • At least they didn’t lie to you and say, we reimburse your out of pocket costs for going home and back etc when they don’t.

      Coz we only got the same compensation as you plus the lies which caused us more financial costs

  • +1

    nice try joyce

  • +3

    Pretend to be a national carrier, when not publicly owned.
    Dabble their toes in divisive political stuff to please the former CEOS ego.
    Treat customers like CRAP during Covid.
    Were not the last airline flying Aussies home.

    This isn't even getting into how they treat their workers, their customers and the whole 'on hold for 4 hours thing'. Disrespectful in the least.

    • Also pocket 24 million bonus before leaving.

  • ITs just you, They both have dropped massive in service especially Qantas as at least Jetstar can argue they are meant to be a budget airlines. Besides domestic, I try my best to avoid them altogether and aim to fly Asian or Middle Eastern airlines. Qantas has way too high salaries for its top level management and then fires all their staff that actually do work on the ground and claim lack of staff is the problem or Post covid claimed the issue was the passengers didnt know how to travel after not having done it for a couple of years.

  • you seem to have had a really good run
    i took 5 works flights over the last 2 month's and 3 were delayed and 2 were cancelled (all Qantas)
    1 delayed on the tarmac, 1 delayed at the terminal as they waited for a crew to be available, 1 no reason given
    the re-booked flights for the cancelled flights were also delayed ….i haven't had a Qantas flight this year that hasn't been delayed or cancelled, 7 flights in total

    • That’s pretty bad lolz. I better keep counting my lucky stars.

  • -2

    I agree with you, lots of armchair experts with their opinions on how they'd operate an expensive airline in a tiny country through a once-in-several-lifetimes pandemic and economic shut down.

    In other words - a lot of people should be greatful that we still actually have a national airline, at all.

    • I can see your sarcasm, you forgot to end your post with /s

      • What's your suggestions then? Perhaps you should email them to Q and ask for half Joyce's pay, I'm sure they'd be glad to be saving the money with your amazing experience and ideas!

        • how about letting other carries fly in Australia, simply competition will raise these pathetic standards.

          • @cloudy: So I think you don't understand how this works, Qantas doesn't decide who flies flights into Aus - the government does. So so far, you are doing a worse job than Joyce did as you seem to fundamentally misunderstand how this whole situation works.

            Joyce lobbying for less competition - that is him doing a good job as Q CEO to raise fair prices.

            If you're asking for my opinion? Yes absolutely - more competition = better for the consumer. But I have questions about Qatar particularly with the invasive searches of women they did.

            • -2

              @Scantu:

              So I think you don't understand how this works

              no one asked or cares what you thinks

              But I have questions about Qatar particularly with the invasive searches of women they did.

              Did anyone mention Qatar? no, but you keep talking to yourself

              • @cloudy: I think my work here is done :)

  • +2

    Chances are, if you have to ask "is it just me"…then yes, yes in fact it is just you.

    They've traded off of national pride and historic loyalty for far too long.

    Their FF program is a joke and devalued at every occasion. Their safety record has tapered off. Their Non Sydney/Melbourne lounges are often rundown or hugely limited and their South African based call centre are completely and utterly out of their depth.

  • Compared to walking, not that bad

  • I did Sydney to Melbourne return, twice this year.

    Faced three flight cancellations (two away from home, one in home city)

  • +1

    I've travelled around 30 times with Jetstar, both internationally and domestically.
    Most flights leave on time and everything's fine.
    Sometimes when I've booked a really cheap Jetstar flight, it is often that cheap because the departure times are either very early or very late.
    On occasions I've been notified that they've cancelled the flight (presumably as the flight was way underbooked) and then they've put me on a flight at a much better time for no extra cost. Had I booked that flight that was departing at a much better time, it would have cost me much more, so it's sometimes been a good thing when they've cancelled my flights.
    On one early morning flight, they cancelled it the night before and changed my flight to Qantas at a much better time and I got meals included! Because of the 'inconvenience', the operator offered me a $200 Jetstar voucher. I cheekily asked if my wife could get one too and she agreed. So I got a flight at a better time with meals included and $400 in vouchers…a nice $200 profit. Many thanks Jetstar!
    Years ago they had a promo with one cent domestic flights. So I flew to Sydney and back and Hobart and back for just 4 cents!
    Also I've had to cancel several 'non-refundable' flights due to family illnesses. I produced a medical certificate and asked for a credit, which they gave on both occasions.
    Overall, I'm very happy with Jetstar and they will continue to be my first choice as they are on most occasions much cheaper than the rest.

  • +2

    I like Qantas, but completely hate Jetstar. That pathetic thing they do with the scale weighing people's trolleys right before embarking and charging for every bloody gram over the allowed is just a scam, plain and simple.

    • +1

      How is it a scam? They send you plenty of warnings about carry-on allowance.

      • Because it's literally the only company I have ever seen that does this. It's a rule rarely enforced and many people are not clear. So ok not literally a scam but clearly after your money. No other company I have ever flew with goes around with a scale handing "fines" like that before boarding. Last time I flew with JS it was a bloodbath…

        • In their defence I saw Virgin doing this in Sydney a couple of weeks ago and then charging people/checking in their bags at the gate if they were overweight.

  • +1

    It seems like for popular routes, the services are not that bad, at worst you wait for a couple of hours for the next flight. But for unpopular routes, it can be really inconvenient.

    Sound like most businesses nowadays, think of banks as examples, they have to server everyone but a certain group of people will be neglected because it's not profitable.

    My main complaint is that flights from Australia to everywhere in the world r so f… expensive. We should allow more competitions here n stop Qantas' monopoly, and Woolworth n Coles as well

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