Customer Service with a Smile: The Jetstar Way...

So, your baby has just died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome / SIDS while you were on a group holiday booked through Jetstar. You booked with Jetstar to maximise the benefits of cheap flights and accommodation package deals. You are looking at changing your flights in order to deal with the tragedy within the relative safety of your own home with family and friends. Unfortunately, you find out that changing your flights and leaving your holiday on the Gold Coast early is certain to be problematic. You call Jetstar to organise the changing of flight details only to be told you will have to prove that your baby is dead or you will be slugged with AUD 600 in additional fees and charges.

Jetstar demands that these fees be paid upfront before you fly. According to Jetstar, they are going to contact the family and they are to be fully reimbursed. However, that really is not the customer service point is it? Seriously, how many people do you know who are going to call an airline or front up at the ticket counter and try and claim that they need to change their flights because one of their children has died of SIDS if it did not happen? I appreciate there are people out there that might, but they are in the minority, aren't they?

Jetstar has argued along the lines of "We deeply sympathise with our passengers in such situations and seek to be as flexible and accommodating as possible." Yeah, right! It is all about the dollars and cents. There is no compassion or sympathy exhibited by Jetstar in this instance. And, the above statement might make them feel better about themselves, but it shouldn't. Neither should this justification be considered valid as representative of sympathising with passengers suffering tragedy in their families "If documentation is unable to be provided at the time, change fees and fare difference applies — however, the amount is fully reimbursed once the documentation is provided."

Jetstar really should be ashamed of themselves in regards to the way this family was treated.

I am not going to fly Jetstar on principle. My principles are that people are more important than bottom line dollars and cents. The simple reality here is that these were extraordinary circumstances and cutting this family some slack in their moment of grief was not going to send Jetstar bankrupt. If they do not care enough for the people that pay their salaries, then I do not see any reason for me to support an organisation like that.

Thus endeth today's rant and rail.

Obesity and Airline Travel...

Obesity is a problem that extends beyond just the health implications. It can be a factor in many matters from employment to travel. In this case, travel.

A Canadian woman has been given a full refund for having to endure a 1 hour and 45 minute flight from Halifax to Ottawa in Canada. The woman, Janet Ogilvie, was forced to squeeze into about 25cm of seat space after the obese woman sitting in the seat next to her also took up half of her seat as well. The plane was fully-booked and Ogilvie decided that she did not have any choice but to endure the very cramped and uncomfortable conditions. In fact, to her credit Ogilvie did this without complaining to the woman sitting almost on top of her in order not to embarrass the obese woman.

Nevertheless, Ogilvie did complain on getting off the Porter Airlines flight. But, in essence she was told to suck it up, get over it, and there was no chance of a refund. Great customer service skills there Porter Airlines. You know what they say, "A happy customer tells five others of their experience, an unhappy customer tells more than twenty people about their experience".

Airlines in Canada have to supply a second seat at no extra cost to passengers with disabilities. Obesity is a disability. However, this does not mean that passengers with disabilities can front up at the airport and just get on the plane. The way the regulations are written require that passengers with disabilities notify the airline of that disability so that appropriate measures can be taken to facilitate the comfort of all passengers on the flight. Technically, it is my understanding, where an obese passenger fronts and check in without having notified the airline of their requirements for an additional seat, the airline can refuse to board that passenger.

Ogilvie received her refund and a more extensive apology of sorts from the CEO of Porter Airlines.

Bandung to Kuala Lumpur...

This is a Claytons blog post, the blog post you have when you are not having a blog post! If you want to know what the Claytons reference is all about, look it up here.

Anyways, the point of this blog post is to pose a question to anyone who knows or who cares to answer this question, what is there in Bandung or KL that warrants a daily Malaysia Airlines flight between the two cities?

I was doing the daily rounds of Indonesian news and came across a piece on the maiden Malaysia Airlines flight between Kuala Lumpur and Bandung. I thought that AirAsia was already servicing that route and was wondering why there was such a demand for travel between the two destinations that there was a need for Malaysia Airlines to put on a daily flight.

I appreciate that as the economy picks up that more and more people can afford to travel by air. Yet, I had always figured, perhaps incorrectly so, that the majority of passengers from Indonesia to Malaysia were domestic workers and that these individuals predominantly departed through Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta.

Not that it matters one way or the other, but I am interested to know what the demand is for that there is such a need for daily flights.

Oh well...

Batavia Air Secures Right to Fly to Europe...

During one of my many forays into Indonesian news and views I came across a piece that reported that Batavia Air had secured the right from the European Commission to fly to the continent. Batavia Air is by most accounts still tinkering with the financial feasibility and financial viability of flying into Europe.

The airline is focusing its attentions on Rome and Amsterdam with a stopover in Jeddah. Amsterdam seems like a logical choice considering Indonesia's long history with its former colonial master, The Netherlands. Rome, though, is an interesting choice. Jeddah is the logical stopover point as Batavia Air is already flying to Jeddah. The European destinations will join Singapore, Kuching, Guangzhou and Jeddah on the international destinations list.

The words Batavia Air caused me to reminisce of a flight I once took with Batavia Air back in 2002. Admittedly, it was a domestic flight from Jakarta (Soekarno-Hatta) to Pangkal Pinang. It is a short flight of about an hour or so. An hour is usually just enough time to get airborne, for the crew to provide some snacks and collect the rubbish, and then land. The snacks on this particular flight are something that my wife and I remember even to this day.

Normally, passengers are given a little goodies box that usually contains a couple of Indonesian cakes and a pastry, and if your lucky even a small chocolate bar. However, on this flight it was a full roll of "Marie" biscuits and a glass of water! The glass of water was a nice afterthought considering if one was considering seriously chuffing down that whole role of Marie biscuits then they would almost certainly need to chug the glass of water to wash it all down.

So, hopefully, Batavia Air provides some better quality snacks on their much longer routes.

Obesity Discrimination?

Sooner or later airlines were undoubtedly going to require obese people to purchase two seats if they wanted to fly to their destination. Air France and KLM will charge obese passengers 75% of the cost of a second seat. Essentially, this is the cost of the seat without the taxes thrown in.

Air France and KLM are claiming that the obese passenger two-seat policy is for safety reasons. The key safety reason being that the obese person cannot be safely buckled into one seat. The policy is one that applies to fully booked flights only at this stage (for tickets booked after 1 February 2010 and for flights after 1 April 2010 - April Fool's Day joke?). According to Air France and KLM, where a flight is not fully booked, the obese passenger will be given a refund on the purchase price of their second seat.

The dimensions of aircraft seats range between 43cms and 44cms wide, and this seems to be the key safety measurement if the two-seat policy is going to work.

Nevertheless, the question is how is the policy going to be enforced? Do travel agents have to make a determination at the time a ticket is booked and paid for as to whether the prospective passenger is obese? Or will it be a requirement for all Air France and KLM flights that when booking a ticket a passenger must supply a doctors certificate stating their weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), and perhaps critical measurements when sitting (will they fit comfortably in a 43cm or 44 cm seat)? Or are the airlines going to not only weigh one's checked in baggage but require the passenger to jump on the scales as well?

The mind boggles.

My guess is that not all airline passengers are going to be concerned about this development. In fact, I am guessing that there will be plenty who fully endorse the move and wonder why it has not happened sooner.

Aircraft Safety - The Indonesian Way

The rate that Indonesian aircraft seem to be in accidents generally, and fatal accidents more specifically, should beg some pointed questions to the officials tasked with ensuring that the Indonesian sky is safe. Yet, within the last week there has been another incident where a Mandala flight crash-landed in Malang, no fatalities which is a blessing for those on board and their families, but all the same another crash statistic for Indonesian airlines.

The statistics do not lie. Indonesia's air safety record is woeful, perhaps not as bad as some other nations, but to say that "we're not the worst" is surely no saving grace or sustainable claim to fame. On an average of one million flights in Indonesia there are 3.77 fatal accidents. The world average is a mere 0.25. A statement to the effect that this is "unacceptable" is tantamount to travellers in Indonesia being short-changed by the airlines they fly with and the Government agencies tasked with supervising them. Everyone knows that it is unacceptable but what are the airlines and the Government going to do about it?

The reality is a simple one for an archipelagic nation such as Indonesia, air travel is a quick and easy way of lessening the distance between islands. This makes the movement of goods and people easier, and perhaps even more importantly for a nation that focuses so much on nationalism and demands patriotic pride from its people, then safe and efficient air travel would really give credence to the idea of "unity in diversity" as safe and efficient air travel would allow greater unity to be fostered among a diverse range of people.

Even though this is about aircraft safety, it could easily be about transport safety in general. Those who no longer fly because of the woeful safety records of Indonesia's flag carrier, Garuda, and its myriad of budget carriers have to choose between ferries for inter-island travel and trains for travel on Java, and local buses in just about all other places.

Just during this past Idul Fitri holiday there has been a fatal ferry accident. The ferry industry is both figuratively and literally overloaded. It is common practice for official passenger manifests not to reflect the total number of people on board. Trains and buses fare no better in the accident sweepstakes that seems to be travel in Indonesia.

Certainly, if nothing else, this horrendous safety record should give pause for concern. The ball is clearly in the Government's court. Simply, to use a tennis analogy, the Government must return serve or let itself be 'aced'.

Time will tell!