Advocacy group looks into Jetstar complaints

Consumer NZ CEO Sue Chetwin. Photo / Richard Robinson

A consumer advocate group will be looking at the budget airline company Jetstar today after receiving a "steady stream" of complaints.

Rugby fans travelling to see the All Blacks play France told the Herald on Sunday that they were stranded at the airport half an hour before take-off on Saturday.

Consumer New Zealand CEO Sue Chetwin said her organisation would be looking at the terms and conditions of the budget airline today.

She said the organisation's advice to consumers was to vote with their feet.

"It's OK to get a really cheap flight but if you can't get on it, you may want to chose an airline that shows a bit more generosity when you get there," Ms Chetwin said.

Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said that during boarding of Saturday's 3.40pm Auckland-Wellington flight "a number of people arrived 22 minutes after the scheduled close-out of the flight".

As long as passengers were in the check-in queue 30 minutes prior to the flight departure time, they would be processed and allowed to board, he told Radio New Zealand.

Mr Westaway said Jetstar made public calls warning a flight was about to close and undertook "queue combing" looking for any remaining passengers still in the queue.

However, that version of events is disputes by a DJ, Michael Earley, who said he was not 22 minutes late and a man further back in the queue was processed while he was left waiting.

He said Jetstar had been telling lies.

Mr Earley said he took a photograph of a Jetstar staff member who did not want to give his name. The staff member asked for the photo to be deleted and then phoned airport security and police.

Mr Earley said the police and airport security did not want to get involved.

He said he was asking for a full refund of his tickets and compensation for loss of earnings.

"I'd advise everyone I know not to go near them," Mr Earley said.

He said he has already contacted the Commerce Commission about his ordeal.

Another passenger left at Auckland airport on Saturday agreed with Mr Earley's version of events.

"We got to the counter and were told we weren't able to board," passenger John Cole told the Herald on Sunday.

Mr Cole said conversations with Jetstar managers proved fruitless, so the family shelled out an extra $180 each for tickets on a Pacific Blue flight to make sure they made the match.

Another passenger, who didn't want to be named, told the Sunday paper that he was standing in line when staff closed the counter. He also booked a ticket with Pacific Blue.

"It wasn't even a 'look, sorry guys, [these are] the rules'. They just didn't care.

"They took too long to check everyone in. Next thing you know they announced that the next passenger would be the last. It wasn't just poor service, there was no service."

Jetstar spokeswoman Simone Pregellio told the Herald on Sunday that the first contact anyone had with the stranded passengers was eight minutes before the plane was to take off.

She said a service announcement was made saying the flight was due to close and no passengers made themselves known.

The manager did a "queue comb", asking if anyone in line was waiting for the Wellington flight.

However, Mr Cole said that was "a blatant lie"

"There was only one Jetstar flight. At 3.13pm I stepped up and started asking questions. At 3.30pm they put out a call that they were waiting for a passenger. Why would they have gone walking through crowds when everyone who was trying to get on the flight was standing in the line already?"

Ms Pregellio said check-in times and conditions were documented on the company's website and tickets.

"We follow the same procedure before every flight. It is our policy to make announcements saying flights are about to close. We double check and comb the queue. We followed procedure."

- HERALD ON SUNDAY, NZHERALD STAFF