Qantas? JetStar? Who the f@$% am I flying with?

Just a short missive to Qantas about a flight experience I had with them recently. I must admit, I wasn't exactly "on" when I wrote this, and anger tends to dissipate over time.

Rule number 1 when writing a good complaint: Write it as soon as you possibly can. Anger is a creative force.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I wanted to bring to your attention a mild dissatisfaction that I had recently with flights bearing your flight numbers.

Recently, my wife and I flew from Tullamarine to Bangkok. We were advised when we booked the flights that these would be on JetStar, and this is perfectly understandable, given that it makes perfect business sense to operate code-sharing arrangements.

Our problems, however, started there.

Whilst our flights were on JetStar planes, the flight numbers we were given started with QF, meaning that for all intents and purposes, they were Qantas flights.

So you can imagine our surprise when we took our seats to find that all the normal things that we would expect on a Qantas flight were not there. On Qantas flights, we expect to find meal services, drinks as well as a blanket and pillow.

It, therefore, came as a bit of a rude shock to us to find that we had to pay extra for these on the flight. This is not what one expects when flying what is expected to be a Qantas flight.

While I am doing my best in this not to harp on about what is expected when operating a code-sharing agreement, the following should be noted: It is the duty of Qantas to ensure that where a code-sharing arrangement exists, an equivalent level of service is received by the paying passengers. The fact that JetStar was operating the service should in no way be any different than if the flight was operated by British Airways, Aer Lingus or Burkina Faso Air.

On top of this, at the end of the flight when we went to try to get food, we were told that this was for passengers who had ordered this in advance and that there was nothing for any other passengers, even if they were prepared to pay.

Given all this, we decided to pre-order for our return flight, and were pleased with the results, however as we were, as has been mentioned before, flying what was in effect a Qantas flight, this should not have been necessary.

JetStar operates clean, new planes with what is probably the most attractive cabin staff I’ve ever seen. This says more about JetStar’s recruitment policies than it does about me, but they were competent and did their jobs with a smile. It is a shame, then, that Qantas doesn’t ensure that JetStar provides the rest of the package.

Given that Qantas owns JetStar, one would think that you are in a box seat to ensure that Qantas passengers on JetStar flights are treated with an equivalent level of service to what they would be if they were on a Qantas flight. This would be a no-brainer with any other company where this sort of thing exists.

I hope that this email has been of some assistance. Please feel free to contact me if you require further information.

Yours sincerely, Dikkii.

Oh well, I'll see what I get back.

Disclosure: This blogger owns shares in Qantas.