Jetstar have to be the worst airline ever (well in NZ anyway, although I wouldn't be surprised if they made it into the all time worst airlines of the world).
You'd think I would have learnt my lesson not to fly with them as I always have some issue with them. They're notorious for having flight delays, charge you extra to have checked baggage (wtf), don't provide you with refreshments during the flight (not even water - you have to purchase it), are inflexible with checking in and boarding, and have a terrible phone service, with phone operators who barely speak English.
Last year in June, that wretched Chilean ash cloud made its way over to NZ and caused a few issues regarding flights. Air New Zealand decided to fly but at a lower altitude to avoid the ash cloud. Jetstar refused to do this and forced you to ring their shitty customer service line and re-book a flight. You'd think you could do this online as it is the 21st century, but alas, you have to wait on hold for a million years (pretty sure I waited more than 40 mins) and then talk to someone who is rather hard to understand and probably doesn't even know where NZ is. I ended up getting an Air New Zealand flight (I needed to be in Auckland by a certain date for Walking With Dinosaurs), luckily; however, my break from earthquakes was cut short from a week to two days. People who were supposed to fly with Jetstar during this time but didn't, got given a voucher (which you had to ring up and claim).
I went down to Christchurch (I live in Auckland now) for Christmas and New Year recently and we decided to use my Jetstar voucher for my return flight to Auckland. You had to ring up to book a flight with this (the internet is obviously a bit too advanced for Jetstar). Because it was a holiday period, all of the flights were ridiculously priced, which sucks because it discourages people from going to visit their families. Anyway, my mum rung up for me to book my return flight and it would cost about $70 more to book over the phone than what it would to book online... Wtf... That is actually retarded. You'd think they'd keep their prices the same no matter what way you decide to book your flight. They are meant to be the 'cheap' airline after all. So my mum got pissed off and hung up. A few days later she decided to try again because it would work out to be cheaper if we used the voucher and then pay the extra money with credit card (the voucher was for $111 and flights ranged from about $170 - $270ish. Bare in mind this is for one way domestic... You can almost go to Australia for the same price...). It then turns out that my voucher is expired but on the email (I think they actually emailed you the voucher number! My dad did this so I'm not 100% sure of what the process was, you did have to ring them though) it said it didn't expire till June next year! So someone messed up somewhere. Because it was apparently expired, Jetstar refused to honour it. My mum then rung up House of Travel (she works for them and the voucher flight happened to be booked through them) and asked them about it. HoT said they'd honour it and pretty much told my mum to never book with Jetstar again, said they're always giving refunds and what not because of them. You know when a travel company thinks that an airline is shit, you are completely justified in thinking that too.
So yesterday was the day I flew back to Auckland. We were running late and I went to check in six minutes after when you are supposed to and they wouldn't let me. They close everything off half an hour before the plane leaves and don't make any exceptions. I suppose this is fair enough but six minutes is not that much of a big deal... So then I have to pay another $90 to get on the next flight. When I put my baggage on the conveyor belt, it apparently weights more than 15kgs, which was the amount that was purchased for my flight (I think it was $11 for a checked bag up to that weight). Seriously?! Air New Zealand let you have up to 23kgs and at no extra cost! I got let away with it (amazingly) and got my extra kilograms for free.
Just because you're a budget airline, doesn't mean you have to be cunts.
Pacific Blue were budget and I never had any problems with them and I actually enjoyed flying with them.
In conclusion, fuck you Jetstar. I hope to never fly with you again.
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