A festive trip for dozens of Jetstar passengers has turned into a nightmare after the budget airline lost their luggage during a recent long-haul flight.
The nine-hour journey from Melbourne to Bangkok, via Singapore, on Sunday’s JQ7 left travellers in distress after their belongings, including Christmas presents, valuables, and essential items like baby formula, mysteriously vanished.
The affected passengers, who had anticipated a joyous holiday season, found themselves grappling with frustration and anxiety as their cherished possessions failed to arrive at their destination.
Among the distraught passengers was a Melbourne artist who had travelled to Thailand to hand deliver an $8000 commissioned whale painting to his client.
“I’m meant to meet him tomorrow, give him the piece, and then fly out overseas again, but I now have no painting, and Jetstar doesn’t know where it is. It’s f***ed!” he vented to BACKCOVERNEWS.COM.
Another passenger shared the sentiment, lamenting that his luggage contained numerous Christmas gifts for family and friends.
“My Christmas is most likely ruined. These people are so hopeless. I won’t be flying with Jetstar again, that’s for sure,” he fumed.
This incident comes after a similar debacle in New Zealand in May, where passengers arriving in the Cook Islands discovered that their luggage had been left behind in Auckland.
At the time, Jetstar, which is owned by the Qantas Group, cited weather conditions as the reason for the mishap.
Jetstar’s chief operating officer, Matt Franzi, previously acknowledged shortcomings in their service quality.
“We know our performance hasn’t been up to scratch, and we are working hard to boost punctuality and reliability,” said Franzi. To address these issues, Jetstar recruited more staff this year and implementing changes to streamline check-in, bag drop, and boarding processes.
BACKCOVERNEWS.COM has reached out to Jetstar for comment.
Under Jetstar’s baggage policy, passengers have up to 21 days to make a claim for lost, delayed or damaged baggage on international flights.
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