jetstarairways

[jetstarairways]

We’ve moved!

This blog has moved to the Jetstar Newsroom. Please follow us there (or on Facebook and Twitter) if you want to keep up with the latest from Jetstar.

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Keeping you informed about online scams

There are currently three online scams going around that you should be aware of:

1. Fake Jetstar Facebook pages

From time to time fake Jetstar Facebook pages will appear, claiming to be giving away free flights. When this happens we report those pages to Facebook to have them taken down. This week, for example, we reported two fake Jetstar Australia Facebook pages (one called ‘Jetstar Australia.’ – note the full stop after the name – and one called ‘Jet Star’).

Before signing up for any Jetstar contest in your Facebook newsfeed, please make sure the account that’s running it is a real Jetstar Facebook page and not a fake one. This infographic shows you how to spot this type of Facebook scam.

2. Fake Jetstar domains

Customers have told us they have received scam emails from a website with the domain ‘jetstar-com.com’. This scam domain has since been taken down, but please make sure you check the URL of the site you’re on before booking your flights.

The safest way to do so is by manually typing ‘jetstar.com’ into your browser’s address bar every time you visit our website. (Or save this URL in your browser’s bookmarks/favourites.)

3. Fraudulent Jetstar vouchers

Scammers are selling fraudulent Jetstar vouchers online (usually via private Facebook groups, Gumtree or eBay). Customers who may have bought these fraudulent vouchers will find they can’t use them to travel on Jetstar flights. If the vouchers do work at the time of booking, the flights booked with them will be cancelled soon after.

Even if these gift vouchers were legitimate to begin with, they would become invalid once re-sold. Anyone who attempts to book flights using a re-sold voucher will have their flights cancelled. (This is the first line printed in the terms and conditions on each of our vouchers.)

The only place you can legitimately buy Jetstar gift vouchers online is from jetstar.com.

Other scams?

If you know of any other Jetstar scams going around, please let us know. Quickly sharing information about scams is the best defence we have against them.

Finally, a big thank-you to all our customers who let us know every time they spot a Jetstar scam online. Your efforts are making the internet a safer place for everyone.

[jetstarairways]

We’re about to kick off the busiest weeks of flying for the year. In fact, between 15 December 2015 and 31 January 2016 we’re expecting to fly over two million customers domestically in Australia alone!

With so many people looking to travel across the network at once, it can get a little crowded in the terminals – where we know nobody likes waiting in a queue. So we were surprised to find that one in every three Jetstar domestic passenger lines up in an airport check-in queue when they don’t have to.

If that’s what you do, we have good news! You can easily skip this queue by checking in for your flight on jetstar.com or via our smartphone app before you head to the airport.

Online check-in takes just a few clicks and you can do this from 2 days to 2 hours before your scheduled flight time. (Or, for domestic flights, up to 1 hour before.)

You can then print your own boarding pass or have an electronic boarding pass sent to your phone.

It’s super easy.

And this year we’ve made it even easier with extra, dedicated bag drops at our busiest terminals for customers who check in before they get to the airport.

So, this summer, save time and check in online.

(FYI. There’s more information about online check-in on our website.)

[jetstarairways]

Whenever you fly with us you have a chance to donate and help change lives through StarKids, our partnership with World Vision Australia.

Take a look at how you’re helping provide children in Cambodia with education, access to health services, clean water, nutrition, and safe spaces to play.

Your small change is making a BIG change in countries like Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar and Australia.

Thank you for all your support!

Visit starkids.jetstar.com to find out more.

[jetstarairways]

On Tuesday, 10 November we moved into Terminal 4 - our new domestic home at Melbourne Airport.

Here's a quick look at what's so cool about T4.

More information: 'What to expect at T4'

[jetstarairways]

What to expect at T4

Starting Tuesday, 10 November all our domestic flights to and from Melbourne will arrive and depart from the new, state-of-the-art Terminal 4 at Melbourne Airport (except for the handful of domestic flights numbered JQ1 to JQ399 that depart from the international terminal, T2).

Here’s a quick overview of what you’ll find once you get there. 

Where is T4?

T4 is at the other end of Melbourne Airport from T1, our current domestic terminal:

Getting to T4

Access to Terminal 4 via Tullamarine Freeway is from an off-ramp before the traditional exit for Melbourne Airport. T4 also has a new short-term car park that includes a taxi rank and car drop-off/pick-up zones. The Melbourne Airport website has maps and directions on how to get to T4 and its new car park.

Car, taxi drop-off: Take the on-ramp to the new car park. You’ll get dropped off at Level 1. Walk the short distance from there to T4.

Car parking: Enter the new car park from street level. There are seven levels of parking, with disabled parking available on Levels 1 and 2. Park your car (rates) and walk the short distance from there to T4.

SkyBus: Get off at the first SkyBus stop (located between T3 and T4) and walk the short distance to T4. (Note: from December the SkyBus will stop directly in front of T4.)

Checking-in

Checking-in at T4 is quick and easy. Check-in using one our self-service kiosks. If you have checked baggage, drop that off at an automated bag drop unit along the back wall (see photo below).

Once you’re done, turn right and go up the escalators to get to security screening.

Central departure lounge

Once you’ve gone through security screening you’ll walk into the central departure lounge. Here you’ll get to relax, do some shopping, and grab a snack before your flight is ready to board.

The walkway that’ll take you to your boarding gate is at the far end of the departure lounge (see photo below).

When to go to your boarding gate

T4 is a ‘silent’ departure lounge so you won’t be hearing any boarding announcements over the speakers. Instead, you’ll need to keep an eye on the many flight information screens that will tell you when it’s time to go to your boarding gate.

Flights leaving within two hours will be shown on these screens with their status bars coloured blue (see photo below). If you’re on one of these flights, you should wait in the departure lounge.

Only when the status of your flight says ‘Boarding at Gate #’ and its colour changes to green should you make your way down the walkway to your boarding gate.

Boarding gates

Our boarding gates are located at the end of the walkway. It’ll take you a few minutes to walk from the departure lounge to these gates. Once there, queue up in front of your gate and then make your way on to our aircraft.

What if I’m flying in to Melbourne?

If you’re flying in to Melbourne on a domestic flight then, from 10 November onwards, you’ll also be arriving at T4.

When you arrive, the down-escalators from the departure lounge will bring you straight into the baggage claim area.

Once you exit the terminal you have several transport options:

Car: The new car park is to your right as you exit the terminal. The pick-up zone is located on Level 2.

Taxi: There is a taxi rank located on ground level of this new car park.

SkyBus: Turn left as you exit the terminal and walk to the SkyBus stop located between T3 and T4.

What next?

As we said in our previous post, we’re really excited to be moving in to Australia’s newest airport terminal and we look forward to seeing you there from Tuesday, 10 November onwards.

You can find more information about this terminal on our T4 page on Jetstar.com. And, if you have any questions, let us know on our Jetstar Australia Facebook page – we’re always happy to help. 

[jetstarairways]

Getting ready to move to MEL T4 in November

You may have heard that on 10 November we’ll be moving into the brand new, state-of-the-art Terminal 4 (T4) at Melbourne (Tullamarine) Airport.

From that day onwards all our domestic flights to and from Melbourne will arrive and depart from this terminal (except for flights numbered JQ1 to JQ399 which are Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights that will depart from the international terminal, T2).

What’s so cool about T4?

We’re super excited about this move because T4 is Melbourne Airport’s purpose-built low cost carrier terminal.

That means:

Quick and easy check-in with 36 new-model self-check-in kiosks (almost double what we have now).

Faster bag drop-off with 18 automated bag drop units.

Lots of space inside the new terminal – enough to handle 10 million passengers a year, in fact.

Large, comfortable central departure lounge with floor-to-ceiling windows, 1,200 seats, and 30 shopping and dining outlets. You’ll get to relax here till your flight is called and you’re asked to go to your departure gate.

Access to at least 12 boarding gates during busy traffic periods (versus priority access to just 4 in our current terminal). So no more bussing out to an aircraft waiting on the tarmac. And you won’t have to wait very often (if at all) on the tarmac for a gate to be free after you land.

New, dedicated transport facilitates – including a new taxi rank, a new SkyBus stop, and lots of space to pick up and drop off passengers. T4 will even have dedicated road access from Tullamarine Freeway.

Getting ready for the big move

Moving to a whole new terminal is a big deal so we’ve spent the last several months preparing.

A few weeks ago we even ran a customer simulation exercise in which over a hundred test “customers” (mainly friends and family members of people who work at Jetstar) went through the process of checking in and making their way to a fake flight from Melbourne (Tullamarine) Airport to Avalon Airport.

Tests like these are super useful because they help us iron out any issues customers might face or confusion they might have when using a new terminal for the first time.

This particular exercise was really successful and, thanks to the feedback we received, we’re confident customers who fly with us from 10 November onwards will find going through T4 a delight.

What next?

We’re really looking forward to showing our new Australian flagship terminal to you. And, with less than three weeks to the big move, our teams are working hard to make sure everything is ready to go by 10 November.

We’ll be sharing more information about T4 in the next couple of weeks but, for now, check out these pages and let us know if you have any questions (we’re always happy to help):

Our T4 page on Jetstar.com

Melbourne Airport’s T4 website

[jetstarairways]

Introducing our new design onboard safety cards

How cool is the newly designed ‘Onboard safety instructions’ card for our Airbus A320 fleet! (Old card and comparison between old and new cards included for reference - and for 90s nostalgia purposes.)

If you’ve flown on our Boeing 787 Dreamliners you’ll have already seen safety cards that use this new design and colour scheme. Now that CASA have approved the rest of our safety card designs you’ll soon see them in our Airbus A320, A321 and A330 aircraft, as well.

We’ll miss all the funny comments you make about our existing cards, but at least people under twenty will now have a visual reference for which gadgets we’re talking about! 

What do you think of the new A320 card? 

[jetstarairways]

We’ve moved to Narita Terminal 3

Starting 8 April 2015 all our domestic and international flights in and out of Narita Airport in Japan will operate from the all-new Terminal 3.

That means check-ins, departures, arrivals and transfers for our international services in and out of Narita (Tokyo) and our domestic services across the Jetstar Japan network will all take place in the same place, in the same terminal.

So whether you’re flying in to Tokyo for Golden Week or just heading up to Sapporo for their April-May cherry blossom season you’ll do it all from Terminal 3.

Happy travels!

More information:

Jetstar’s new home at Narita Airport Terminal 3

Narita Terminal 3 website (which includes information on how to get to T3)

[jetstarairways]

We're getting you there on time, more of the time

We’repleased to let you know that once again we’re the most on-time domestic airline in New Zealand.

Last year we were the most punctual domestic carrier in 9 out of 12 months with a monthly average of 90.2% of our domestic flights departing within 15 minutes of schedule.

Over the past two years we've led in 17 out of 24 months.

Our flight cancellation rate, meanwhile, was 0.7%. That’s less than one cancelled flight per 140 scheduled services.

As always, thanks for your continued support. We like getting you around New Zealand on time, more of the time, for less.

(You can read more about this in our Newsroom: ‘Jetstar most punctual NZ domestic  airline in 2014’)

Note: From July 2014 Air New Zealand stopped reporting their domestic jet 10-minute results and started reporting to the international OTP standard of within 15 minutes of scheduled departure.

[jetstarairways]

We wish our 7,000 team members and millions of customers across the Asia-Pacific region good health and fortune this Lunar New Year! 

And, in case you're not familiar with this celebration, here are eight things you should know. 

[jetstarairways]

Have you checked out our iPhone and Android apps yet? 

A few weeks ago we launched our Jetstar smartphone apps for Android and iPhone. 

You can use these apps to:

Search for flights – browse hot fares, find the best deals, sort by price/time/flight duration, keep track of recent searches

Book flights and favourite extras – quickly book flights with extra bundles, check the details of your upcoming trips

Check in and get flight details – check-in, get an SMS boarding pass, get flight status updates

Read more about these apps on our website. 

Let us know in the comments what you think. What did we do right? What could we do better? What should we tweak? 

Suggestions on features we should add to future versions are welcome, too. 

[jetstarairways]

More on time, more of the time

We’ve been very focused on improving our punctuality in Australia during the past 18 months. 

At the start of 2013 we acknowledged our performance wasn’t where it needed to be and the entire Jetstar team has done a lot of work since then to improve our punctuality. 

Pleasingly, this work is bearing fruit and we’ve been getting many more customers to their destination safely and on time. For example, for the first seven months of 2014: 

We dispatched 6,350 more flights on time than the corresponding period in 2013

On average, 83% of our flights departed on time.

We know punctuality is important to our customers and we’ve seen our improvement generate a lot of positive feedback:

@kayleamac Thanks @JetstarAirways for a great return flight from #OOL to @Melair  On time both ways. #avgeek

In July 2014 we actually led the industry for on time arrivals (85.0%) and had the lowest cancellation rate in the country (0.6%).

Everyone at Jetstar is firmly focused on ensuring we remain Australia’s most reliable and punctual low fares carrier.

(Note: The on time performance of all major domestic and regional airlines is published each month on the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development’s website.)

[jetstarairways]

Jetstar voted best low cost airline Australia-Pacific in Skytrax Awards

Skytrax announced last night that Jetstar Australia was voted Best Low Cost Airline, Australia-Pacific for the fourth consecutive year.

We’re delighted to have been recognised by our customers as Australia-Pacific‘s leading low fares carrier.

To quote our Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka:

Customer expectations increase every year and it’s a testament to the commitment of our team that we've been recognised by our passengers in these awards once again.

Every day our customers tell us on social media what they like about our service and what they think we should improve. The Instagram photos above highlight some of things our customers enjoy about flying with us.

And here are some of the ways in which we have improved – and continue to improve – our customer experience:  

We set a new standard for long haul low fares travel with the introduction of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to our fleet starting October last year.

Visitors to our website now get instant customer support from our online virtual assistants Ask Jess (in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore) and Ask Jetta (in Japan). In fact, since we launched Ask Jess in Australia in November 2013, we’ve assisted more than 800,000 travellers through this service.

After feedback from customers on Facebook and Twitter we changed our policy for carrying musical instruments as cabin baggage.

In Australia, over the last six months (Dec-13 to May-14), over 82% of our flights departed as scheduled. This is an 8% improvement over the same period last year.

We’re also New Zealand’s most punctual airline, having beaten our domestic competitor for on time performance in 10 of the past 12 months. 

Please keep giving us your feedback on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Flickr, YouTube, and Instagram. We love hearing from you and will continue improving and enhancing our service based on your suggestions.

Finally, a huge thank-you to our customers for that Australia-Pacific Skytrax award and also for voting both Jetstar Australia and Jetstar Asia into the in the top ten best low cost airlines in the world.

(Photo sources: shig78; missrana; jamieann_s; stylistic; michi323232; per_spotting)

[jetstarairways]

How to spot a Facebook scam

You see a post in your Facebook newsfeed that appears to be a contest or give-away from an airline - maybe even one from Jetstar. You wonder "is this real or a scam?" 

The infographic above shows you some quick checks you can do to figure this out. 

There are broadly two types of airline-related scams popular in Australia these days, by the way: 

1. Automated phone scams

In this type of scam you receive a phone call from someone claiming to be from Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin Australia or Tigerair. They tell you you've won a holiday, travel voucher or frequent flyer points. But, in order to claim your reward, you need to give them your name, email address and credit card number. 

This scam is dangerous because, if you fall victim to it, you risk giving scammers your identity and financial information.

A lot has been written about this type of scam:

SCAMwatch: Automated scam calls claiming to be from Qantas with bogus holiday win

ACMA: SCAM ALERT: Scammers posing as Qantas and Virgin Australia

Qantas: Scam phone calls purporting to be from Qantas

Jetstar: Scam Alert: The scammers have the phone box 

Virgin: Automated Scam Calls

Tigerair: Please be aware that…

2. Facebook contest scams

In this type of scam you see a post in your Facebook newsfeed which appears to be a contest or give-away from an airline. You don't have to do much to enter: just like and share the post. 

This scam isn't immediately dangerous but, if you do fall victim to it, what you have done is told scammers that you're not too careful about what you read, like, and share online. This suggests you might be a good target for future, more dangerous online scams. This type of scam is known as a like-farming scam.  

Not too much has been written about this type of scam, which is why we created that infographic. You can read more about it here, though: 

Global Travel Media: Now scammers get busy faking Jetstar Facebook pages

TheAge: Jetstar Facebook Fiji competition a fake, fools thousands

Whenever we see this type of scam we report it immediately to Facebook. Facebook then takes about 24 hours to delete the fake page (they have their own review process to follow). 

If you do see this type of scam in your newsfeed please:

report it as spam to Facebook,

tell us about it on our real Jetstar Australia Facebook page, and 

send your friends a link to this post so they can learn how to avoid scams like this in the future.  

Finally, we'd like to say a huge thank-you to all the people who have alerted us to scams like this in the past and will, hopefully, continue to do so in the future! 

[jetstarairways]

Fueling local prosperity in partnership with Destination Byron

Earlier this month, I was given the great fortune of addressing the inaugural Destination Byron Tourism Symposium.

We have a long history in the Ballina-Byron region having carried more than a million passengers in and out of the local airport since our first flight took off in 2005.

While the population around the Ballina-Byron Gateway Airport is relatively small the local tourism scene has made it one of the strongest inbound markets in our Australian network.

As Australia's largest low fares carrier, we're proud of the active role we play in growing inbound tourism right across regional Australia.

To this end, I'm always keen to visit regional markets and meet with local tourism stakeholders.

As I learnt at the symposium, the team at Destination Byron is really focused on dispersing travel demand throughout the year.

For them, it's not about driving further traffic through the peak seasons – it's about creating compelling reasons for travellers to visit year round.

That's why you see draw card events such as the Splendour in the Grass Music Festival and Byron Bay Surf Festival running outside of school holiday peaks.

This is a visionary approach and indicates the local industry is keen to act in the interest of sustainable growth over the long term.

Earlier this year, we added an extra 40,000 seats a year on the Ballina-Byron – Melbourne route.

These flights complement our triple daily service from Sydney and provide the local area with a strong platform to generate sustained prosperity.

Based on my experiences at the symposium, I believe the Ballina-Byron tourism industry is in very safe hands.

[jetstarairways]

What are the latest cabin baggage weight trends? Help us find out.

How have our cabin baggage habits changed over the last few years? 

Do people still carry 2kg laptops or have many of us moved to iPads? 

Would you put your winter boots in your overnight bag or wear them on the flight? 

Do you need weeks of weight training to comfortably place your bag in the overhead compartment?

We don't know the answers to these questions so, over the next couple weeks, we'll be running a cabin baggage weight survey at some of our busier airports. 

We'll put weighing scales next to our boarding gates and, if you're happy to participate, we'll ask you to place your carry-on bag on those scales for a few seconds before joining the boarding queue. A computer will then record how much your bag weighs. 

That measurement will be completely anonymous: we won't record any personal information about you and the weight of your bag won't even be displayed (it'll only be logged by the computer). 

Participation in the survey is completely optional and won't impact your ability to board. 

So, if you're flying out of Melbourne, Singapore, Auckland or Sydney over the next couple of weeks and you see this flyer posted at the boarding gate, please place your bag on the scale and help us collect this data. 

Thanks!

- Rochelle (Project Manager)