JETSTAR PACIFIC review : 12 May 2009 : by George Mitchell

Customer Rating : 1/5

We were supposed on a return flight from Hanoi to Cantho. The flight was first announced to be delayed for 1 hour due to technical reasons. An hour later, it was delayed again for the same reason. An hour later (now 2 hours past its departure time), they decided to let customers walk down the stairs to board the bus heading for the aircraft. The bus never went more than 100 m past the concourse and it turned around and parked. Meanwhile customers were made waiting on the bus for about 45 minutes with no official explanation from the airlines. Some customer became agitated at the delay, the lack of information, and just the overall unprofessional way of handling a seemingly routine matter by Jetstar Management. There was loud and angry exchanges between Jetstar and some customers and airport security personnel had to be called in to keep the peace. Finally they came up with an explanation that one of the landing lights was out and they can't land with a broken bulb. The replacement had to be flown in from abroad and that can take 1 day or 2. Jetstar had only 1 daily flight from Hanoi to Cantho so it's not possible to put us on the next flight. They did have flights to Sai Gon (about 160 km from Cantho though) but not until later in the evening. After much frustration, we decided to opt for the next available flight to Sai Gon and then take the coach bus to Cantho on our own. After elbowing other Vietnamese for about 45 minutes moving from counter to another with absolutely no sense of what's going on, we got on the 7:00 pm flight to Sai Gon. We were in luck, because around 6:00 pm, they announced that our flight would be delayed for 1 hour. Then it was delayed again, and again. Finally, when the A320 lifted off on Runway 26L at Noi Bai Airport, the clock showed 11:30 pm. Now we were supposed to leave at 1:00 pm so it was a 10-hour delay. We never heard a word of apology from the airlines, not an offer for something to drink or a meal. And we didn't even get to our original destination as stipulated on the confirmed ticket. We got home at 3:30 in the morning, angry, frustrated, and vowed never be on Jetstar Pacific again. We heard unconfirmed stories from other travellers that the airline cancelled the flight on purpose because there were not enough passengers on either flight (to Cantho and from Cantho back to HN). It is purely a business decision to save money. They thought it was still much cheaper to scrap the flight and make a few people angry than flying a half-empty plane both ways. We were so surprised that this airline with zero sense of customer service, responsibility to the traveling public, no care for its brand is still allowed to operate in Vietnam.

JETSTAR PACIFIC review : 13 January 2009 : by E Phillips

Customer Rating : 1/5

Due to space between rows the leg space is very cramped. Onboard service is just okay. If you cancel your flight, you will be lucky to get your refund,as JetStar HCM City (so called Customer Relations) will make it very difficult for you to get your money back.

JETSTAR PACIFIC review : 13 January 2009 : by D Lawrence

Customer Rating : 2/5

HCMC - Hanoi and Hanoi to Nha Trang. Good crew and pilots. All flights on time and arrived early. The main problem with this airline is the age if the planes. The 737-400's look old and tired, with missing paint over the fuselage. I hear they are replacing all of their aircraft over the course of 2009, if this were the case I would happily fly with them again.

JETSTAR PACIFIC review : 31 December 2008 : by A Attaran

Customer Rating : 3/5

Saigon-Haiphong and Hanoi-Danang. In what I hope is a meaningful comparison, Jetstar Pacific is in the middle of the pack by international standards: check-in, staff friendliness, baggage handling, food and tidiness were far beneath the standard of Singapore Airways or Thai, but vastly better than United, Northwest, Delta or the other major American carriers. Both flights were about 30 minutes late, but these days, when a delay is an honest 30 minutes and does not ratchet upwards because of the airline's inability to communicate accurately I actually feel relieved. Legroom is very tight by Western standards, but that is understandable since the Vietnamese are elegantly small in stature. Considering that a typical flight on Jetstar Pacific will set you back only $50 or so, overall this is pretty good - three and a half stars.

JETSTAR PACIFIC review : 7 September 2008 : by S O'Farrell

Customer Rating : 2/5

Hanoi - Da Nang. Aircraft was late arriving into Hanoi. Aircraft looked tired. It was a rebranded Pacific Airlines plane. Floor was covered in stains, seats were broken, there was rubbish under the seat in front of me and on the tray table when I put it down. It just felt dirty. The cabin crew did the safety demonstration vanished for the remainder of the flight. No drinks or food service. When I went up the front to use the toilet they were all just eating together and chatting. The only thing that was similar between this flight and my earlier one with Jetstar from Australia to Asia, was that both flights the pilot was Australian.

JETSTAR PACIFIC review : 27 August 2008 : by Mike Thair

Customer Rating : 3/5

Da Nang - Ha Noi, then later in the week HCMC - Da Nang. The first flight was good, departed and arrived on time, attentive cabin crew and 737 in reasonable condition. HCMC - Da Nang leg was a different story. A very worn looking 737, obviously a problem with the a/c while taxing to the runway, which was not helped as we were in a long line waiting for take-off clearance. It become unbearably hot, and calls to the cabin crew by quite a few passengers were not answered as we waited in line, I was sure quite a few of the passengers were near fainting. Even worse was the cabin crew, after doing their safety demo, simply disappeared and there was no pre-take off cabin safety check. The result was I was sitting with a passenger between me and the aisle who had boxes stacked up to his chin, so in the case of an emergency evacuation would have been very difficult to get past this obstruction. The cabin crew finally appeared after the seat belt sign was off (and cabin was cooler), and when I asked one cabin crew that this passenger be requested to put the boxes into the overhead locker, the crew declined. Attracted the senior cabin crew member, who then responded very quickly and had the boxes removed. Also pointed out that the safety check had not been done prior to take-off. Prior to landing they did it three times.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Comments and opinions contained in these pages do not represent the views of Skytrax. All features contain unsolicited input from site visitors, and we seek to exercise the minimum level of editorial control and censorship to ensure the widest debate and platform for customer opinions. We will not publish submissions that contain abusive language. We cannot guarantee to publish all opinions submitted.

ADD YOUR COMMENTS HERE

  These Review pages are designed to offer guidance and assistance to other travellers, and we ask respondents to use an "informative" style of comment and share any travel tips for the airport in question.

  Your First Name (or initial) and Family Name, and E-mail address MUST be supplied.

  When submitting comments, please DO NOT insert paragraphs.

  Please check you use Upper and Lower case only - submissions made all in CAPITALS will NOT be accepted.

  Comment submissions that require extensive text editing CANNOT be published.