Sunday, August 22, 2010

Flying with Jetstar - A near death Experience

Image via myspace.com

Last week I flew from Qld to Melbourne with Jetstar. Travelling with me was Junior Sprout 18mths and Elder Sprout 3yrs along with all the normal paraphanalia that goes with travelling with children, the backpack for Elder, mummys handbag and laptop bag and Junior's monkey backpack with the harness tail. Now this harness has been viewed by a few fellow travellers as unnecessary and a few dont mind telling me. Well let me just say that the horrible and cruel and demeaning harness saved Junior sprouts life, literally!

If you have flown Jetstar you will know that you need to climb down a set of stairs onto the tarmac to unboard the plane, while the flight attendants are very friendly when you board the plane some are not so nice when it is time to unboard. As 3 flight attendants stood at the doorway saying goodbye and talking about what they were up to that weekend I was struggling away trying to lift down Mr 3 while Mr 18mth stood on the plane. While I did this Junior decided to try the step down himself and promptly fell between the plane and the staircase and was dangling in the air tethered to me by the harness strap I had hold of. To put it plainly it was freaking scary as I pulled him to safety.

Meanwhile one of the flight attendants had noticed this and calmly asks 'oh did he just fall?'  where I responded 'Yes I just saved him that is a very dangerous step!' and what response did I get do you think?? Nothing just a 'Yes it is high isnt it' and back to what they were wearing out that night. Gee you think!! Maybe she would like to fall headfirst onto a concrete tarmac from the height of a plane but I dont think she would be alive for very long let alone a small child.

Jetstar you suck!

image via jethag.com

11 comments:

Amy said...

Good God - what is this world coming to?

I do believe that JetStar needs a stongly worded letter sent to them.

I'm glad you made it safely.

A bit of Karma will surely be with those girls one day soon. surely.

Travelling with the smalls is never fun even at the best of times. Hope you can manage a superb Sunday even after following that event!

xx Amy

VICTORIA said...

Oh My Goodness!!!! That is disgusting. They should have helped you. I cannot believe it they are there to help that is part of their job criteria. I wold ring and complain. I hope you and your little people are feeling ok......I cannot imagine how scared you would have been.

Vicki x

Bianca Jae Makes Stuff said...

Far out!! That is shocking, in the true sense of the word!! I hope you are going to write a long letter, making sure you state the flight no. so they can sack those useless girls!!

I can't even imagine how scared you must have been :( xox

Unknown said...

Geez Victoria thats horrible!!
You definatly need to write a nasty letter to them, better still complain to the media!

I am so glad that your little sprout is ok,and came out of the horror in once piece.

I too had one of those little harnesses from my youngest, and the that little puppy harness saved him more times than I care to remember.

Those little Jetstar girls should be ashamed of themselves and sometime need to walk in the shoes of a mother.

I am glad that you are all ok. JetStar sucks!

Kerry xxx

Anonymous said...

Oh no! Glad your little one is ok. You'd think that they'd have someone helping people off with a big step surely - even just coz you had the kids!

On the top of the harness, I used to think that they weren't really that necessary (never said it to people though!) - until child! I had then Miss 2 with one on when out at a busy market. My hands were full and i was still holding her hand, but she wriggled out of my grip faster than i could grab her again and took a step towards the road! Very thankful for the harness!

Hope you are all ok after the fright.

little love said...

I hate to say it, but I'm not surprised. We flew with Jetstar to Perth when I Pip was 19 months old & I was 17 weeks pregnant. They were awful - they didn't offer any help & when I asked for some it was very begrudgingly given, but they made me feel like crap. Thank god your little one was ok. xx

christine_percy said...

That's shocking - JetStar are terrible to fly with esp with children. I've had issues with small children and those stairs myself but nothing like what you experienced.

With regards to the harness - I love them. My eldest was (and still is) a runner. For his safety and my sanity we used it from the time he could walk at 9 months to when he could comprehend how dangerous it is to run off. We are now using it on our 18th old as she too like to take off.

ZippyZippy said...

Oh, Victoria, what a horrible experience.
Good ol Monkey Tail Saves the day!
Tes, Karma will get those girls!

Melissa said...

Yowser, that sounds terrifying. Lucky you did have the harness. It is really upsetting when people don't acknowledge that something awful could have happened. Hope little Sprout is ok xx

Erica said...

That is shocking! you must of been totally shook up...and I'm sure thats an understatement! How horrible and casual was that woman!!!I bet that air of uncaring was also her hoping you wouldnt make a big deal out of it......causing an inconvenience to her! Gosh it pisses me off sometimes how little others can care ...even if you are total strangers. A little love can far!

Indi - KID independent said...

Holy Crap! How scary... so typical of the response though! Hope it didn't frighten your little one too much.