"No empathy": Grandmother kicked off flight over unpaid fee
An outraged father has unleashed over Jetstar's decision to remove his mother-in-law and children from a flight over an unpaid fee.
Father of three Jay Tee took to social media to slam the airline over their treatment of his family on their flight from the Gold Coast to Melbourne.
Tee's kids were being accompanied on the flight by their grandmother, who was informed she needed to pay a $35 fee to check in a bag.
The woman forgot to pay the fee before boarding, on what was her second time ever on a plane.
Tee was then contacted by the airline after his family had boarded and was told they would not be allowed to travel if the charge wasn’t paid for within 10 minutes.
“They informed me I had 10 minutes to pay $35 or else they would be removed from the flight extra fees would accur (sic) for holding up the flight,” he said.
“I hung up transferred funds and rang back within four minutes. Jetstar did not take payment and had removed my mother-in-law from the flight altogether leaving her and 3 kids stranded at Gold Coast airport no water no food.”
The father slammed the airline for “disgusting service” that was “the worst I have ever been treated” by a company.
“My anger is not with the payment for luggage, it is how my mother-in-law and three kids under 10 were treated.”
The airline confirmed the family were removed from the flight, with a spokesperson saying the airline was trying to contact Mr Tee for more information.
“We’re really sorry to hear about the customers’ experience and are reaching out to get a better understanding about what happened,” the spokesperson said.
The airline went on to say they had no record of any payment being made, while also clarifying they asked the elderly woman to move to the service desk multiple times to pay the fee, but she didn't.
Mr Tee says he was then forced to pay another $600 to book the group on the next flight to Melbourne with discount airline Bonza.
The situation stirred up debate on social media, with some blaming the woman for the mishap.
“I don’t understand how this is anybody but the mother in laws fault, She would have checked bags in then should have walked over and paid for the excess, not boarded the plane,” one person wrote.
But others defended her, and the fact the charge was paid by Mr Tee.
“Would have thought Jetstar could have helped in some way, but that sums up Jetstar’s customer service for you. No empathy what so ever.”
Image credits: Facebook / Getty Images