Slightly Disappointed With JET2

Apologies for not spotting this before.

No need to apologise PMN. We like a bit of healthy debate. I absolutely agree with the points you have made.

I don’t want anyone to think I am making excuses for the crew or Jet2. As I said before

I was certainly not defending the crew. I was merely suggesting that there may have been a reason for it, rather than simple lack of interest.

1L.

I’m not convinced by the “turbulence” reason used by the cabin crew. The only way they would know is from the pilots telling them in which case the “fasten seatbelt” signs would have been illuminated. I fly Humberside-Ams regularly which is a shorter sector than LBA-AMS and the KLM crew always manage to serve drinks and a sandwich with time to spare. I have flown with Jet2 and was generally pleased with the service though.

I think you are forgetting one basic point of human nature though. If you are scared you are scared. You cannot be taught not to be, and you certainly cannot be paid not to be. Unfortunately all cabin crew have a flaw… we are human.

I realise this 1L, but I believe if it IS the case (and we ARE speculating), that the crew are not able to perform their duty to the best of their abilities because of an incident on a previous flight, they shouldn’t be allowed to work the next segment. I appreciate finding relief crews for JET2 in AMS may be either extremely difficult or impossible, but that’s just my thought.

You’re clearly a very experienced flyer, but put yourself in the position of someone who is terrified of airliners and flying. If the crew looked nervous, wouldn’t that make you feel even worse? I’m approaching the nervousness of the cabin crew not from my own angle, but from that of someone else. I know exactly what happens during a flight, and the conduct of the staff will not affect the way I feel beyond disappointing me somewhat. Other passengers may not be of the same opinion.

I realise you probably deal with passengers like this on a very regular basis, so I apologise if I come across as slightly patronising. I don’t intend to, I just don’t think there’s any real reason why the crew should be working if they are not physically or mentally up to the job.

Paul

EDIT:

If this is the case (and I am of course speculating) then clearly there are issues to be addressed. Perhaps the crew should not have operated your sector.

Apologies for not spotting this before. I’ll read the post more carefully next time!

Paul

Hi PMN,

I absolutely agree with your feelings about poor customer service, it is not acceptable, and I hope that came across in my post.

I was certainly not defending the crew. I was merely suggesting that there may have been a reason for it, rather than simple lack of interest.

I agree with everything you said in your reply with one exception.

If they did indeed have a bad experience on the way to AMS, which accounted for them being somewhat nervous on the return journey, I’m sorry to say but as a passenger my view on this is very simple. It’s their job to stay calm. It’s what they get paid to do,

If we are talking about serious problem then being calm is one thing, being scared is another. I am well aware that passengers expect our manner to reassure and instill confidence, and that is as it should be. I flatter myself that I haven’t ever been scared on an aircraft in the many years I have been flying, but never say never. I think you are forgetting one basic point of human nature though. If you are scared you are scared. You cannot be taught not to be, and you certainly cannot be paid not to be. Unfortunately all cabin crew have a flaw… we are human.

If this is the case (and I am of course speculating) then clearly there are issues to be addressed. Perhaps the crew should not have operated your sector.

The point I am making is the let the airline answer your complaints. If there are issues then hopefully they will explain them to you and learn from them.

1L.

Oneleft,

Firstly, yes, the flight was busy. There weren’t many spare seats that I could see.

Concerning the time it took to serve drinks, it may well have been less than 15 minutes. In fact they seemed to be towards the rear of the aircraft by the time I even noticed they were serving, so it might have been 10 minutes or less. I’m just guessing, but whatever it was it seemed to be over quickly.

I know turbulence is a strange thing. I’ve had smooth flights that were expected to be turbulent, and vice versa. I can understand the crew being as you say ‘overly cautious’, and I have no problem whatsoever with that. I do not, however, expect the general ‘I don’t care’ attitude I received from one member of the cabin staff. I also do not expect to see cabin crew acting in a very nervous and hesitant way when I board a flight. I’m not a nervous flyer, but if I were, a nervous cabin crew would NOT be what I want to see!

If they did indeed have a bad experience on the way to AMS, which accounted for them being somewhat nervous on the return journey, I’m sorry to say but as a passenger my view on this is very simple. It’s their job to stay calm. It’s what they get paid to do, in the same way as I’m a sound engineer, and if something goes wrong on a concert I’m working, it’s my job to rectify the problem quickly and effectively so however many thousands of paying people don’t go home disappointed or have any less of an experience than they deserve. I understand your comment regarding the cabin crew probably being new to the job, I just expect them to be a little more ‘in control’ than they seemed last night.

Anyway, thanks for your comments, they are much appreciated. I probably will write a letter of some kind, (and I will let you know if I do), not only to point out the fact that I was disappointed with aspects of last night’s flight, but also to highlight the many good things I’ve found in my 17 flights on various routes with JET2. I’m not really all that into being too negative!

Thanks again
Paul

PMN,

As the others have said if you aren’t happy with Jet2 then you should write and tell them.

That said can I run a few thoughts past you.

I’m curious as to how busy the flight was, but I’m going to assume it was fairly busy.

Offering a drinks service by hand rather than from a trolley is a pain in the butt, I can’t imagine any crew choosing to do so, so I suspect they had their reasons.

Offering by hand also doesn’t change the number of people who want a drink. So again no benefit to the crew, which again suggests they had a reason.

A drinks service on a 733 (an aircraft I worked on for many years) that takes 15 minutes isn’t particularily quick, in fact I would say it’s quite slow.

Several of you have said that you have always found Jet 2 to be a good airline, which again suggest that there may have been a specific problem.

I know you said you didn’t have a problem with the turbluence theory, but worth mentioning that turbulence is a funny thing to predict. I’m sure you know that it can be expected and never materialise, or vice versa, or you can have a really rough outbound sector, then a dead smooth return an hour later.

Given that you said the crew seemed a little uneasy, I wonder if they have had a bad experience with turbulence on the previous sector which made them a little overly cautious on your flight.

Of course someone skilled in dealing with people would have been able to deal with this without leaving the perceptions that you were left with. And that is where I think they have failed. Perhaps part of the problem is lack of experience. By it’s very nature as a relatively new company Jet2’s cabin crew will mostly be fairly new to the role.

Of course it may just be that the crew were having a bad day, needed to get the bars counted and couldn’t be bothered, but if you write to Jet2 (or had spoken to the senior crew member at the time) you have a chance of getting a proper explanation if there was one. And if there wasn’t one then the crew in question can be spoken to, to ensure an improvement next time.

Let us know if you do write,

1L.

Thats a shame mate, as with you, my experiences with Jet2 have been excellent, and that does surprise me. Lets hope it was just an isolated incident.

It is a shame, and it’s an attitude I’ve seen (luckily not often) with other airlines, though it’s all the more disappointing to see it from an airline I know so well. I’m absolutely certain this is an isolated incident, but I think that makes it worse in some ways.

Ah well, maybe I’ll write to JET2 and let them know.

Paul

Thats a shame mate, as with you, my experiences with Jet2 have been excellent, and that does surprise me. Lets hope it was just an isolated incident.

Indeed, send off a letter explaining your dissatisfaction. Airlines get complaints about far less trivial matters all the time.

I always find a letter works better than an email, emails can be very easily deleted, letters have a habit of sticking around 😉

All I cam say is Complain, it’s always worth it and if you’re lucky they will offer you a good will gesture to keep you on side

Perhaps. As I say I’m certain this is an isolated incident, but maybe that’s more of a reason to complain? I’ve always considered JET2 service as good as many full fare airines, you just have to pay for drinks and food, which is why I was so disappointed.

Paul

All I cam say is Complain, it’s always worth it and if you’re lucky they will offer you a good will gesture to keep you on side