JetsGO, 1 thumb up, 1 thumb down...

[psiwashing]

Just got back from florida last night. Beautiful weather. Unfortunately though, on our way down, our Jetsgo flight out of Toronto was delayed several hours, then eventually cancelled due to mechanical problems. They kept us in the dark and finally annoucned the cancellation after someone noticed it was off of the departure screen.

They ended up giving everyone free cab to and from a free hotel, and a 12 dollar meal ticket voucher, and 200 bucks off our next jetsgo flight, assuming we'd fly with them.

They had a flight ready the next morning which we took, but this cancellation meant one less day on our vacation, so we basically lost out on 1/7th of what you can't put a price on, and some you can. eg, 1/7 of our paid for accomodation, 1/7 of the time in the fun and sun, missing out on potential time for theme parks, shopping, etc.

The thumbs up is for doing their best to keep us happy, but the thumb down for keeping everyone in the dark on what was happening with the delay/cancellation.

Does anyone know what Jetsgo is able to do? Eg. partial refunds for things, etc??? Any advice would be great.

[HighFlyer]

I'd say that that's about as good as it gets. If this happened with AC, you'd only get AP miles. You can try writing to customer relations.

[ferkel]

Was this a Fort Lauderdale or Orlando flight? I'm so nervous now flying crappy Jetsgo due to their unreliability.

[psiwashing]

It was to Orlando-Sanford.

The plane we were to get on was 3 hours late from Winnipeg, then they had a mechanical problem. A Jetsgo person told me that it could be something as minor as the PA system not working, aka, you couldn't here them make annoucnements in the plane, or it could be something major, like a flap won't work. Better safe than sorry, the only problem about it was they said, it should be about half an hour to fix, ended up cancelling it 2 hours later.

On the way back, our flight was delayed 3 hours, I thought it was the weather up here, but apparently the plane destined to pick us up was diverted to another route.

Thats the problem with only having 14 jets, althought, they are now slowly adding more. There's only a small chance it will happen to you, but if it does, it really sucks to be in airports with crying children and angry parents.

The actual flying part and the stewardesses were very good. I also asked if this happens often, the technical problem delay, and a jetsgo worker said, last time this happened was at Christmas, so once every couple months isn't too bad. Delays are part of flying I guess..

If its the company's fault, eg, mechanical, logistical problems, they will pay for your hotel, etc for the night...but if its just weather, then you are apparently SOL and have to sleep in the airport if you don't want to pay for a hotel.

[SoNgMaN]

I'd be thankful they found the problem rather then dieing in a firey crash. i had a flight cancelled from pittsburgh to toronto, they got us out later that day and all we got was a $20 food voucher.

and the reason you didn't know what was going on was probably because the people inside the terminal had no clue, airplanes are incredibly complex machines, the pilot/ or tech guy would have been running test and when they found the problem they would have had to troubleshoot it. in the end they needed to repair it rather then risk the lives of 200 or so people on the flight :)

[rogue]

It was to Orlando-Sanford.

The plane we were to get on was 3 hours late from Winnipeg, then they had a mechanical problem. A Jetsgo person told me that it could be something as minor as the PA system not working, aka, you couldn't here them make annoucnements in the plane, or it could be something major, like a flap won't work. Better safe than sorry, the only problem about it was they said, it should be about half an hour to fix, ended up cancelling it 2 hours later.

On the way back, our flight was delayed 3 hours, I thought it was the weather up here, but apparently the plane destined to pick us up was diverted to another route.

Thats the problem with only having 14 jets, althought, they are now slowly adding more. There's only a small chance it will happen to you, but if it does, it really sucks to be in airports with crying children and angry parents.

The actual flying part and the stewardesses were very good. I also asked if this happens often, the technical problem delay, and a jetsgo worker said, last time this happened was at Christmas, so once every couple months isn't too bad. Delays are part of flying I guess..

If its the company's fault, eg, mechanical, logistical problems, they will pay for your hotel, etc for the night...but if its just weather, then you are apparently SOL and have to sleep in the airport if you don't want to pay for a hotel.


Was on that flight just before Christmas...but fortunately had no problems.

[psiwashing]

I'd be thankful they found the problem rather then dieing in a firey crash. i had a flight cancelled from pittsburgh to toronto, they got us out later that day and all we got was a $20 food voucher.

and the reason you didn't know what was going on was probably because the people inside the terminal had no clue, airplanes are incredibly complex machines, the pilot/ or tech guy would have been running test and when they found the problem they would have had to troubleshoot it. in the end they needed to repair it rather then risk the lives of 200 or so people on the flight :)


I agree. Even a small problem at 30000 ft can be major. BUT, it would have been nice if the people at the gate kept us better informed. It was 20 minutes after someone noticed on the screen that it said cancelled when they finally announced what was really happening.

Also, the food voucher, cab voucher, and hotel voucher, were all being handed out with no announcement about them. You could only get it if you went up and asked at first. We found out because when you have 200 upset people, word travels fast. It would have been more professional for them to deal with it in an organized manner. It was a mob scene. Eventually, some customers demanded that they make annoucments over the pa system instead of answering people individually. It was a scene from the sow Airlines on A & E.

I imagine thou, if this happened with American's, there would have been even more shouting and swearing. All Jetsgo needed was one scrony security guard who sat and read a paper while this all unfolded.

[bluetroll]

if you are lucky they'll reimburse you.

[brwnhaggler]

jetsgo has been get mixed reviews from people, they are damn cheep. But, out of the 6 times I've flown with them I've been delayed 4 times.

The worst thing just happened to my buddy, coming from halifax to T.O. Apparently, because of some of the cancellations in between halifax to toronto, they decided to stop off at three different airports to pick people up!!! I've heard of this with buses but never airplanes(i'm not talking about stopovers for refueling). So a two hour flight turned into 6 hours.....yikes!

But then again, they are cheep.

[psiwashing]

On a related note:

Also the same day we were cancelled, there was a flight going to fort lauderdale at 9am...the story goes, that a flight attendent called in sick, and they couldn't replace her, and they had to kick off 20 people from the plane in order to get to the proper flight attendant/passenger ratio in order to fly. Those people had to wait until 6pm, and I heard that one couple missed their cruise and had to cancel their whole vacation.

[HighFlyer]

Jetsgo planes might be making more stops for fuel
Low-fare Jetsgo must fly at lower altitude (http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/GAM/20050223/RJETSGO23)


Transport Canada has revoked an operating certificate that allowed Jetsgo to fly between 29,000 and 41,000 feet, forcing the carrier to run its flights at 28,000, an altitude less efficient for fuel consumption.

[ShopperfiendTO]

On a related note:

Also the same day we were cancelled, there was a flight going to fort lauderdale at 9am...the story goes, that a flight attendent called in sick, and they couldn't replace her, and they had to kick off 20 people from the plane in order to get to the proper flight attendant/passenger ratio in order to fly. Those people had to wait until 6pm, and I heard that one couple missed their cruise and had to cancel their whole vacation.


I have a hard time sympathizing with the one couple that missed their cruise because they were kicked out... if the airline has to kick people off (in the above situation, it's analogous to overselling the flight), it asks for volunteers (along with the fare voucher carrots) first.

This is usually always enough to get the numbers they need but if it's not, then they would strike people off by the "importance" of the trip - single travellers without connections, etc.

So I don't think that the couple was really forced out of the flight - I bet that they just gambled that they could get the carrots and just make their cruise too. They apparently lost that bet and so, too bad - they shouldn't have taken the carrots in the first place. Hopefully they had trip cancellation insurance that covers this type of situation.

If they really wanted to make the cruise, they could have booked alternative flights as well.

[DavidY]

A co-worker just had a bad experience with Jetsgo on an inter-BC flight last weekend....1st and last experience. Although she does a lot of travelling, she won't be flying via Jetsgo anymore.

She said that the flight attendants were hard to understand and at least one was sleeping during a part of the flight as it circled the Vancouver area for several hours due to foggy conditions....and then returned back to the city of origin and then flew out again next day (more than an hour delay though). Flight attendants were still charging $2 for a coffee during the 1st flight...even after several hours circling around the airport. One would think that they would give out a complimentary beverage to each passenger. The Jetsgo staff at the airport were not helpful due likely to a break.

You get what you pay for.

Dave

[uwo2001]

My fiancee and I flew JetsGo from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale in November. When we landed we found that our luggage had 'disappeared' and no one knew what happened. Our vacation was only a week and a two hour drive west of Fort Lauderdale and all we had was the clothes on our back.

We phoned everyday asking for updates but never received any encouraging news. They offered us a $75 discount off our next flight... yeah right! Finally we received a call two days before we were to fly back home... our luggage 'magically' appeared at the airport! It had been sitting there the entire time! Needless to say we were anxious to get our bag back, but they wouldn't send it to where we were staying... they wanted us to pay for it, which of course we refused and after much arguing had JetsGo foot the bill.

Once we got home I proceeded to contact JetsGo customer service. Emails were sent back and forth with the same answers. At the end of it all the offer was still $75 off the next purchase of a ticket. No thanks... I will be taking my business elsewhere!

[Xax]

Those people had to wait until 6pm, and I heard that one couple missed their cruise and had to cancel their whole vacation.
Hehe, a good reminder to buy all-inclusive travel insurance :)

[Hellfire]

Jetsgo = GOLATE

For $15 more I would have went with AC.

[bembem]

Everyone, please try HMY.

I guarantee, from personal experience, that HMY is better than both WestJet and Jetsgo!

It's always been cheaper and you get free meals, free wine, free toilettes, and 2 movies for long flights.

Have taken Jetsgo a few times before and it was horrible. Horrible staff, horrible customer service, always late, and you always have to pay for food and drinks!

If you're reading this Jetsgo, you suck! You have to RETRAIN your staff, and FIX YOUR PLANES!

[Hellfire]

I'm on hold with GoLate right now, itz been over 45 mins and I still haven't spoken to a single person. I need to cancel a flight...

[jayme2005]

The probleam with them is they have a very limted service.From to you can only go to vancouver.Besides that they only go to palm springs/vegas/maui/honolulu.If your going from to to say vegas your won't save any cash $148 to vancouver and then $130 to vegas.

[ferkel]

I'm on hold with GoLate right now, itz been over 45 mins and I still haven't spoken to a single person. I need to cancel a flight...

Do you get your money back, or just a credit?

[Mooseport]

Everyone, please try HMY.

I guarantee, from personal experience, that HMY is better than both WestJet and Jetsgo!

It's always been cheaper and you get free meals, free wine, free toilettes, and 2 movies for long flights.

Have taken Jetsgo a few times before and it was horrible. Horrible staff, horrible customer service, always late, and you always have to pay for food and drinks!

If you're reading this Jetsgo, you suck! You have to RETRAIN your staff, and FIX YOUR PLANES!

I agree. I took a flight with HMY from Toronto to Vancouver in the summer and I thought the service was awesome. Then again I've always had great service and on time flights with Air Canada too (unfortunately not everyone in my family has had the same). I've had many flight delays with Westjet and Jetsgo. Although Westjet handled their delays/cancellations very well, I can't say the same with Jetsgo.

If I had to rank the airlines (from my experience) I would say:
1) Air Canada (they are equal with HMY but their planes are newer for major routes)
2) HMY (great all around)
3) Westjet (Good overall, but I've shipped fragile things many times with them only to see them arrive wet, crushed, and coming down the conveyor belt rather than coming from the fragile pick-up area)
4) Jetsgo (Bad service - you get what you pay for)

[Carnage]

I'm just blanking here. What's HMY?

I've had very little experience with airlines. I flew to LA and back last year on American Airlines and had great flights both ways.

Next week I'm flying to LA there on Delta(operated by Et Al Isreal), and coming back on AA.

[Hellfire]

Do you get your money back, or just a credit?

Just a credit. I managed to get the entire fare back as credit, no $35 fee. However, it did take over 3 hours....