Paying for discount customer service…

JetsGo has positioned themselves as a “discount” airline. But I’ve found, in the two times I’ve flown with them, that their service is better, faster, friendlier than Air Canada’s.

In light of that, here’s an interesting comment from my travel agent:

It seems that everyone is finding Jetsgo better than AC, their fares most of the remainder of the summer seem to be higher than AC and they are still getting the bookings. Hope the momentum carries them through the winter!

JetsGo’s genius, then, is having the perception of being cheaper with the reality of being better. Air Canada can’t compete with that: they have the perception of being more expensive with the reality of offering poorer service.

Comments

Bruce MacKay's picture
Bruce MacKay on January 3, 2004 - 17:54 Permalink

I have just come back from travelling with Jetsgo. Up until this point I have always heard positive things about Jetsgo. I will never fly this airline again. My wife and I were flying to Calgary from Toronto. The plane was delayed 6.5 hours. I understand that sometimes this happens but they need to tell the customers what is going on. When we checked in the plane was on time, then 30 minutes late, 45, 1.5 was the last update. I was also travelling with a dog so needless to say he wasn’t to pleased. Once on the airplane, the stewerdess’ were not nice at all, insisting that they have their crew meals before the door would close. So we sat for another 10 minutes until the meals came. Thank god by this time it was late in the night so that we slept most of the way. My brother was picking us up and Jetsgo neglected to update the arrival time, so guess what, he had to sit and wait.
On the way home from Calgary our flight was to depart at 1pm. Again the flight was delayed. This time it was only 4 hours. I would go ask the agents at the gate for an updated departure time and they knew as much as I did. Finally after 3 hours we boarded the airplane and then sat at the gate for another hour. I believe we boarded because Westjet wanted to park their plane at that gate so Jetsgo boarded us so the plane did not have to move. Once we arrived in Toronto, we waited for our bags for quite a long time. They only had 2 guys unloading the airplane so they would load the carts, unload and then go back to the airplane. This happened 3-4 times. As well, I was told that the dog would be last on the plane and first off. Well, the poor dogs were the last off the aiplane. When I went to inquire about this I got very very bad attitude from one of the baggage agents in the Toronto airport.
In whole I would rate the flying experience of Jetsgo 1 out of 10 from customer service all the way to the flying experience.
I will never use their service again.
They need to remember that being nice to their clients will go along way.

Isabel Howden's picture
Isabel Howden on March 4, 2005 - 20:22 Permalink

I was on flight 701 on Feb. 27 going to Las Vegas.Problems
1) Trouble with spilt fuel upon refuelling. (Passenger said this happened the last time he flew Jetsgo)
2) Passenger set of alarm in the washroom while waiting to take off. Why was he not removed from flight????? The cabin crew just changed his seating.
3) One washroom was out of order.
4) There was no HOT water on board for tea or coffee
After sitting on the plane for 1 and a half hours we were not offered at least a cold drink.
On the return flight the accoustics were so bad we had to ask the cabin crew what annoucements had just been made. In the event of an emergency this could have created a problem.
The events on the outward flight spoiled my vacation as I was concernd about the return flight. If I could have changed to another airline for the return I would have. We are seniors and could not afford the extra expense this would have created. I will not recommend this airline to anyone. It just goes to show CHEAP means CHEAP