Invisible man delays Jetstar takeoff for hours
A
passenger has caused major delays to a Jetstar flight simply by sitting still and doing nothing.
Problems began aboard Auckland-to-Christchurch flight JQ249 when a passenger boarded the flight, apparently normally, but his ticket did not scan correctly and his boarding was not registered, the Christchurch Press reported
Cabin crew then faced what a Jetstar spokesman later described as a “rare situation”. When the cabin crew did their routine passenger count before takeoff, they realised something was wrong. There was, presumably, someone aboard who wasn’t there according to the electronic passenger manifest. But who was it?
The Jetstar spokesman said cabin crew called for the man to come forward and make himself known. He didn’t do so and to make matters more difficult, he had decided to sit in a seat that was not allocated to him.
To all intents and purposes, the man was invisible – to the system, anyway.
Removing the man’s bag took time – but then it became apparent the “invisible man” was on the flight so his bags were put back on the plane.
“Nothing was as it seems,” the Jetstar spokesman told the paper.
As the wait continued, two passengers got fed up and decided to leave the flight, further extending the delay.
Passengers said they waited on the tarmac for nearly two and a half hours with little explanation.
All Jetstar could do was apologise and give passengers a free drink.
Written by : Peter Needham
Even if he’s in the wrong seat, surely cabin crew couldve gone through the manifest row by row ticking people off. Not as if they’re on a jumbo. Shouldn’t have taken that long
Ha, that would be outside their of their job descriptions. Low-cost carrier, low-level training. If you have ever tried to speak with JQ helpdesk, you would know that their best attribute is to echo your problem back to you!