travel

Australian man writes world's most unexpected letter to Jetstar but their response is the best part.

Just when you think budget airlines can’t get any worse, they go and bamboozle us with acts of kindness and incredible generosity.

Writing a tongue-in-cheek letter on Jetstar’s Facebook page last week, South Australian Jay Mancuso “complained” about the budget airline’s staff bombarding he and his wife with a “torrent of niceness” when returning from their honeymoon.

The letter reads in full:

Dear Mr & Mrs Jetstar.

Hello, my name is Jay, and you guys gave me and my beautiful new wife a lift to Bali the other week to get married. Twas a lovely occasion and I believe you also gave about 60ish of our guests a lift also. Apart from the cramped seats, all went very well.

Be kind to your cabin crew. Source: iStock.
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Now, I have read with interest several attacks on budget airlines, such as yourself, in recent years. Today I’d like to become one of these people (insert eye roll here).

On Friday evening at Denpasar international airport, my wife (still getting used to that) and I checked in at your Jetstar desk. Tired and grumpy (no one likes leaving holidays) we walked through the immigration stuff and wasn’t till we were “on the other side” we noticed that we were incorrectly allocated our seats. Prior to travel, I booked and paid for extra legroom, being a big fella, in seats 1a and 1b. Alas, we were allocated 15c and 15b. What?! That’s outrageous, I thought. I continued to the gate and talked to a lovely lady there who said the seats were double booked. But they changed our seats to 2a & 2b. Oh well, not much I can do from here.

Disgruntled as we were, we walked onto the plane and a wonderful lady, Abbey, flight manager, asked us why we had our tickets changed. I explained. Abbey then moved us to front row opposite and apologised profusely.

We're confused, yet happy for Jay and his wife. Source: Jetstar / Facebook.

BUT! It didn’t stop there. Abbey had the nerve to tell us that she was incredibly embarrassed about our mix up, gave us both a Jetstar comfort pack (love the toothbrush) and a warm little blanket for the journey. Wow, of all the insolence. Then, THEN just after take off, would you believe she continued her torrent of niceness, and told us to select a beverage and some food FREE of charge!!!!!

Landing in Adelaide at 6:00am she then still gave us a huge friendly smile and apologised once again.

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This is not the behaviour one expects when travelling with a low-cost carrier and it must stop! I expect far less of your staff and I think Abbey needs a good talking to.

man-escorted-off-plane-feature
Kill 'em with kindness. Source: iStock.

So, in finishing. To dear Abbey, flight manager on board flight JQ128 ex DPS -ADL on Friday night the 25th November 2016, I salute you. Your customer service and attention to detail was exemplary. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, you turned our frowns upside down. Jetstar, give this girl a sticker of excellence. It’s conduct like this that ensure we will be flying Jetstar again. (But can we please have a Dreamliner plane for the Adelaide to DPS run?)

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Yours in good fun.

Jay Mancuso

Rising to the challenge, Jetstar replied to Jay's post just half an hour later with even more kindness. Seriously, what kind of magic is this?

Hi Jay,

Thank you for your post and congratulations to you and your new Mrs!

*Flies into the magical sunset * Image via Jetstar / Facebook.

I’m sorry to hear of the issues with your seating, but so glad Abbey could turn it around for you and make sure you had an awesome flight. We go to great lengths to try and provide passengers with excellent customer service so it’s always helpful when a customer takes the time to tell us exactly what we’re getting right.

It’s also really rewarding for our team to have their work recognised in such a thoughtful way. I’ve passed your comments on to Abbey and her managers and I know they’ll really appreciate your thanks.

I’m sorry if I’m just pushing it too far, but I’ve also requested for a refund to be processed back to your credit card for the cost of the extra leg room seating, just as a further gesture of goodwill (how annoying can we be?). We’ll process this within 15 business days.

The customer service dream. Source: Jetstar / Facebook.

Thanks again for your great post and all the best to you and your new wife. We hope to see you both on board again soon :)

Cheers — Mrs Jetstar (Emma)

Now, we're left with many, many questions.

Questions like, does this only happen if you're going on or returning from honeymoon? Will other budget airlines accept this kindness challenge? When is the next Jetstar sale? What's the weather in Bali like this time of year?

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Yep, definitely where we'd rather be. Image via iStock.

Questions that we're pretty sure Jay is also asking.

"Pushy pushy pushy," he replied to the response. "Ahhh, okay Emma, if you're going to harp on about it, I guess you can refund our $$$'s. Thanks so much to you and Jetstar. Awesome service. Cheers."

Well played, Jetstar. Well played.