JAF501 on March, 23th 2007 with lots of problems

[pberger]

Hello,
I had a fearful night due to a "horror" trip my two daughters had with JAF:
They booked the flight JAF501 on 23th of March from BRU via VRA to PUJ.
Scheduled departure: 6:00 am CET, delayed about one hour - without any information; they called to proceed to the gate at the normal boarding time and stood more than one hour in the queue
They did not fly with the only 767 of JAF (the OO-TUC) but instead with another aircraft; my daughters didn't identify it, but it was very old and dirty, completely white without any painting or logo outside. The writings inside were Swedish; the captain introduced himself as Canadian
A few minutes prior to the stopover descent for Varadero (VRA) the information switched to another 90 Minutes remaining flight time. After a long time they got the information from the cockpit, that the the flight was derived to Cancun, Mexico due to technical problems which not could be repaired on Cuba. In Cancun they sat more than three hours in the plane, while this was repaired (rumours talked about problems with the wing de-icing system). They got nothing as information. The airconditioning was shut down - therefore it became very hot in the plane. The pax weren't allowed to leave their seats - not even for the toilets
There was no offering of beverages!
After three hours the plane was pulled to the taxiway but remained there - without running engines - for more than half an hour - then was pulled back to a parking position. Again not a lot of information. After a while the pax were brought into a isolated room in the terminal. And again there was no offering of any food or drinks. The pax were very hungry in the meantime - so a catering service came and offered (much too few) snacks - which had to be paid (23$ for a little bag !!!)
After complains of several pax final a catering service came to provide some drinks and a sandwich.
After that - mor than five hours later - the pax were carried back to the plane and it left Cancun to Varadero. After the stopover there it left to Punta Cana, which it reached at about 1:30 am on 24th - 10 hours later than scheduled!
You can imagine, that my daughters and the other pax were very angry about the delay and especially the bad service and lack of information.
But I had a bad night too, because I heard nothing of the girls, I had no chance to get any information about the position and status of the flight (I tried Internet flight tracking systems (JAF501 didn't exist there) EuroControl, FAA, the Airports, DFS and of course JetAirFly wasn't reachable in the night!)
I'm wondering if I get more information what really happened and how JAF will deal with this situation.
Regards Peter

[Robin_Bamps]

Hi,

Can only tell you that the plane is SE-RBG, an Airbus A330-200 of Swedish charter airline Novair,
which is leased by JAF because OO-TUC has a big maintenance check in progress right now.

Picture of the aircraft :



Regards, Robin Bamps

[Pinguin]

...
I tried Internet flight tracking systems (JAF501 didn't exist there)
...

that's what i found with flightstats.com:

Track Flight Status Results
Flight: (JAF) Jetairfly.com 501
Date: Mar 23, 2007
Status: Unknown Status

Departure
Airport: (BRU) National Airport, Brussels, BE
Scheduled: Fri - Mar 23, 2007 06:00 AM
Actual: Fri - Mar 23, 2007 06:56 AM (runway)

Arrival
Airport: (PUJ) Punta Cana Airport, Punta Cana, DO
Scheduled: ???
Estimated: Fri - Mar 23, 2007 10:07 AM

[werner100]

Everyone is starting an airline
Making profit,,, but beware for the safety and the service !!
It will getting worse and worse
Derugalation is horror !!!!

[LX-LGX]

to pberger: you have probably signed a travel contract with Jetair (Sunjets = Jetair), so it's this touroperator who will have to pay you some indemnity. Your travel agent will assist you to fill in the forms. Do not address JAF (the airline), as you did not had a contract with them.

The touroperator is always responsible for it's subcontractors, and a technical problem is no excuse - unless it has been caused by overmacht / "hand of God" (like our world famous rabbit strike).

1. you have made some costs (= the extra meals you had to pay).

2. your holiday is half a day shorter then you've paid for.

3. you probably haven't enjoyed the first day either, because you had to recover from the flight problems.

[pberger]

to Pinguin:

...
that's what i found with flightstats.com:
...

Of course, I found the entry at flightstats.com, but it only contained the following information:
(JAF) Jetairfly.com 501 Extended Flight Status Results
Flight: (JAF) Jetairfly.com 501
Date: 23 Mar, 2007
Status: Unknown Status
________________________________________
Departure

Airport: (BRU) National Airport
Scheduled Gate 06:00
Actual Runway 06:56

________________________________________
Arrival

Airport: (PUJ) Punta Cana Airport
Estimate 10:07

The extended data records contained:

Date Time Source Event Data Updated
22 Mar 14:13 FlightHistory Arrival Estimation • Estimated Gate Arrival
22 Mar 14:13 AFO RecordCreated
23 Mar 05:15 AFO Time Adjustment • Estimated Runway Departure Changed To 03/23/07 06:30 AM
23 Mar 05:55 AFO STATUS-Active • Actual Runway Departure Changed To 03/23/07 06:39 AM
• Status Changed From Scheduled To Active
23 Mar 06:06 AFO Time Adjustment • Actual Runway Departure Changed From 03/23/07 06:39 AM To 03/23/07 06:56 AM
23 Mar 10:13 FlightHistory STATUS-More Data Sources Needed • Status Changed From Active To Data Needed

That is poor information!
First of all the estimated arrival time was only a calculation not an estimation, it took not under consideration, that there was a scheduled stopover on Cuba (VRA) - the scheduled arrival was 02:30 pm !!!

After 10:13 CET there was no more information about the flight (maybe because it left the control region of EURO-CONTROL).

You can imagine, that an information "UNKNOWN STATUS" and "DATA NEEDED" is not calming down a father, who is in fear about his two daughters, hearing nothing about the actual status of the aircraft for more than 10 hours after the scheduled arrival.

Technical problems can always occur - I am sad, that in modern times of the internet with flight tracking systems I was not able to track this flight, whereas you can find lots of details about nearly every flight - except of TAF !
And the main reason for my posting was my complain about the lack of information and the bad treatment, my daughters (and the other pax) had to suffer from.
Kind regards, Peter

[LX-LGX]

On 03th April, this "letter to the editor" appeared in "Het Belang van Limburg" (a Flemish newspaper):


31th March 2007, our return flight Cancun-Brussels:

- scheduled departure 20h40 was postponed several times till a final take off at 05h00;

- no one from Jetair available at the airport;

- flight with JAF became MEA;

- nonstop flight became fuel stop in Montego Bay (Jamaica);

- that stop, announced as 1 hours, became 2 hours;

- arrival in BRU therefore 13 hours later then scheduled.

- - - - - - - - - -

JETAIR - Auteur: Ghislain Theys, Genk

Ik ben voor 2 weken op vakantie en op 31 maart 2007 moet ik om 17h40 op de luchthaven van Cancun zijn. Vandaar heb ik om 20h40 een rechtstreekse vlucht naar Brussel. (Op 31 maart 2007 heb ik in de voormiddag een herbevestiging gedaan naar Jetair per sms en heb een tegenbericht ontvangen van Jetair per sms dat mijn terugvlucht bevestigd is en dat vlucht normaal doorgaat). Op 31 maart 2007 was ik om 17h30 op de luchthaven van Cancun. Na een 1/2 uurtje kwam het bericht dat er problemen waren. Elk 1/2 uur moesten wij ons melden bij een verantwoordelijke van Jetair!! Mensen die in een hotel zaten die waren op de hoogte gebracht van een vertraging! Deze mensen waren rond 21h op de luchthaven aangekomen. Rond 21h30 mochten wij onze bagage inchecken. Wij waren nu op de taxfree zone en de verantwoordelijke van Jetair was spoorloos verdwenen. Om 01h schakelde Mexico over op de zomertijd. Op een scherm was te zien waar ons vlegtuig stond. Het personeel van deze stand heeft het te verduren gekregen van kwade reizigers ( zij konden hier natuurlijk niets aan doen) Het vliegtuig is klaar om op te stijgen maar er is geen piloot aanwezig vertelde dit personeel. Het ging er hevig aan toe en vele mensen wilde iemand van Jetair spreken, maar dit was onmogelijk volgens dat Mexicaans personeel. Ook vertelde men dat de vlucht naar Jamaica zou gaan (tussenlanding) en niet rechtstreeks naar Brussel. Eindelijk rond 5h zijn wij het vliegtuig ingegaan. Tot velen hun grote verbazing was het een vliegtuig van MEA (middle east airplane, libanon) Om 5h40 exact waren we dan weg richting Montegobaj (Jamaica) Na 1h30 vliegen zijn we dan geland en moesten nu 1 uur in het vliegtuig blijven zitten, hier stapten ook nog reizigers op. Wij hebben geen 1 uur in het vleigtuig moeten blijven zitten maar exact 2h30 !!! Dan zijn wij opgestegen en zijn wij geland op Zaventem om 2h30 op maandag morgen 2 april 2007. 13uur later als voorzien. Meerdere mensen moeten om 6h gaan werken wat ik onmogelijk acht? Dit is dan de echte versie van onze terugvlucht vanuit Cancun, over het eten aan boord wil ik later over spreken!

[Flying-Belgian]

Anyway, it's always the same music. I certainly don't want to defend Jet-Air, but for more than 24 months we keep on reading more or less the same stories about JAF in the media and... their flights/booking are always full. I don't know if people are masochists. But it reminds me some stories of passengers who promise not fly with a carrier again and two months later you see them back on the latter carrier... "because you were cheaper" they reply

My point of view is clear: if you want thye best chances of seamless holidays you AVOID flying JAF on long-haul destination.

FB.

[sn26567]

It is not only Jetair. Last week I was in Schiphol and saw a Martinair to Punta Cana (Dominican Republic) delayed from 15:00 Thursday (28 March) to 09:00 Friday (29 March). I don't know what happened to the passengers waiting in Amsterdam or those stranded in Punta Cna.

And Martinair has many more 763s that could back-up failing planes than JAF.

[JAFflyer]

And Martinair has many more 763s that could back-up failing planes than JAF.

An aircraft on the ground costs money, so the ideal plan of having a spare plane is just not a reality today. The 767's are fully scheduled with minimum margin of error, just like JAF's only 767 (that is still in C-chek)

To the original complaint: aircraft brake down now and then. The problem in Mexico is that the law is very strict about people entering the territory (which explains why people have to stay in the aircraft sometimes for hours). To replace the 767 with an A330 is not that bad I think, just because it looks white and a bit dirty on the outside (it has been recently stripped of Air Madrid markings).

grtz.

[Outsync]

And the interior of SE-RBG was really nice. It almost looked new!