If you think a lot of Australians complain about Jetstar on social media, you’re right.
The Australian airline is the third most unpopular airline in the world, according to a survey.
Researchers at currency exchange service S Money analysed thousands of tweets using an AI sentiment tool to discover the most loved and hated airlines worldwide – according to what customers said about them on Twitter.
If a tweet had a more than 50 per cent predicted probability of being positive, it was labelled as positive and vice versa for negative tweets.
Jetstar, which is owned by the Qantas Group, received the third-highest percentage of negative tweets of any airline, at 68 per cent.
Here are the 10 most unpopular airlines worldwide:
As the third-most unpopular airline in the world, Jetstar joins a list that includes other low-cost carriers such as Go First and TAP Air Portugal.
Although these airlines may offer low fares, it appears that many passengers are fed up with sub-optimal service.
Jetstar also topped the list of the most-hated Australian airlines, ahead of Qantas, with 67.5 per cent negative tweets.
Jetstar’s unfavourable ranking won’t come as a shock to its customers who have endured grounded or cancelled flights, lost luggage and long delays in recent months.
According to S Money’s findings, negative tweets about Jetstar often concerned issues of lost and damaged luggage.
The report implies that Jetstar needs significant improvements to enhance its reputation among customers.
Passengers left high and dry
The results come as more Jetstar passengers have been left stranded after a technical problem with one of the airline’s Dreamliners.
Passengers on flight JQ64 from Ho Chi Minh City to Melbourne were left in limbo for hours early on Tuesday after a problem with one of the plane’s doors meant it could not take off.
And earlier in the week, furious passengers were stuck on the tarmac in Alice Springs for nearly seven hours.
Hundreds of passengers, confined to the grounded plane on Sunday with limited food and no in-flight entertainment, complained they were not allowed to disembark for fresh air.
The Jetstar flight had taken off from Bangkok en route to Melbourne, but it was diverted to the Northern Territory due to a medical emergency on board.
After landing about 7.20am (CST) on Sunday, the plane was grounded for more than six hours after an electrical fault was detected.
In December, a Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Bali was forced to make an unscheduled return to Melbourne after landing was denied.
The flight made it all the way to the other side of Australia before it was forced to make a U-turn.
The plane had not been approved to land by Indonesian authorities.
Domestic on-time performance
Jetstar’s unreliability is evident in the latest BITRE data released by the Department of Transport.
When it comes to getting passengers where they need to go on time, Jetstar consistently underperforms.
Performance across all major airlines averaged 76.7 per cent for on-time arrivals for January, with Jetstar trailing behind all other carriers at 65.4 per cent.
The budget airline cancelled flights at a rate higher than any other carrier in January – 7.3 per cent compared with 3.1 across the industry.
