Jetstar passengers crammed together despite rows of empty seats
Jetstar passengers crammed together despite rows of empty seats
Stephen Johnson For Daily Mail Australia
3 hrs ago
A passenger on a packed Gold Coast to Adelaide Jetstar flight was told she wasn't allowed to move to a row of empty seats.
Travellers were bunched up together on the left-hand side of Saturday night flight JQ455.
In economy, strangers were seated right next to each other on the Qantas budget subsidiary flight direct from Coolangatta airport to the South Australian capital.
The passenger was also told travellers had to remain in their allocated seat, even if this breached social distancing rules that would normally apply on buses and trains, so health authorities could more easily carry out contact tracing.
On the right-hand side of the plane, however, some rows of seats remained empty, as the one-hour and 40 minute flight took off at 7.10pm on August 15.
A 'crammed in' passenger on this Jetstar flight, who wished to remain anonymous, said had asked to be allowed to move to an empty row of seats only to be told that was against the rules.
'Just made me angry all the spare seats,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
'Air hostess said it's just been the way the seats are booked.
'I guess she means if there's a COVID case, they need to identify people sitting close but I said to her, "Yes, but the airline allocated the seats".'
Despite the crowding, not all passengers were wearing face masks - as it mandated on public transport in Victoria and strongly advised in New South Wales.
Qantas, Jetstar's parent company, advises travellers to wear face masks on flights but this is not compulsory.
