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Mum writes heartfelt letter to Jetstar and receives outpouring of support.

Shelley Baudoux was recently booked to travel with Jetstar from Melbourne to Launceston with her children. Sadly her Autistic son didn’t cope with the possibility of flying and Shelley had to change her plans at the very last minute. She wrote a post on the Jetstar Facebook page thanking them for their understanding and kind assistance.

“Dear Jetstar….
 I wanted to express my utmost appreciation and gratitude to your Melbourne staff I dealt with today……
 I was travelling on JQ733 at 10.10am from Melbourne to Launceston with my 9yr old daughter and 10yr old son who has Autism….
 After much planning and prompting, he would not walk out from the building to the runway to get on the plane… The staff there, two dark haired hostesses were very helpful trying to help me and a ground control man named Glen even came and spoke to my son and offered to let him wear his jacket to try and coax him onto the plane…..
 We didn’t have any luck and the plane had to leave….. I assumed I had lost my tickets and all was lost but the hostess said she will switch us to the next available flight and seat us up the front…. She also said she will organise for us to try and use the lift this time…
 We waited to board flight JQ735 at 11.55am and try again….

 Again the staff went above and beyond to try and help get him on the plane….. They didn’t rush us, gave us plenty of time to talk him through it and were there every step of the way for me, my daughter and my son….

 We got him on the lift and up to the cabin door but still no luck… He was very distressed and upset…. Not wanting to get on the plane…then the pilot, Cameron, took the time to come out, chat to my son and offer for him to take a seat in the cockpit once we arrived in Launceston…
 I was totally blown away with their understanding, help and encouragement…

 At no time whatsoever did I feel like I was holding anyone up…
 And I’d like to especially mention the blonde haired hostess who travelled up and down in the lift with us… I wish I knew her name…she felt my pain… As a mum… Having to decide that we had to cancel this trip… And to have to tell my daughter that we can’t go visit her grandad in Tas… To watch her brave little face as she walked back down the stairs and back into the terminal… It was heartbreaking…
 But that hostess, she stayed with us the whole time… She offered to take my daughter to Tas herself but that wasn’t an option….she came and took our boarding passes and assured us that we would get a full refund….. Totally unexpected….
 And then she went and bought a lemonade for my son(his favourite)……

 I was so overwhelmed and grateful for such understanding staff to help me during a gut wrenching, exhausting mind crushing experience….
 I just wanted to say thank you…….
 Shelley Baudoux”

Jetstar Australia responded –

“Hi Shelley,

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience with us. I’m glad to to hear that our team were able to assist you yesterday with sensitivity and care. We work really hard to offer excellent customer service at every interaction, and it’s very rewarding for our team to be acknowledged by our customers to let them know what they’re getting right.

I can assure you that I’ve already passed on your kind words to our team at Melbourne airport and their managers. I know they’ll appreciate you contacting us.

I hope that you can get to Tassie to visit your family and we look foward to welcoming you all on board soon smile emoticon

Thanks – Anna”

Shelley has re-booked her flight, but sadly will travel with just her daughter, leaving her son at home with loved ones.

“Thank you Anna for letting the staff know how touched we were with their kindness and understanding…..

I have been able to re-book our trip and finally take my daughter to visit her grandad but sadly I have to leave my son at home with family which breaks my heart but it needs to be this way for now…..
The struggles and dilemmas special needs parents face on a daily basis is huge….all I wanted was to keep both my kids happy…..
And for now…. This is the only way to do that…
Thanks again”

Jetstar responded with –

“Hi again Shelley. I’m glad to see that you and your daughter will still be travelling with us. If you could send us through a PM with your postal address, we’d love to send something through to Corey since he didn’t get to travel with us.”

The post has received nearly 1000 comments, over 24,450 likes and 1220 shares.

Such a great feel good story. We hope Shelley and her daughter enjoy their time with Grandad.

Share your thoughts below.

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  • I work with special needs children and this brings a tear to my eye. Well done Jetstar but also a huge well done to Shelley for taking the time to give positive feed back.

    Reply

  • That’s a lovely story so heartwarming.

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  • I wish they were a little bit compassionate when a baby’s Mum’s hand luggage is a few gramms over. She mixed 3 baby bottles up to take on the plane with her as the baby is on a special formula.
    The water took her just over the limit, and because they charge $15.00 kg for overweight she was charged $15.00. What annoyed her even more was the plane was delayed and she had to use on of the bottles before she got on the plane.

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  • Knowing friends who have children with autism and the struggles that they go through each and everyday its lovely to see that there are people in this world who care and understand and want to help.

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  • I have goosebumps. What a lovely story.

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  • I always love hearing about great customer service. it really doesn’t take much to do the right thing by people. I hope Shelley’s son will one day be able to fly.

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  • I’ve got tears in my eyes after reading this story. What a great help they offered to the family.

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  • I’m glad

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  • Good to hear a positive story about an airline. A big thumbs up to the airline.

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  • This actually brought tears to my eyes. This was customer service at its absolute best. It was humanity. At the end of the day, we’re all humans and should be treated with compassion, empathy and respect. Jetstar’s response and feedback was amazing. Many could take their lead.


    • Exactly right – this is how we should all be treated, but sometimes their are lapses.



      • yeah i wish that more would take the lead. just tap into that compassion :)

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  • What truly wonderful service and help Jetstar provided with great compassion.
    Lovely that Shelley took the time to write a note of thanks as well.
    Wishing everyone all my best wishes and praying Corey gets to see his grandad soon.

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  • that is the best advertising they could ask for. So kind to be so understanding and try to help anyway they can. I am so pleased she can go with her daughter as so often siblings miss out. I really hope they have a wonderful holiday.

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  • This is such a heartwarming yet sad story. Jetstar did absolutely everything in their power to help the Autistic boy be comfortable to fly. Well done Jetstar and your fantastic staff !!! Sadly Corey may not have coped if he had got on the plane. Too many people too close to him in confined space. The size of the plane possibly spooked him too. It is breathtaking to think that Jetstar would also send Corey something special. That final part brought tears to my eyes. I hope other airlines are as considerate to special needs people. I am glad Shelley was able to take her daughter to Launcestonto spend time with her Grandad, even though it meant leaving Corey in the care of other relatives. Maybe at some time in the future Corey may cope with flying, or perhaps going on the Spirit of Tasmania.

    Reply

  • Wow. That’s awesome Jetstar. Absolutely awesome. I’m so impressed

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  • yep it is great to see compassion like this. this is how a company should be

    Reply

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