Saturday, December 22, 2012

Hobart to Melbourne and beyond Day 9

Early start to get to the Airport at 5am local time (4am EST). Final pack up of hotel room went well, hopefully we didn't leave anything behind.

Hobart airport is small about same size as Townsville. Check in went well, as the Jetstar staff were friendly and helpful.

The security folks are interesting, we have watched them pull out families for chemical bomb testing and let folks who look dangerous walk through. one guy was stopped by screening for carrying dangerous items but was not tested for chemicals. In fact Melissa was pulled out instead of him. Hmm.

We suppose to fly at 7:45am but the flight just got pushed back to 9:00am - 9:30am due to the need of a replacement crew member. I can't say that I would willingly fly Jetstar again. Certainly it's staff are great but the company's policy towards its customers is lacking. Sadly management seems to be poor and almost amateurish. Just 4 years ago we were proud to say our airlines were top notch compared to domestic American and European outfits. Now it appears Jetstar is no different probably due to economics pressures. The cost point instead of service is the company's selling feature, so I guess buyer beware. Sadly for us we are tired for no real gain. At least they didn't cancel the flight like they did to our Melbourne to Hobart flight. Went looking for Jetstar feedback on their website, but couldn't find it on the mobile version, figures. Other passengers told us Jetstar horror stories, all about poor management not the staff. Bloody painful waiting nearly 2 hours more for a flight. It doesn't help ones sense of humour.

Arrival at Melbourne continued our bad luck with difficulty in locating our car in massive car park and a higher than expected fee. Again staff great.

At 11am we headed out across Victoria and New South Wales to Dubbo. Police presence on the roads was extremely high . Saw both a rain and dust storm over course of day, both with high winds. We were extremely lucky in finding a hotel in Dubbo due to the start of Victorian and New South Wales holidays today. We have found that motels tend to close earlier here than in Queensland partly due to the day light saving.

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