Blame game after Sydney Airport and Jetstar bungle

An AAP report says that Jetstar and Sydney Airport have blamed each other for leaving passengers stranded outside a terminal, some sleeping in a nearby bus shelter, after flights were cancelled.

Airline passengers today demanded to know why they were locked out of one Sydney airport terminal and told they were not welcome at another.

The problems began last Thursday night when a storm forced the cancellation of a number of domestic flights until early this morning.

As a result, more than 300 Jetstar passengers were stranded and many were forced out of the airport’s terminal two complex, which Jetstar said had closed at the curfew time of 11pm (AEDT).

A woman, known only as Stacey, said she was forced to curl up with 30 others in a nearby bus shelter until the terminal re-opened at 4am.

“We were three young females left outside in the rain,” Stacey told ABC Radio.  “There’s got to be some sort of moral responsibility to look after us, not just kick us out and tell us to fend for ourselves.”

Another stranded passenger, who identified himself as Darren, said he and others made their way to the international terminal where a worker was chastised after ushering the group to a waiting area.  “That area that we were in was quite cramped, a small area and the security guards got quite hostile and wanted to remove us from there,” Darren told Fairfax Radio Network.

“We stood up to that and said `no, we’re not going anywhere’ and consequently they ended up locking us in.”  He said Jetstar should have had some contingency plan in place when passengers are stranded due to adverse weather.

“I think at the end of the day there’s a duty of care and there should have been a process for that incident last night and sadly it was very lacking,” he said.

A Jetstar spokesman said some passengers in need of a hotel room were accommodated but he stressed the airline’s policy did not require it to assist passengers inconvenienced by adverse weather.  “As a condition of carriage for weather-related delays, we’re not compelled to find accommodation,” Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway told AAP.

Mr Westaway said Jetstar would confront airport representatives.  “We want to know the reasons as to why the terminal was shut, to leave people on the footpath rather than inside the terminal, even if they were in a secure area,” he said.  “Unfortunately it was out of our hands.”

But Sydney Airport said terminal two was not closed until about 1am, after which time about 20 remaining passengers were informed of an alternative place to wait.

“At this time there were approximately 20 Jetstar passengers still in the terminal and no Jetstar staff were in attendance,” the airport said in a statement.

“People were again advised that a 24-hour waiting area was available in the international terminal and some passengers departed the area in taxis.”

The airport also said arranging accommodation was up to the airline which had cancelled flights. “Virgin Blue provided accommodation for some passengers and other passengers made their own arrangements such as returning home,” the Sydney Airport statement said.

Sydney Airport expressed concern for the stranded Jetstar passengers, but did not address claims they were mistreated at the international terminal.

Jetstar said the passengers resumed their journeys on flights as early as 6am Friday and expected all 300 would have travelled by midday (AEDT).

A Report by The Mole from AAP