Jetsgoed: To be screwed, stranded, left upstream without a paddle
The Oxford Dictionary 4 the English language should soon add a new word to its database…JETSGOED, meaning to be screwed, stranded, abandoned, left high and dry, stuck or marooned (take your pick). Midnight March 4th, the Canadian airline Jetsgo filed for bankruptcy protection. In the wake of this it grounded its entire fleet of airplanes…stranded 17 000 passengers all over North America and told its 1400 employees they were now unemployed. This literally happening overnight with absolutely NO WARNING!!! Any1 who had airline tickets for that day on Jetsgo could’ve used them as a bookmark to chapter 11…YOU ARE SCREWED because they were utterly useless 2 be used for any other function. Those people had to dish out more money to fly another airline to go where they needed to go. To further exasperate the problem, Jetsgo had the audacity to sell tickets up 11 pm on Thursday, March 3rd just 1 hour b4 announcing that they were closing their doors !!!!
HOW ON EARTH DUZ THIS CRAP HAPPEN?!!! For a regular company I can understand…but for an airline this can not be allowed. In my opinion the federal government should assume immediate temporary responsibility if a company such as an airline decides its going belly up. For at least a week or 2…the government should assume responsibility of all operations just in order to get the people where they need to go.
Jetsgo was owned by a guy named Michel Leblanc who first created an airline back in 1986 called Nordair Metro who eventually renamed the company Intair…in 1990 this airline ran into financial trouble and despite rescue efforts from the Quebec Government closed its doors.
In 2000 Mr. Leblanc creates Royal Aviation which turns into Canada 3000…within a year that company filed for bankruptcy…in the exact same fashion as Jetsgo it left 11 000 customers stranded and almost 5000 employees jobless. Only 1 year later…Leblanc launches (with no financial backing) Jetsgo…4 years later…deja vue.
Jetsgo offered the lowest fares over its competitors Westjet, Air Canada, and Canjet but recently compromised its safety as a result…Transport Canada had issued a notice to the airline giving it 30 days to correct maintenance problems…Just last month a Jetsgo plane skidded off the runway in Calgary. A week ago a jetsgo plane aborted take-off in Toronto because an engine failed, and the very next day there was an oil leak on another plane in Florida caused Jetsgo to divert the entire flight. Jetsgo’s fleet was one of the oldest in the market and it was beginning to show with no plans of upgrading in any sense....the mounting debts to its creditors eventually led to its demise.
Leblanc’s response to every1 who had been “Jetsgoed” : “Unfortunate”
Thanks Asshole !
-BK
posted by Labyrinth at 1:52 PM
6 Comments:
Actually, it should be Jetsgone...
However, couple of comments here..
The federal gov't is not responsible for rescuing the people stranded. Yes its unfortunate and yes its sad. And YES, I work for an airline. But as a tax payer, I'm already sick and tired of paying to have Air Canada bailed out, that I refuse to help bail out a private business. Michel LeBlanc is just like Michael Copeland and continues to be allowed to do business. The ownership of part of the issue at hand has to go back to the consumer that chose to purchase the tickets on an airline that was already showing signs of problems back in December.
When you choose to invest that kind of money in a purchase, do you not choose to do your investigations first to see who it is exactly you are entrusting your life with?
The employees of Jetsgo had not been paid in nearly a month, and the pilots were carrying cash to pay for fuel and airport services as they could not get credit.
And correction for you, they were still selling tickets at 0430 EST as I am in Alberta and at 0230, I was able to go the entire way through the website to the "Purchase" portion.
There are ways for people to get their money back. The fact that they have been stranded is sad and unfortunate, but they are completely fucked.
12:00 AM
oops, they are NOT completely fucked, sorry typo'd
12:05 AM
fair enough...i still think temporarily for at least 48 hours the government should assume operations.
8:24 PM
They have safety violation after safety violation and their planes require serious maintence.
I totally and honestly hear where you're coming from, but how on earth could the government assume operations? Where are they going to get pilots that are trained on these archiac aircraft that are WILLING to risk their lives on planes that are in desparate need of servicing? Where are you going to find inflight crews that are willing to put their lives at risk? Are you asking the Jetsgo crews to work for 48 hrs more with no pay? They haven't the crews or the aircraft to rescue everyone that has been stranded in a 48 hr period, thats not possible.
The fact that everyone is stranded during one of the busiest travel seasons of the year save Christmas, doesn't help either.
Lets take for example a product that you purchase... lets say a television with an nice warranty. The track record of the tv manufacturer isn't great and after several warranty services, the manufacturer goes out of business. Do you expect the federal government to honour that warranty or replace your television? I realize that this is slightly less of an issue as you're not stranded when you don't have tv, but the example is valid. You're asking ME as a tax payer, to bail YOU the consumer out because you're on holidays in Cuba and you can't pay for a flight home on another airline and work through the channels to get your refund. (not you personally but the 'royal you')
I sincerely do appreciate what you're saying, I am also playing devil's advocate here too.
9:31 PM
my tax dollars have already been mis used a million times without my permission...at least this would be a good cause... the taxes paid out for plane tickets are ridiculous...airport taxes...ticket taxes...general sales tax...provincial sales tax...let them use sum of that money...grants have been paid out 2 air canada numerous times 2 keep it from going completely bankrupt...i don't recall any1 checking with me on that 1 either.
Why am i funding Air Canada...over and over and over again?
2010 winter olympics in BC...how much of my tax dollars do u think i will have 2 dish 4 that 1?
furthermore...they already have the flight crew...the pilots...the staff...1400 to be exact...all i'm saying is...17 000 couldn't go to where they needed to go...virtually overnight...with zero warning. Not every1 was on vacation...and even if they were in cuba...point is...they couldn't come back....sum people scraped and saved and don't have any more money...Government should step in...announce bankruptcy...take over the airline for 2 days...3 days...4 days...watever...to get people back home. To the new ones leaving...well those r the 1s needing 2 make alternate plans...but to those who are stranded...government should step in.
some private services are more essential than others
as for the tv anaolgy...i already said...i can understand if its a regular company...but an AIRLINE is differant.
anyway...let's just say we agree 2 disagree
10:01 PM
Sure we can agree to disagree absolutely. And I am not rolling in the cash either and I get the fact they have perhaps scrimped and save to go away on holidays. There is recourse for those that have been fucked over. Visa and MasterCard have already stated they will give refunds. If you watch the news this evening, the employees final paycheques are not being cashed, banks are holding them for clearance. So if they don't clear? Now they're fucked again. And what I was referring to as far as the crews are concerned was, with respect to the government not having anyone to fly the planes etc is that 75% of the fleet that Jetsgo used was in serious need of repairs and maintenance. Would you serious want to get on one of those aircraft after all of the transgressions of safety have now been publicly identified and risk your life and others, crewing a "broken" plane? I wouldn't.
Have a read of my latest post on my blog... I don't want to repeat myself :-)
1:26 AM
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