Reader Report: Jetstar airplane moves while passengers are in the middle of boarding

Our reader took this photo of the Jetstar plane’s door after it rolled back during boarding and wrote, “There’s a dent to the walkway bridge visible in the lower corner of the pic, what damage to the hinges and other damage to the door was visible I don’t know as the bridge blocked the view.

Passengers on a Jetstar flight that was scheduled to fly from Jakarta to Singapore on Wednesday night got a shock when their plane started to move just as they were in the procees of boarding the plane,

Jetstar flight 206 was scheduled to leave Soekarno-Hatta Airport at 9:35 pm. A reader who was scheduled to board the flight wrote to us to describe what happened: “As I was about to step foot on the plane, it started moving backwards with the door open… Followed by a loud crash as the open door got jammed on the walk way. “ 

Another passenger of Jetstar flight 206 posted these photos on Twitter and tried to get the media’s attention

The reader said they were shaken by the incident, as well as how the airline handled the incident afterward.
 
“We then waited in the waiting room again, for the staff to then make an incorrect announcement to tell people to board the plane again…. Before even reaching the damaged plane for a second time, we were told to go back to the waiting room.”

At this point, the reader says they they were unsure if they felt safe getting back onto the plane.

“It was ridiculous, nobody was telling us anything… Eventually after lots of shouting and nobody doing anything, we were EVENTUALLY moved downstairs to speak to the staff about rebooking & refunds…. This was between 1 and 2 am…”

The reader finished their tale of travel travesty by writing: “Personally I left the airport at 3am to stay in a hotel provided by jet star so can’t complain about that… However the whole thing was handled very unprofessionally.”

Jetstar, of course, characterized the incident quite differently. When asked about what happened to flight 206, a  a Jetstar Asia spokesperson gave us the following statement:
 

“Jetstar Asia is investigating the cause of an incident which occurred while passengers were boarding one of our aircraft which was due to fly from Jakarta to Singapore yesterday.

The aircraft moved slightly during the boarding process due to an issue with the connection to the aerobridge but at no time was the safety of our passengers at risk. 

According to our safety process, the aircraft is currently being inspected. All passengers were re-accommodated onto the soonest available flights and we’ve apologised for any inconvenience caused.”

The release also noted that passengers were given the option of a full refund or re-accommodation onto other suitable flights, as well as refreshments and overnight accommodation.
Which still doesn’t give us an explanation for what caused the plane to move during boarding. However, our reader said word among the passengers was that it might have been a mistake made by the airport’s ground staff.
 
“Rumor had it that it wasn’t in fact the pilot’s fault, one of the ground staff moved the triangle wedge thing from underneath be planes wheel, which resulted in the plane moving backwards…. The pilot and the ground staff were having a few “strong words”  to say the least.”
 



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