Controversies
On 14 November 2009, Jetstar passenger Paralympian Kurt Fearnley was involved in a well publicised confrontation with Jetstar. When asked to check-in his wheelchair and transfer to an attendant propelled chair at check-in, rather than the preferred practice of transferring only at the gate, Fearnley refused to give up his independence and crawled through the terminal instead.
Again in November 2009, Jetstar came under more scrutiny after they refused to book a guide dog of a visually impaired couple. Jetstar later apologised for the incident and blamed it on a break down in communications.
Jetstar has been criticised by the union representing its pilots for its move to hire foreign cabin crew and pilots and place them on Australian-registered aircraft. The crews would be paid less and have worse working conditions than their Australian counterparts. The foreign crews would not have working visas in Australia even though they will be working on board Australian-registered aircraft.
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