Jetstar Semi Muted Fiasco: From Taiwan to Singapore

The journey to Taoyuan Airport Terminal 1 from Volando Urai Spring Spa & Resort (馥蘭朵烏來渡假酒店) took about 1 hour and 30 minutes. We had left at 4 in the afternoon and arrived well before the check-in counters were opened (at 5.55pm). The counter staff were from Transasia and so was the ticket issued bearing a logo other than Jetstar’s. Just over a year ago in 2012, the ticket issued and the counter were Jetstar staff, but I guess there has been some reorganizing and cutting down of sorts for the airline. Regardless, the service by the check-in counter staff was a notch better than Singapore (be it Transasia or Jetstar): they were polite and patient (when DramaQueen took some time to appear at the counter after a trip to the restroom).

Checking-in was a muted affair with flashbacks to the experience getting to Taiwan playing like a bad movie, but it was not as bad going back home. Well, that is until we got to the waiting hall…

The terminal is the same as the last time we were there (in 2012), there are the souvenir shops, the Hello Kitty Souvenir shop, the massage area and the walkway with Chinese illuminated calligraphy.

Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 1
Poetic mural
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 1 Hello Kitty Store
Hello Kitty Store
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 1
A message before your flight takes off
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 1
Butterfly Garden
Back to the waiting (departure) hall, if you are thirsty and/or in need of a recharge (battery wise), not to worry as there are vending machines and charging points for your phone. As the crowd gathered, the time soon came to board the plane, except… the plane was delayed for about 45 minutes, which in turned caused us to return back to Singapore at 1am and not the projected estimated time of 1155pm.

After the trauma of the flight from Singapore to Taiwan, the delayed flight was really not much of a surprise – I don’t even think the crew had sufficient time to properly wipe down the plane’s interior once it landed (late) and offloaded its previous passengers. Seeing how they were running behind time, they (the staff - Transasia) did try their best and the pilot (Jetstar) did apologize, which was more than what the Singapore counter staff when leaving for Taiwan did for us. Oh, and if you ever call the hotline for Jetstar, don’t bother (well, you could try to find out why)… even the banks hotline seem more user friendly with their options listed as numbers you can press, not options you have to speak into the phone like Siri (which can be more misses than hits or you just have plenty of time waiting to talk to an actual person).

Other than the forgettable flights, this trip to Taiwan has been an eventful one, having enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and experienced the epitome of service at Volando Urai Spring Spa & Resort (馥蘭朵烏來渡假酒店).



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When travel collides with a byte, a unit of information made up of bits, TravelBytez is formed: snippets of ramblings on travel, food, shopping, living and anything else that comes to mind.

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