Passengers on a Jetstar flight from Launceston to Sydney were delayed more than eight hours on Monday, after a technical fault on the plane prompted the airline to fly in an engineer.
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Launceston resident Gill Sellars, who was travelling to the Gold Coast via Sydney, said he waited from 9am Monday until the flight finally took off at 6.15pm.
A spokesperson for Jetstar confirmed the delay of Flight JQ746 was due to an "engineering issue" with the plane that required a specialist to be flown in from Melbourne.
"We appreciate delays are frustrating and apologise to customers for the impact to their journey, however safety is always our first priority," the spokesperson said.
Mr Sellars said he was disappointed at both the delay and the lack of communication while he waited.
"I just think that on the ground on the day, the communication was pretty poor. And a lot of tourists sitting there were saying, 'this is going to be the highlight of my holiday,'" he said.
"On the basis of what I know now, I would have gone home."
Jetstar said customers were offered "a range of options", including the option to change their flight.
But Mr Sellars said the flights leaving Launceston were heavily booked.
"There were planes coming and going and in fact our Captain and his offsider were loaded onto one of those flights ... they [Jetstar] didn't really try to get passengers on alternative flights."
Mr Sellars also criticised Jetstar's lack of technical staff based at Launceston.
"If the plane conks out in the Gold Coast, they can do something about it. But if it happens down in Launceston, there's only one way in," he said.
Neither Jetstar or Qantas have engineers based in Launceston. The other airline flying out of the city, Virgin, did not return calls seeking comment by deadline.
Jetstar did not answer a question as to whether it would base more technical staff in Launceston.
Mr Sellars also described as paltry Jetstar's offer of two $8 food vouchers during the eight-hour delay.
"It got me by for one coffee and a cake - it certainly didn't keep me going until six o'clock at night. And I am a diabetic, so I have to be careful of what I eat and the frequency of when I eat," he said.
"They could have done a bit more and given us some more vouchers, but they kept on running out of vouchers - they weren't prepared at all."
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