Review of JetSmart flight Santiago → Temuco in Economy

Life keeps laughing in my face, so here I am, once again, flying my LEAST favorite airline - JetSmart.

Got a voucher from a previous flight that I couldn't take, which - luckily - was rescheduled, so I was entitled to a refund.

Now I need to go back to Valdivia and finish the paperwork involved in selling my house. Great opportunity to use my voucher.

But JetSmart stopped flying to Valdivia some moths ago. Their closest destination now is Temuco, 170km north.

Well, I can make the rest of the trip by bus.

After all…

…what could go wrong?  ?

JetSmart informs…

Temuco must be the third city - behing Concepción and Calama - in number of domestic flights in Chile. It's also relatively close to Santiago (some 650km) so there's very little chance of experiencing any problem with your flight.

Very little chance… unless your name is Pilpintu.

Just as I'm arriving at the airport JetSmart informs me that my flight has been rescheduled, which means a two-hour delay… just to begin with.

Whatever. This will give me more time to carry out my flight-reporting tasks. ?

But this flight reporter is in urgent need of a rest room.

My favorite bathroom at SCL is located in the tiny, little-known land side third floor. Unfortunately, today… ew…

Horrible! Toilet paper scattered all over the place, some trash bins overflowing, and the smell…

I wonder if SCL has never heard about typhoid fever.

I can't stay here. I'd better hold it and wait until after safety control.

Quite a lot of work in progress in the large domestic hall. The former access to international flights is being redesigned over there.

And a new store is being built over here.

Er… me? Most of the time. Sometimes I hate it.

Been here so many times, but I never noticed the pharmacy over there! Cruz Verde is a chain of pharmacies. Chains of stores are abundant in Chile, ruining local businesses.

Access to safety control is faster than ever!

Two minutes later I'm checking the FIDS. "Estimated 15:00" doesn't sound good.

JetSmart is not making things easy for me. I have been quite depressed these days after all the chaos that ended up with my mother and I angry with each other, us selling the house we shared in Valdivia, and me quitting my job. I'm struggling to keep my spirits high, and… ooohh! Andesgear is on sale!!! ?

Now I'm feeling much better. ? 50% off can sure raise your spirits!

The other restroom that's usually clean and not too crowded is on the first (ground) floor of the domestic terminal. You get there via these stairs in the misddle of the domestic terminal.

However, no matter how clean they are, the only toilet where I feel comfortable at is my own. Otherwise, I must go through a careful ritual before using them.

Voucher and karen 1

I sit for a while, looking at the passers by. No spotting around here. All the interesting birds roam around the international terminal now.. ☹️

Surprisingly, some minutes later I can hear over the PA: "Passengers for JetSmart flight 201 to Temuco, please proceed immediately to board through gate 23B."

I jump to my feet. What's happening? Only four more passengers are standing by gate 23B.

One JetSmart staff explains that we have been summoned to receive a meal voucher… for the equivalent to 25 USD!! Quite impressive considering  this report where you can see how Lufthansa handed a €4 voucher to passengers of an international flight! Shameful.

We are given an updated boarding pass, too.

The voucher es good for several bars and restaurants.

While I'm waiting, I can hear the conversation between another passenger and a middle aged lady (Karen 1) who looks terribly annoyed. The lady speak with an affected voice, as if she were flying a commercial airline only because her private jet was broken. The passenger tells her that he is surprised to be given a voucher for such a short delay, but she replies "But nobody gives you back the time that THEY MAKE YOU WASTE." I just roll my eyes and bite my tongue. I'm in no mood for bullsh*t today.

I leave in search for one of the restaurants listed in the voucher. I come across a new lounge on the third floor.

The first restaurant I come across with is Pilsn. Looks promising. There's a short queue, though.

The voucher is enough for two hamburguers. I'm not wasting it! But the waitress is adamant that there's no take away. You must eat everything right there. I wonder if I'll be able to gulp all of this down.e

And… I can't. But I just saw a man carrying a stack of small cardboard boxes that seem to be used for french fries. A lady - who look less stressed than the previous one - is cleaning a table next to me. I whisper to her: "Could you possibly please give me one of those small boxes for this?" I point at my second hamburguer. She replies mainly with gestures to avoid being heard, and helps me tuck my haburger into the box. It fits perfectly! She even gives me a paper bag for it.

As for the person sitting next to me - Karen 1 - she also ordered two hamburgers and is struggling to eat the second one, but a minute ago she was very unpleasant towards the waitress because she didn't inform her that one of the hamburgers was not available. So she has no box or paper bag. Serves her well for being an a*hole.

revolt at gate 28! ???

At 2:09 our flight has already been assigned a gate: number 28. According to the FID, I'm just 1 minute away from it, but…

…I can't seem to find it! ?

I read the signs carefully, but…

…24 to 25; 26 to 27; 29 to 36… What kind of joke is this???

I give up. In ask someone who seems to work there, and she points at the corner by the escalator.

Aaahhh… there it is. I have walked a thousand times by that door. ?‍♂️

I sit and wait. Nothing breaks the silence of the hall until we hear a rumble coming from the escalator. We all turn our heads and see a hard-shell bag tumbling down the escalator. It hits a man in the legs, but luckily he was ready. We keep staring, waiting for the owner of the bag, but nobody comes. It's some minutes later that a lady - limping heavily - comes down the escalator, picks the bag in silence and and walks down the hall while everyone by gate 28 is watching.

Poor thing. Something similar happened to me at MAD years ago. But my bag was much larger and heavier, and it zoomed past a family with a small girl. Just a couple centimeters to the right, and I would have caused a serious accident. I learned my lesson and now I travel as light as possible.

Some 25 minutes to 3, the crew arrives at gate 28.

I suppose CC-AWA - arriving from Puerto Montt at the moment - will be our plane for today.

But the minutes pass by and no plane pulls into our gate.

Meanwhile, information about the newly-acquired carts and wheelchairs available at SCL…

…is played once and again on the monitors.

Even though CC-AWA eventually arrives at gate 28 and the crew boards, there no sign that passengers will board any time soon. We stand there, ready to board.

Around 4 o'clock people become impatient and some start to heckle. The, the news hits us like a wall of bricks - More information about our flight will be given at 4. No explanation about the reason for this new delay.

The passengers crowd around the small JetSmart lady - the same one that handed the vouchers - who's having a hard time making herself understood. People are very annoyed because no one understands why we can't board.

Exhausted, I take a seat. Less than five minutes later I hear an uproar. back at gate 28 I find this!

"Queremos solución!" (We want (a) solution) the passengers chant.

Somebody tells me that there seems to be a problem with one of the planed tires. But just then, we're told to board! Nobody understands anything. Another passenger and I joke that we might be sent to change the tire.

We finally board at 3:45. At long last!!!

I doubt the airline decided to let passengers board because of the riot at the gate. Or did they???

What I do know is that I'm happy we are boarding at last. I still have a three hour bus ride ahead of me! ?

the flight and karen 2

Some information about this flight.

We settle in an extremely simple cabin. There's nothing special about the seats. No USB ports, no printed literature, the seats are narrow, hard and non-reclinable. You can feel lucky there's a small tray table - that we won't be using because there will be no BOB service - and a hook for your jacket.

Once we are all seated, the captain emerges from the cockpit and addresses the passengers, apologizing for the delay. He says it was due to bad weather during the previous flight from Puerto Montt. I think this was very gentlemanly from him.

A QR code allows you to download the BOB menu and a magazine. Both are available only in the PDF format.

The menu is basic as compared to other airlines. However, alcohol is included in the drinks. I'm intrigued by "ginzotti." I'd like to try it, since I love ramazotti.

This is the "anniversary edition" of the magazine, celebrating JetSmart's seventh anniversary. Nothing to write home about, but someone had the good idea of distancing themselves from the traditional format of a magazine and designing long pages that can be comfortably displayed on a cellphone screen. Here you can see the magazine's 15 pages individually:

Sitting in front of me is Karen 2, another "entitled" lady who thinks that she can get whatever she wants just by being rude towards the "inferior ones," like the flight attendant.

When the FA walks by, Karen asks her in her best passive-aggressive style: "Excuse me, where is my meal voucher? I'm still waiting for it."

The FA takes - in my opinion - too much trouble to reply. (I would have just told her to f*ck off) She explains that the voucher was handed long ago.

"Not to me," says Karen 2.

With pleasure I take part in the conversation: "The passengers were summoned to gate 23B VIA THE PA and were handed 20.000 CLP vouchers."

The FA confirms that all passengers were given vouchers. Karen 2 insists that I am not "all passengers." Evetually, the FA tells her to ask for her voucher via JetSmart's website.

Hah! I would have loved asking the FA to high-five me in front of her. ?

It's time to leave.

Air quality in Santiago…

…is terrible, especially in winter.

But I'm happy to see that the snow…

…has come back to the mountains in the midst of a 14-year-long drought. But this is only a small respite.

Things are still not the way they used to be.

Not much to see inside the cabin, or outside, because the landscape is covered by thick cotton clouds…

…that only break…

…as we descend over ZCO.

Finally we touch down at 5:23.

Lights at 5 p.m. Winter days are really dark in the south.

ZCO could keep some duckling there. ? Bad idea.

And that was my latest adventure around Temuco. For some reason beyond my understanding, my visits to ZCO always have a special "twist": A detour caused by bad visibility and subsequent bus trip. Trespassing private property and subsequent tour around a garbage dump. And now a perfectly avoidable delay, if I had flown directly to Valdivia.

Whatever. That's how "memories are built," right? ?

At least I'm lucky that we're only two passengers in the transfer van. I'll be at the bus station on time.

And the ticket is only 6000 CLP, which means that it has stayed the same for years!

This added to the fact that the hamburgers were free, I can consider myself very lucky.

Thanks for reading!