Jetstar, a relatively new and growing passenger flight carrier in Australia has just announced new international flights, including Hawaii, Japan, Thailand and Indonesia. Pretty cool for us who like to fly cheap and not pay extra on the unnecessary conveniences of complimentary food, drinks, pillows etcetera. For a one-hour flight to Syndey or Adelaide, if we really needed a beer or a coffee we could pay that extra three bucks, knowing that it’s saved us at least fifty bucks on the airline ticket. So why not with a seven-hour flight to Bangkok or a nine-hour flight to Tokyo.

But what if spending that extra three bucks on coffee or eleven dollars on that limp-lettuce sandwich actually determined the salary of the nice person handing you the product? Well, it will, apparently.

I heard tonight that flight attendents on international Jetstar flights have been forced to sign individual workplace contracts, which has effectively meant no trade union can support them in ensuring good working conditions. Secondly, their wage includes a commission on foods, pillows and gifts sold in-flight to passengers.

The ALP leader tells us it will be like ordering food at an American restaurant, where the waiters will rely on your tips for a good day’s pay. It sounds like it to me.

What if I took a flight to Asia and decided not to buy anything on the flight, either having brought food with me, or deciding to survivie on the bathroom’s tap water for hydration? How will I expect to be treated by the attendant staff?

Worse, what if everyone of us who flew Jetstar decided to do that? How much would a flight attendant get paid? And what if every flight attendant got less than they expected when they joined the Jetstar team? Who would look after them? Not the unions, not the customers, not management. All contracts have been signed.

Methinks a new transit culture is coming, one where it’s always good to keep a fiver or a tenner in your boarding pass envelope when you board, you know, just in case.