JETSTAR, the Australian budget airline, could well put a graphic on the side of its aircraft saying: ''We support Phuket's tuk-tuks.''

Approaching Phuket from Sydney on Friday, I and a planeload of cashed-up Aussies were treated to a video telling us all about Phuket's charms.

There, among the dancing girls and vistas of James Bond island, we saw scores of red tuk-tuks. The voice-over told us that these quirky contraptions were a cheap and efficient means of local island transport.

Whaaaat? Perhaps the management at Jetstar has missed the violent incidents involving tourists and the moaning on online chat sites about fares that are 10 times those of Bangkok and the thuggery of drivers.

Now, it must be said that Jetstar can take credit for encouraging and sustaining a healthy increase in the number of Aussies visiting Phuket especially and Thailand generally.

But does the no-frills carrier have to tell lies to do it?

Earlier this month, the Qantas offshoot airline, in an attempt to overcome past disasters, promised in a 10-point Jetstar Customer Guarantee charter to give passengers what they paid for and to compensate them if it doesn't.

This was part of a new-leaf policy, following a series of public relations catastrophes.

It came soon after a planeload of passengers returning to Australia from Phuket suffered the agony of not one but two flight delays because of maintenance problems, necessitating a special rescue mission from Australia that cost the airline $A1 million.

Jetstar's commitment to Phuket is a bonus for the island. But the reality on Phuket is somewhat different from the lie being told in the video.

Just imagine how shocked those among the planeload of passengers will be when, having been told that tuk-tuks are cheap, they find themselves charged as much for a short trip around Phuket as they would be for the air-conditioned comfort of a cab in Sydney or Melbourne.

Keen to present itself as a value for money service that protects its customers, Jetstar does not seem as keen on protecting passengers once they are forced to use transport provided by less scrupulous people.

Phuket's biggest problem is that too many lies have been told for too long about corruption, and about the extortion of tourists through jet-ski scams and excessive tuk-tuk fares.

These dodgy enterprises have been tacitly supported by vested interests who are too frightened or simply cannot be bothered to speak out. Only when people speak out will change come.

Indeed, the current Australian Ambassador went to lunch with Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister to whinge about tourist rip-offs on Phuket, especially the jet-skis, just before the revealing television series ''Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand'' went to air in Britain last year.

As a result, the Governor of Phuket, Wichai Praisa-ngob, launched a crackdown on jet-skis and compulsory insurance was introduced.

While that scheme is now being severely tested by the jet-ski operators (and it will be until they have a co-operative insurance scheme, where the jet-ski proprietors pay out of their own pooled fund for claims) the attempt at honesty deserved praise.

Now a high-profile company with a desire to present itself as an honest and reliable brand is aiding and abetting Phuket's notorious tuk-tuk drivers in fleecing Phuket visitors.

Let's hope Jetstar, in its transformation to a totally trustworthy operation, has the courage one of these days to tell tourists the whole truth. It's time the no-frills carrier became a no-fibs carrier.