Jetstar review

[TBM-Legend]

:ok:

Travel writers review today:


Flight test: Jetstar A320 economy class
April 4, 2011

There are 58 Airbus A320s in the Jetstar fleet.
Aircraft Jetstar, Airbus A320.

Route Gold Coast to Melbourne.

Class Economy, 20C.

Advertisement: Story continues below
Seat pitch and width 30 inches between seats, 17.8 inches between armrests.

Seat configuration 3-3.

Luggage allowance I'm on a JetSaver ticket (a mid-range fare) that allows 20 kg of checked luggage and 10 kg of carry-on.

Schedule flight time Two hours.

On-time performance Clockwork precision.

Lounge access Jetstar's one dedicated lounge in Australia is at the Gold Coast Airport (because it is an international hub for the airline) and access costs $9.99 if bought with your ticket or $15 at the door. For that, you get a clean, cool and comfortable space in charcoal tones. The large, open-plan area is furnished with soft sofas, workstations, dining tables, flat-screen TVs and free Wi-Fi. There's free beer, wine, soft drink and food — including sushi, cold meats, soup, sandwiches, sausage rolls and mini pies during my lunchtime visit. Children under six are admitted free and there's a play area for them and a cinema with beanbags.

Aircraft condition Seat pocket full of empty sweet wrappers but all else in order. There are 58 A320s in Jetstar's fleet and this model is the most common on the airline's domestic routes.

Console/entertainment The inflight magazine is beefy at 100-plus pages and provides light reading. In-flight audio entertainment is available with eight channels (reusable headsets $3). Jetstar says no video entertainment is available on routes of two hours or less while it "transitions" to iPads. It will make an announcement about iPads soon.

Comfort A tight squeeze but the leather seats feel good. If you want to pay for more space you can upgrade to an exit-row seat with an extra eight inches of seat pitch.

Service The crew is consistently efficient and bubbly.

Food and beverages The snacks trolley comes last to the middle of the plane but the soft drink ($3) and cheese and crackers ($4) are welcome when they are finally placed on my tray table. There's also coffee ($3), beer ($6), potato chips ($4) and sandwiches ($7) on the menu.

Flight frequency Up to seven flights daily between Melbourne and Gold Coast, one-way fares from $89 including tax; 10 flights daily between Sydney and Gold Coast (Jetstar's busiest daily route), one-way fares from $69 including tax.

Online jetstar.com

[27/09]

Probably like most reviews you read these days, copied from someone else.

Many jounos are too lazy to write their own review, they just copy what someone else has written and the original effort was likely drafted with a fair bit of input from a marketing department.

[astroboy55]

Well thats alot different to my experience...

Sydney - Sunshine Coast

$159

2 hours late

Seat covered in chewing gum

Cabin crew barely spoke English. Rear two were sleeping on descent once the signs went on

Wouldnt accept a $20 note for $15 worth of food

Expected me to clean my own seatpocket.

Result? Never again. As a QF employee, if im ever faced between the choice of VB or J*...VB will get me everytime.

[ThePaperBoy]

The following was the real story, before Qantas Group threatened to pull their advertising for a week and give it to a rival newspaper.

"Arriving at the airport with my home-printed ticket in hand, I joined the long queue of travellers wanting to check in. For some reason I thought the online check-in would help me skip most of this mess, but I continued along my merry way. The line seemed to take an eternity to move along, mostly due to the Katies and Brittanys of the world not having their paperwork ready for the check-in staff despite spending the last twenty minutes in line. Seems like a discussion about Face book tagging was more important.

I had finally made it to the home stretch when it become apparent the gossiping girls in line were not the only ones holding things up. For a laugh I started my stopwatch and was amazed that two check-in staff spent 2 mins and 34 seconds chatting before calling up the next customer. The chatter wasn't about operational matters - that was obviously when the words "that's hot" finished about three sentences.

"Now it was my turn. I did the right thing and was on the look out for my staff member - a simply chore that seems to escape most people waiting in line. "Where to?" Wow, that was strange. No 'hello sir, how are you? Where abouts are you off to today?'. I handed over my printed boarding pass and placed my luggage on the belt. "Wrong way around!" So I turned it around. "No! The other way". I finally got it right on the third go. "You didn't select checked baggage, you'll have to pay an additional $30 to check your baggage". Argh! Ok, I guess that was my fault when I booked online. "And your bag weights 20.3 kg - there will be a weight surcharge fee." Damn, more money to hand over. I guess I should have put more stuff in my carry on baggage.

Off to security screening I go. As per usual I pick the wrong line and am stuck behind Cheryl as she tries to put all of her carry on baggage through the small x-ray machine. If you ask me, her luggage won't fit in that tiny little rack you see at the front counter, but I'll mind my business. I'm further held up when she fails the metal detector. Probably all of those piercings. Nope, turns out to be the iphone still stuck down her bra. Finally my bag makes it through and I am stopped for a routine explosive test. I'm already being scanned before the sentence about my rights has been explained, but that's an argument for another day. I'm here to review Jetstar.

Turns out I'm not packing too much heat and I make my way to the gate. There's Cheryl again, sitting at my gate. Seems to be joined by her boyfriend. He's dressed in his finest thongs and Holden Racing team shirt. Did I mention the Bundy Rum faded black cap? Makes me wonder why I bothered to dress up. What happened to the romance of flying when people would arrive dressed well? I guess this is Jetstar - we're only paying $29 to Sydney. Well, before all of those check-in charges (and taxes) anyway. And why was I slugged a fuel surcharge? Isn't that just part of the cost of the flight? Anyway, I digress.

I'm stuck watching Cheryl and Stevo smash four tins of XXXX Gold and a take-away pizza as my flight delays increase from 20 minutes to 75 minutes. I guess I can't blame ATC delays or the weather on Jetstar, but I can't help but wonder whether 20 minute gate turn around times are realistic.

The plane arrives and the elderly, disabled and those travelling with children are invited first. It seems most people on my flight must be disabled as they don't appear to be children or elderly, but they jump up immediately and start pushing forward the line. I wait patiently to be called and find myself number 86 in line. At least the days of 'every man for himself' when boarding are over. I have fond memories of the Jetstar Avalon terminal when the airline first started.

Getting to my seat takes a long time as Cheryl tries to fit all of her carry on baggage in the overhead lockers. She seems oblivious to the delay she is causing behind her. I arrive at my row to find someone sitting in my seat and I have a rather long discussion about who should be sitting where. The cabin crew seem unwilling to help out. I finally convince the passenger to move and I squeeze my way past the young, ipod listening Latisha. I can hear every lousy Katie Perry beat coming from Latisha’s headphones. Seems like common courtesy is running low within the passenger group on this flight.

The cabin crew appear tired. I can't help but wonder why when their CEO said the other day that the only work 27 hours a week. The safety briefing lacks energy and I wonder how I will make it past Cheryl if she becomes stuck in the emergency exit row. I flick through an inflight magazine. Although there is 100 pages of light entertainment, the pages have dog ears, some are sticky, and someone has already completed my Sudoku puzzle.

The short flight takes an age as my 6 foot 3 inch body struggles in the cramped seats. At least we are not all standing up - I wouldn't put it past Jetstar to introduce this seating arrangement soon. The menu choice are pretty average but I decide to go for a packet of Nobby's Nut - you know, for that romantic feel of flying (when they were handed out for free!). It takes forever for the cabin crew to make it down to row 26 but my moment has arrived. I can taste the nuts already! "Anything from the menu?" Is asked so quickly the crew member has gone past me before I could even say yes. A little bit of eye contact could have helped her serve me. I press the service button, but it takes a long time for help to arrive. I then get a sigh and disgusted look of 'well why didn't you order when we went past ten minutes ago?'.

We start our descent and about eight babies start crying. All the people travelling for business wish their employers would fork out some more money so they could fly on Qantas instead. Come to think of it, that's how I feel as well. The cabin crew pass quickly down the aisle, again failing to make eye contact, therefore I'm left holding my nut bag until I disembark. I put it in the seat pocket for me to collect late, but discover at least nine previous passengers thought the same thing and forgot.

The landing is hard leaving me with a sore neck. Turns out an 18-year old cadet was flying this leg as I pass the flight deck. Why didn't I disembark using the rear stairs? Not sure, sounds like they didn't have enough for us to use.

Offloading baggage takes too long as I notice the Virgin passengers come and go with their newly collected bags. Overall, the flight has been very poor, but I should have known this would happen when I paid $29 for my ticket. I go to jump in the cab, only to have Cheryl and Stevo skip the queue and take the last one. Now I must wait for a cab.

I guess the positive thing is I can now log in to th Qantas Frequent Flyer website and claim some points! Sure, they won't be much, but it all adds up, right? Wrong! My fair doesn't count, despite JQ being a partner.

Overall, I give them one (J) star out of five.”

[1a sound asleep]

Great laugh.

Travelled QF from LAX-OOL with a connecting flight through SYD onto JQ. Had to have an overnight in SYD due to flights. Get to the domestic terminal and JQ checkin. Hand the dull and uninspiring 19 yo check in chick my itinerary, after waiting 20 minutes

Her - "Your bag is 12 kg over the limit"
Me - "I am travelling business class from LAX on a QF ticket"
Her - "Yeah, we dont do business class, its $125 baggage fee"
Me - "Please, this is a connecting flight and I paid Qantas for business class and business class luggage allowance"
Her - " We are are not Qantas and you have to pay the baggage fees"
Me - "Well you are part of the Qantas group and..." cut off by her
Her - " We are not part of Qantas and have nothing to do with them"

***167 other pax now qued up behind me***

Me - "Well I am a Qantas shareholder and I can assure you that Qantas own Jetstar 100%. I am a Qantas passenger and I am entitled to Qantas baggage allowances on the continuation of a Qantas code share flight.
Her - "I cant check you in as the system wont allow me, and there's other people waiting and if you dont pay the fees you will have to dispose of your luggage"
Me - "Can I speak to a supervisor?"
Her - I am the supervisor
Me - Can I speak to your superior?

*** She now gets on the phone and after 15 minutes of grumbling and moaning hangs the phone up****

Her - "I am making an exception this time.... Heres your boarding pass back and you will have to run to the gate as the plane is boarding"

***I run to the gate and the plane has still not arrived***

[knightflyer]

"Well I am a Qantas shareholder"

Why would you want shares in an airline??????? Too much money??

[Artificial Horizon]

LHR - LAX - AKL on Air New Zealand.

Take off out of LHR and the crew whips through the cabin with a light snack and a drink then disappears for the next 6 hours. I have to go to the galley and get water for the nice older lady sat next to me as she has medication to take and doesn't want to disturb the crew. In the galley one very rude 'hostie' says they don't have to do water rounds and the pax are quite capable of getting to the galley themselves. Two hours out of LAX and my wife and I are wondering why no dinner service yet! Finally the trolleys come out and start making their way up the cabin. We are sat smack in the middle and are therefore the last to be served, two rows from us the pilot comes on and tells the cabin to prepare the cabin, trolleys go away and no dinner for our row! To compenstate they give us a voucher to use at LAX and they say that the ovens were turned on late which is why breakfast was late.

So burger king burger at LAX and a quick run to the aircraft as we have to go out through immigration and back through security meaning the two hour transit goes by pretty quick. Arrive in Auckland and they have lost my suitcase, we make our way across to domestic for a connecting flight to Wellington and once onboard are told that we no longer get food onboard as part of the the new 'product' means tea and coffee only along with a cookie but we do get another 'voucher' as our ticket was purchased prior to this change and we are entitled to $10 back to compensate.

So to sum it all up..... crap aircraft, crap inflight entertainment and worst of all crap service. I have never flown Air New Zealand again and will not fly them again, the middle east and asian carriers have it all over both Air NZ and Qantas and Jetstar. The whole point is that just because I have had a bad experience doesn't mean on the majority of other occasions the service provided isn't good. This reporter obviously did not find a lot wrong with the Jetstar service on that day, why is that so hard to accept. Sometimes they do run ontime, and I have even had passengers thank me for the 'great' flight. :ugh:

*edited to correct for bad memory*

[Nose wheel first]

I flew Jetstar once, DRW to MEL ..... NEVER EVER again.

QF or DJ any day!!!

NWF

[7378FE]

Two hours out of LAX and my wife and I are wondering why no breakfast service yet!

NZ001
Daily
London Heathrow 16:15 - Los Angeles 19:45
11h30
B773

Not surprised you didn't get breakfast. :rolleyes:

[Artificial Horizon]

737,

Quite right, it was a breakfast service into AKL and a missed dinner service into LAX. :}