Jetstar Airways

Ballina-Melbourne on A320. Paid about $100 or so for a one way ticket which I purchased on Qantas website . Baggage allowance was 20kg and there was no detail on the QF website about incremental charges for excess baggage. Travelled with two bags which totaled 35 kg - ie: 15 kg over the allowance and the equivalent of a second bag. Jetstar charged me $300 for the excess luggage which was three times the price of the ticket and about ten times the price of what most global airlines charge for a second bag. Qantas should be reprimanded for selling Jetstar tickets and not informing customers about these usurious charges and Jetstar should be faulted for outright price gouging which doesn't remotely reflect the incremental cost of carrying the bag. Qantas customer service people in Melbourne washed their hands of the problem saying it is a Jetstar issue (even though JQ is owned by QF and the ticket was bought on the QF website). Jetstar employees in Melbourne were unsympathetic said I should've known read the policies etc. One even suggested they should be charging more and didn't think $500-1000 was out of line. This airline is completely out of control and I vow never to reward either company with my business again.

I have flown with them 4 times recently for 3 work meetings and 1 weekend trip. On each occasion my flight schedule was changed at the very last minute usually by 4+ hours. One change even involved me having to swap a direct flight for one with a layover in Bali with 1 day's notice. This flight was again changed on the evening before the flight. On arrival in Singapore for a connecting flight to Bali I discovered my luggage had been completely destroyed due to a heavy oil leak (not from within my bag) and having been crushed by other heavy luggage. The call centres could not be more unhelpful if they were staffed by a group of chimpanzees with typewriters.

My wife and I flew Melbourne to Christchurch on Sunday May 4th JQ 171 Airbus 320. Left Melbourne on time arrived 10 minutes early. Plane clean good attendants nothing to complain about. Will fly Jetstar again in November Auckland to Christchurch.

Used Jetstar from Bangkok to Singapore 4x in the last 3 months and everything went like clock work. Online reservations easy and rates better than competition especially last moment purchase check in a breeze new clean planes and great crew comfortable seating with actual leg room. All flights on time and all landed ahead of schedule. Definitely will use them and prefer them to others like AirAsia that is becoming a true cattle mover.

My wife 3 children and I flew from Honolulu to Melbourne just under an 11 hour flight. No mention of needing to pre-book ipads. The inflight magazine even advertised to contact your friendly flight attendant if you would like to hire an ipad. We couldn't find a friendly flight attendant and they had no ipads available for anyone who hadn't pre-booked and paid at the time of ticketing. We even had looked on the website a few days before the flight and pre-ordered the comfort package (which was useless) and there was no mention of pre-booking ipads. Approx. 75% of the plane load did not have ipads and many like us wanted them so we were not the only passengers enduring the boring flight. Does Jetstar think it is acceptable to provide zero entertainment for an 11 hour flight? We did not pre-book the food package as we were of the opinion that we could buy food on board. Unfortunately most of the available food options were poor and ran out less than half way down the plane in the first serving (we were near the back). No pies no ham and cheese toasties. The male flight attendant was somewhat rude to a number of passengers and not sympathetic at all just saying you needed to pre-book. Perhaps they were just as bored and frustrated as the passengers. I would assume Jetstar wants to make as much money as possible and this would include hiring as many ipads as possible and selling as much food as possible to bored and hungry passengers? Apparently not.

Flew their Singapore to Cambodia new service back in February. Check-in tried to charge us for excess luggage on the way back after we had paid for 30 kg already. Tried it on the couple in front of us also. Luckily we had our original online bookings done via Qantas docs printed with us. Our friends on the earlier flight during the week were made to re-check their luggage in Singapore but we were not also another level of inconsistency. Fly Silk is my advice until they have got their act together or fail which may not be far off looking at the way they seem to be going. Sadly we thought it was Emirates but it must have been a shared flight with Qantas. Oh well never again sorry Qantas.

Flying on A320 Sharklet from SYD to ADL JQ764. Cabin is a bit aged but clean and crews are friendly. A little delay due to a technical fault on the ancillary generator on the rear but the Captain recovered the lost time during the flight. Seat is more comfortable and spacious compare to Qantas 737-800 which I took on my return flight.

Although I fly 50000+ miles a year around Asia I'd never flown on Jetstar before (flight was booked by a travel agent without any further info). I flew on 2 May from Perth to Bangkok. The trouble was I took an aspirin 10 minutes after takeoff and asked for a water. I was told it cost $4 cash. All I had was my ATM card. Four dollars: for a bottle of water on a 5 hour flight. Then I noticed I was sitting on a stripped Airbus that could easily pass for a re-purposed 1971 Trailways bus. No video entertainment zero amenities - 5 hours with nothing to do. I am sure Jetstar would install pay toilets if they could. Flying Jetstar left me with a renewed appreciation for Thai Airways and KAL. I will make it a point to specifically avoid Jetstar in the future at all costs which has easily been the worst experience I've had flying in decades.

Jetstar Airways isn't a budget carrier in terms of the price they charge. It cost my group members over $800 each to fly from Singapore to Hangzhou when tickets on full-fledge flights with meals refreshments and entertainment on other airlines like SIA and Cathay Pacific can cost less. It's 'budget' quality in seats with very narrow leg space so the flight attendants insisted that all hand carry had to be stored in the overhead compartments. Problem is that all the compartments near our seats were full with the crew's and other passengers luggage. There didn't seem to be restrictions on the size and the number of hand-carry passengers could bring on the plane. A crew member offered to squeeze my backpack into a compartment that was far from my seat. As I had my passport and money in it it refused to have it out of my sight. I had a most uncomfortable trip with the bag in front of me and hardly any room to stretch my legs. Will never take Jetstar again - not when I can get better service at a lower cost on a regular flight.

Phuket to Melbourne. 787 Dreamliner. Had flown on Qatar's 787 Business Class so had high expectation leading into this flight and was disappointed. Seat 1F - which was in a row of 3 when I checked in on-line the seats next to me were free but at check-in they agent advised these seats were now taken. I had asked if I could move to 3G/H but was told these were reserved for crew! I had read online that these were the best seats with more recline what's the point of having them if they are only for crew - seems pointless! Seat config of 2-3-2. For business class I don't understand the point of a row of 3 seats. Seat comfort was ok but impossible to sleep in. Staff were friendly and helpful throughout the flight. Dinner was ok - Soup for starter which was tasteless Main was very tasty which was stir fry steak. Was accompanied with a 'salad' which was a couple of lettuce leaves in a bowl. Wine choice good. Entertainment system ok - had a couple of new release movies and some recent TV shows but quite limited. Overall it was good value for money but I'd hardly call this Business Class. I don't see why Jetstar wouldn't invest in putting in slightly bigger seats with more recline especially when the majority of their flights on the way back to Australia are red eye and the current seats are impossible to sleep in comfortably.