Jetstar Airways

Flew Melbourne to Phuket on new Dreamliner in Business Class on 9/2/2014. This was such a nice surprise to be on this plane. Even the staff seemed happier. Also the food was of a higher standard than I have had on previous flights. After saying all this there are two areas that need me. One is the cleanliness of the seats. Many were stained and the other is that they do need more choice on the entertainment side.

SYD to MEL and back. The flight was fine you don't expect too much on such a short flight. No IFE and food and drink prices were reasonable. I had a coffee which was surprisingly good. The bugbear was the check in. Massive queues at Sydney but moving quickly due to the fully manned bag drops. However in Melbourne for the return two "jobsworths" asked where passengers were travelling to and only allowed certain flights to join the queue. Consequently when they did finally condescend to allow us in it was an almighty scramble to get the bag dropped and to the gate before the flight. Really let the airline sown. It wasn't that they were busy just two women exercising their power! That is reason I downmarked the staff service option because cabin crew were great.

We flew from Melbourne to Denpasar and needed to check one bag. I went to ask how much it would cost at the counter and they said to do it online asap. To book it online the cost is $54 if you didn't see the fine print on the website which only said the cost would be greater at the counter you would have to pay $165. For one bag! On top of that absolutely everything else cost money as well. I had to ask for water. I would rather pay the extra $100 and fly in comfort with a regular airline.

Flew BNE to TSV. travelling with special needs passenger boarded first with 3 seats between 2 of us. check in staff were quite rude we had overweight baggage and I was fine with paying this without complaint. Check in lady wrote ticket and just pointed when I ask what the pointing meant was quite rude. The inflight staff were fantastic fun its just the people on the ground who give Jetstar a bad wrap. Flight left on time and arrived early.

NTL to MEL 13 Jan. Full aircraft. Counter check-in friendly and accommodating granting 3 of us exit row seats upon request. Aircraft clean seats comfortable for 1.5 hr flight which departed on time. Very smooth flight. Advance purchase of tickets meant that the flight was good value.

Melbourne to Singapore. Having read over and over again how bad the budget internationals were I was amazed at the value for money you get when traveling with Jetstar. Sure the food was not 5 star but it was edible the seats were comfortable staff friendly and overall for the price I paid ($324 return) how could you expect more. It amazes me that people whinge about budget airlines and compare them to full cost airlines. Overall very happy.

Flew MEL-MCY return on JQ794 11th Jan and JQ793 18th Jan. JQ794 - 11th Jan 2014. Aircraft: A320 VH-VGT. Seat 20F. We had carry on only and we used web check in so we could go straight to the gate no queuing or anything. Flight was on time and aircraft was clean. Seat was adequately comfortable however the legroom was limited it would be a bit uncomfortable on a longer flight. Crew were especially good on this flight very welcoming and helpful. Didn't purchase any food onboard or entertainment onboard - no need to spend the extra $$ on a short flight. Arrived early. JQ793 - 18th Jan 2014. Aircraft A320 VH-VQQ. Seat: 28F. Flight was good seat pretty comfortable more legroom on this older and differently configured aircraft. Once again didn't purchase any food or entertainment. Crew were helpful. Arrived on time. Overall I was very pleased with the service. We just wanted the cheapest fare so we don't care about extras like luggage entertainment food. There was nothing to complain about - Jetstar excelled in every area and I would definitely fly with them again.

Hobart - Melbourne - Perth. Hobart to Tullamarine on a fairly new A320. Aircraft was pretty clean and tidy and me and my wife got our allocated seats. Flight was on time happy to say. JQ968 Tullamarine to Perth was a different story. Check in manager very rude even after I produced my ASIC and advised her that I was fully aware of the conditions of being in an exit row. Inexcusable behaviour. Flight was out on time on a new A320 but I cannot understand the cabin crew. A person should not do a job like this if they are not cut out to do it. Sure the flight was a "red eye" and as a frequent flyer I can accept that this can affect your moods. But the fact that one staff member (Cabin Manager) was putting meals on the floor another male member of staff (who conveniently wore no name tag) was slamming around and making as much noise as he possibly could. He was on a mission not to let passengers sleep. And then the lot of them standing there and complaining about their jobs - well you get the picture. Paid a full fare for this flight and in my view if this is the way Jetstar operates their business they do not deserve any of the domestic market. Will never use them again.

Flew Jetstar Tokyo to Sydney via gold coast. Flight was delayed by an hour. I tried to buy drinks on the plane and staff rudely informed me that they don't take cash (AUD or JPY) and only credit cards which I didn't have. To be fair the flight was a lot cheaper than any of the other full service airlines but you get what you pay for. Flew back to Tokyo on Air NZ a few weeks later and was amazed at the difference. Chalk and cheese. Seats are uncomfortable and have minimum legroom (even on a large aircraft such as the A330). Cabin crew are rude (and their polyester polo shirt uniforms are awful). Check in staff appear to be overworked. For short haul flights Jetstar are OK but for anything longer than 4 hours your better off going with a full service airline.

I have traveled with Jetstar from Perth to Bali and return twice in the last 2 years. Both times were on an Airbus A320. Personally I found the seats in economy class quite OK compared to the economy seats on Qantas and Virgin who use Boeing 737's. Being a low cost carrier I made sure I read the fine print and terms and conditions. Once again as is so true in life you get what you pay for. Budget Airline means no frills and the bare basics unless you want to pay extra. As it is only a 3.5 hour flight I was more than happy to forgo the full services offered in exchange for a much cheaper fare. Both times Jetstar have provided a realistic service for the price paid. Aircraft was clean flight on time and fairly smooth. No real complaints. What I expected was met and I would much rather have the money I saved to spend on my holiday than enjoying all the perks of a full service carrier. Realistically it is only 3.5 hours out of your life! Will happily fly Jetstar again in the future on short haul flights.