Jetstar New Boeing 787 Business Class Review

Jetstar isn’t exactly known for its Business Class product. But its new Colombo-Melbourne route – the first scheduled Australian service into Sri Lanka in decades – comes with something else that is new: a refurbished Boeing 787-8 cabin with a completely overhauled Business Class product.

I had never been on an inaugural flight before, so when Jetstar opened bookings for this flight, I decided to jump on it with the hope that I would also get to try out the new Jetstar product on the day. But is it an upgrade over Jetstar’s old Business Class product? I find out in this review of Jetstar’s new Boeing 787 Business Class from Colombo to Melbourne…

Flight Details

Flight number	JQ6
Origin	Colombo (CMB)
Destination	Melbourne (MEL)
Aircraft type	Boeing 787-8
Class of travel	Business Class
Seat number	6J
On-time performance	We landed 45 minutes late
Star Rating

The Route

Flight Cost

I paid USD679 (~AU$950) one-way for this flight in Business Class. This Business starter fare came with 14kg of carry-on allowance, 30kg of checked baggage, in-flight entertainment, meals and drinks on board, but no lounge access. If you want to earn Qantas Points and status credits, the Business Max fare costs an extra USD139 (~AU$195). In hindsight, this might have been worth considering as the fare would have earned 9,425 Qantas Points and 150 status credits.

You can also redeem Qantas Points for Jetstar flights. A Jetstar Classic Flight Reward in Business Class for this route costs 73,800 Qantas Points plus taxes and fees.

Note: Jetstar (and Qantas) don’t have a ticketing office in Sri Lanka, which is why fares are priced in USD.

Airport Experience

Colombo’s Bandaranaike International Airport is functional, but nothing exciting. On the positive side, apart from the initial baggage screening, there are no further security checks until the gate, similar to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur airports, although that is probably where the similarity ends. The Jetstar check-in counters were easy to spot on the day, thanks to some decorations. Some passengers who checked in at the counter also received Jetstar merchandise.

Unfortunately, the check-in process on the day was chaotic. Perhaps that was down to inaugural-day teething problems, but after waiting 30 minutes in a Business Class queue that simply didn’t move, I squeezed everything into my carry-on and used the self-service kiosk instead. That solved the problem, but it meant I missed out on a nice printed boarding pass as a souvenir of the inaugural flight.

Immigration, on the other hand, was quick and far more efficient.

Lounge Access

As I mentioned above, my fare didn’t include lounge access. Jetstar’s Business Max fares do, but only at select airports. Unfortunately, Colombo Airport isn’t one of them.

Without a lounge to retreat to, I used the time to find a good spot to watch the inbound flight arrive. It landed about 30 minutes late due to a late departure from Melbourne and received a water-cannon salute upon landing. Colombo Airport put on a celebration at the gate with traditional Kandyan dancers greeting passengers as they stepped off the plane.

Boarding

From what I have observed from past flights through Colombo, the “Now Boarding” message on the airport screens only means that you can enter the secure gate area and not that boarding has started. Actual boarding started an hour late, with a priority queue for Business Class passengers. The airport screens switch to “Final Call” at this point!

The Hard Product

Jetstar has 11 Boeing 787-8s, but at the time of writing, only three feature the new interior. Right up until the day of my flight, the seat map showed the old configuration. But a few hours before departure, I received a text message from Jetstar confirming that my flight would in fact be operated by one of the refurbished aircraft.

These aircraft seat 325 passengers, including an expanded Business Class cabin of 44 seats in a 2-3-2 layout. That’s more than double the 21 seats in the old configuration. With so many extra seats to fill, the cabin was fairly empty on my flight. Some passengers I spoke to had been upgraded through Jetstar’s new BidCash program.

The aircraft (VH-VKA) that operated the inaugural service had just come out of its refurbishment the day before. It was only its second flight back in service, and it still had that new-seat smell.

Seats

The new seat shares the same Recaro R5 platform as Qantas’ new Airbus A321XLR Business Class seats – and in Emirates’ Premium Economy.

The padding itself feels more comfortable, perhaps only because it is new. The seat offers 38 inches of pitch and 19 inches of width, exactly the same as before. But that’s not a bad thing, as legroom was already quite decent, even on par with Premium Economy on Qantas’ own Boeing 787-9 aircraft. The recline is reasonable too, even in the last row of the cabin.

The seat includes a large seat pocket, a footrest and a convenient bottle holder. The centre console houses the seat controls and a generous four USB-C ports (each rated to 60W), which you share with your neighbour.

There are no longer any power sockets, though, so make sure you bring USB-C cables. Thankfully, the individual air vents have survived the refurbishment.

Being a Dreamliner, the aircraft has electronic window dimmers, which never go fully dark. If you are on an overnight flight back to Australia, it is better to pick a seat on the right side (away from the sunrise) of the aircraft.

This isn’t a lie-flat bed, but I found the seat’s cradle position just right. The recline and calf rest held me in place without sliding forward. According to my Garmin, I got a “fair” five hours and 15 minutes of sleep!

In-flight Entertainment & Wi-Fi

Unfortunately, the seat-back screens are a casualty of the refurbishment. In their place, Jetstar offers a streaming portal that you access on your own device. Because the content is served from the aircraft itself, streaming ran smoothly, although the library isn’t huge.

The upside is that Jetstar now offers Wi-Fi onboard, which was included in the Business Class fare. It wasn’t especially fast, with my speed test clocking 1.6Mbps. That’s enough to stay connected, send messages or listen to music, but not much more.

The Soft Product

Waiting at my seat were a pillow, a blanket and a Jetstar amenity kit. The blanket is a nice touch, but it is one of the thinnest I have come across. Thankfully, the cabin was kept warm during the flight.

Before departure, the crew offered a choice of drinks (orange juice or sparkling wine) which felt like a novelty on a Jetstar flight!

Business Class Meals

The post-departure service started promptly with a packet of pretzels and a drink of your choice.

For dinner, the crew handed out a very familiar-looking paper menu. Despite all the changes to the hard product, the Jetstar Business Class menu has stood the test of time. If you’ve flown Jetstar Business Class before, you’ll probably recognise the three meal choices here. The back of the menu had a selection of drinks, including alcoholic options.

I chose the steamed market fish, which arrived well presented with sourdough, a salad and proper metal Jetstar-branded cutlery. It tasted good, but it wasn’t particularly hot. My theory is that with double the number of Business Class rows, trays now sit on the trolley much longer before reaching passengers in the last row, like me.

About two hours before landing, the crew came through with breakfast, again offering three familiar choices. I went with the cheese omelette and sausages. Unfortunately, the meal was lukewarm again. Once could be bad luck, but twice in one flight suggests a pattern. To their credit, the friendly crew offered to reheat it and took the feedback on board.

In between the meal services, Business Class passengers can order anything from the Economy Class snack menu. This review isn’t sponsored, but I have been a fan of the Cookieman loaded cookie. It is worth a go if you’re on a Jetstar flight.

As we began our descent into Melbourne, the crew came around with a couple of chocolates to wrap up the service. Interestingly, they claim to be from Melbourne and Sydney on the wrappers, but the fine print on the back reveals they were actually made in Queensland.