Good to see you still doing articles Matt!
I mostly agree with you, I’ve flown JQ many times in Australia, twice in NZ and once with 3K (Jetstar Asia). I can’t think of a single occasion where I’ve had a properly bad experience. Sure a few delays in the mix here and there but I’ll challenge anyone to find me a single airline on the planet that’s got perfect OTP.
I mostly don’t fly them these days because I don’t see the value if you need anything more than just a seat on the plane. Almost every time I’ve done a search on JQ in the past couple years by the time I add on checked baggage and seat selection the fare is the same price, or even MORE expensive, than Qantas. At that rate it doesn’t make the choice very hard and I end up sticking with QF as a result. I have to say though this is no different to a lot of European and American LCCs I’ve looked at. Almost all are brilliantly priced for a seat and no more but as soon as you think about bags it’s all over. The one notable exception was my 3K MNL-SIN flight which off the top of my head was ~$189 for their max bundle with everything included, and for a 3.5hr flight I thought that was brilliant! The beef rendang curry they served me was possibly one of the best economy class meals I’ve ever eaten too.
I won’t fly JQ long haul, but for short trips within Australia or NZ I think they’re fine. You just need to plan properly and play by the rules, which is something most of the anti-JQ folk seem to conveniently forget about…….
