Article: Why I Flew Jetstar to the AFF Melbourne Gathering

[AFF Editor]

Canonical URL

https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/why-jetstar/

Why I Flew Jetstar to the AFF Melbourne Gathering is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Why I Flew Jetstar to the AFF Melbourne Gathering

Given a choice of Qantas, Virgin Australia or Jetstar, I chose to fly the budget carrier from Canberra to Melbourne for last weekend's AFF gathering. No, I'm not crazy... here's why.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

 

[eastwest101]

With Federal Parliament sitting in Canberra at the moment, I expect the high prices that you saw with Qantas and Virgin would be explicable by a factor of people spending other people's money to travel between MEL-CBR in these few days, so anyone who would be spending their own money would have considered and possibly booked the Jetstar flight - hence why your flight had a load factor of 100%

 

[Happy Dude]

"one of my fellow Jetstar passengers was very rude to me for no particular reason"

Surely related to seeing your knees. Frightening.

 

[Cossie]

Surprisingly good, left early, arrived early, bag was one of the first out, more than happy, it's our first Jetstar fight for a very long time, I can see more happening.

When I booked this the only available Qantas flights that suited us were on Q400's and $900 each, this flight was under $300 each!

View attachment 482672

Same as our own experience the next day.

The flight was meant to be 100% full, but the 3 seats in row 2 in front of us were empty. I tried to be clever and select the window and aisle seat hoping the middle would remain free, not to be, so I moved into the middle seat.

 

[TrevorC]

Re exit row briefing: we travelled SYD-MEL-SYD last week on a JQ A321 and there was ZERO onboard briefing to exit row passengers in either direction, although we were asked the same questions at the gate. This mystified me somewhat after recent exit row flights on other airlines.
I don’t fly enough to suggest JQ is great but they’ve certainly met my rqmts on multiple occasions over the years.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re exit row briefing: we travelled SYD-MEL-SYD last week on a JQ A321 and there was ZERO onboard briefing to exit row passengers in either direction, although we were asked the same questions at the gate. This mystified me somewhat after recent exit row flights on other airlines.
I don’t fly enough to suggest JQ is great but they’ve certainly met my rqmts on multiple occasions over the years.

Were you at an exit row, or an over wing exit?

Detailed briefings are required only for overwing exits, or exits where a cabin crew member is not present.

 

[TrevorC]

2 seater at Row 11 on A321

 

[MEL_Traveller]

2 seater at Row 11 on A321

That aircraft doesn’t have overwing exits, so there will have been a crew member seated by at least one of the exit doors.

In that case you’d still be asked if you are willing to assist in the event of an emergency, but you won’t be given detailed instructions on how to operate the door, as that’s something the crew will do.

 

[TrevorC]

That aircraft doesn’t have overwing exits, so there will have been a crew member seated by at least one of the exit doors.

In that case you’d still be asked if you are willing to assist in the event of an emergency, but you won’t be given detailed instructions on how to operate the door, as that’s something the crew will do.

Thanks for the info. Great seats by the way

 

[msam95]

Why I Flew Jetstar to the AFF Melbourne Gathering is an article written by the AFF editorial team:

Why I Flew Jetstar to the AFF Melbourne Gathering

Given a choice of Qantas, Virgin Australia or Jetstar, I chose to fly the budget carrier from Canberra to Melbourne for last weekend's AFF gathering. No, I'm not crazy... here's why.

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic below.

I’ve never had an issue with getting out on a Qantas flight after a Jetstar cancellation, just make sure your contact details like mobile phone and email are correct (particularly important if you’ve done a reward redemption or travel agent booking) and actively monitor and pay closer attention to the flight status within 24 hours of the flight and the day of departure. The reality is the recovery options on partner airlines like Qantas (and a lesser extent Virgin) are subject to demand and how many seats are released by Jetstar Customer Recovery. Therefore it is first in best dressed when self selecting the services on the online disruption link (located in manage my booking).

Alternatively if that does fail you can always lodge a case with the Jetstar customer care team (escalated to Jetstar Customer Advocacy team or via Airline Customer Advocate) for a replacement flight reimbursement- bringing particular attention to any efforts to try to work with the recovery options or explore partner airlines following disruption

Don’t forget the “positives” of flyer Jetstar when a disruption occurs. That $19 sale fare now turning into:
- qantas fare that can earn status credits and points (get the checkin or lounge staff to add frequent flyer number).
- getting the standard Qantas offerings which may not have been included on the original “$19 sale fare” ie complimentary 40KG luggage allowance, seat selection, meals. (Luggage is entered in as 40KG as that is the max amount a customer could theoretically book on Jetstar.com).
- likely using credit card travel insurance for some additional extras to make the travel delay a bit more comfortable
- the ability to hold Jetstar to account on their customer guarantee. Which contains specific clauses and guarantees if they fail to meet the dot points

But yes on the other hand, I can fully appreciate some people want to fully relax and have a more pleasant flight experience, I’ve found the tips above have ensured I’ve always got out on my desired options.

 

[markis10]

Executive summary - it was cheaper