Jetstar Star Class Impressions

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serfty

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I'm about to head off from MEL to BKK in Starclass. I am returning Tuesday. This service started last thursday week and runs Thu, Sun & Mon. So I am booked on the 5th running of this flight.

Here I will post impressions, images and information about this trip.
 
Arrival at MEL

I arrived via the Melbourne Skybus at 10:40; I knew I could not check in until 3 hours before the 14:10 departure. I was a bit early as this timing enabled mrs serfty to drop me off at the local train station.

Anyway on arrival, international check in was a zoo; There are 6 flights departing between noon and 1pm today including at least 4 747's in QF25, QF73, QF93 and UA840. Also the queue for NZ125 apperared very long.

I decided to scout my checkin counters before heading up to the Domestic QP for some refreshment. Looking at the screens/boards I could not see any mention of my JQ29 flight at all. :confused: Listings were into the evening including the JQ407 A320 flight to CHC. But as for my flight; NADA! :shock:

Thinking on the run I rechecked the 3 counters listed for the CHC flight and having a punt that the same would be being used for BKK I wandered over. I saw two girls in JQ ochre blazers setting up barriers for queue lines. As I approached them I saw they indeed had JQ badges and I asked one about where to check in for my Flight as it was not mentioned on any of the signage.

Her reply with a smile was along the lines of "We were wondering that too ... but you can use these thre counter from 10 past Eleven.". No worries then, so off I strolled to the QP from where I am posting this.

I will head down to check in shortly; don't want to leave it too late in case the Check-in queues are large, but I am hoping immigration clears soon with all that outbound SLC.
 
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Check-in

I arrived at the check-in counter at 11:40; they actually had 6 counters set up rather than the advertised three. Five were occupied with people checking in with the Starclass counter free. There was a small queue of people waiting in the JetSaver/Flex queues with the Starclass queue empty.

Checkin was painless; the young guy seemed quite bored as he advised me to be through customs and be at Gate 4 by 1:30pm, 40 minutes before the flight. Perhaps he had not had much to do. My BP had a sequence number of 81 so a few had already checked in during the preceding 30 minutes. 1K, the seat I requested was on the BP.

Immigration was not much of a problem; There were a good two hundred queued but 9 counters were being operated and I was through in 10 minutes. Strangely the APEC/D/Aircrew queue was quite long with 50-60 people and I had less waiting time than those using the sole counter for the special queue.

As I walked through the terminal I checked out gate 4; NZ125 was just being pushed back from it; so no opportunity yet for a photo of my chariot.

I arrived at the Lounge entrance and it was mayhem; I had to wait a minute or two before handing over my BP and WP card to the harried agent. She did not scan the BP; simply writing someting down then without indicating left or right she said I could go through to "the lounge". Which Lounge? I went to my Left.
 
Serfty, thank you for keeping us posted - can you please describe the drinks list and crew's service of food and drinks? Hope it is a good flight and stay in this country.
Cheers.:)
 
Ross, it is the SE islands sense of humour.

You spelled the title Jeststar Star Class Impressions.
 
Boarding

I went upstairs about 12:45 order to get some images of the aircraft; but it was not there; coming back at 1:00pm it had arrived

Endeavouring to get some good images images of VH-EBB proved difficult; but Gate 4 is a tough one air side for this. I managed a few however and went back to the lounge to prepare; everything seemed on time.

I intended to be at the gate lounge at 1:30pm when boarding was due to be called, but decided a few shrimps washed down with another glass of Moët was a better option. :cool:

Boarding was called in the lounge at 1:35; I finished my snack and headed up.

"Passengers in the front rows and all remaining" were just being called as I arrived, so I queued up. My BP stub was torn off; no use of the reader here.

On seeing my BP, I was escorted to my seat and offered Juice or Water. I took the Juice option and it was delivered in a plastic flute.

As there had been only 5 seats including mine showing as preallocated I did not expect many people to be in StarClass. However, I was surprised that when boarding had finished there were only 4 passengers in the cabin.

I was offered another juice by the attentive FA's which I accepted. I noted there seemed to be about 3 FA's of Oz origin; the others 4-6 were of obvious Asian heritage.

The cabin had quite a strong smell of new leather; looking closely I surmised the seating had been upgraded with new covering and power supply but not completely replaced.

Push back was a little delayed at 2:18pm with quite a long taxi out past the fire training areas; very unusual for aircraft to use this runway from that direction.

Takeoff was to the South East at 2:32pm with a smooth long rollout, several right hand banks and soon I was looking at Mt. Macedon receding into the distance out of my window.
 
Re: Boarding

Takeoff was to the South East at 2:32pm with a smooth long rollout, several right hand banks and soon I was looking at Mt. Macedon receding into the distance out of my window.


Waiting to hear how the rest of the flight went, comfort, service, overall opinion would be great to know. I have two trips booked in StarClass (Bangkok and Hawaii) and hope I did the right thing.
 
Re: Boarding

serfty said:
Takeoff was to the South East at 2:32pm with a smooth long rollout, several right hand banks and soon I was looking at Mt. Macedon receding into the distance out of my window.

This is the most interesting part. In many years I can't ever remember taking off to the south on RWY 16.
 
serfty said:
:shock: Friedian Slip I guess !:oops: :oops:

Given that this airline was the result of economics in action I guess its appropriate that its a slip named after Milton Friedman - mind you it could of course have been a freudian slip... mind you I try not to imagine Freud in a slip...
 
It does appear that Jetstar Star Class may offer a reasonably economical and frequent flyer point earning opportunity to those of us wishing to head for tourist destinations. Therefore keen to see your reports on outward and return trips. Nice to be in a somewhat empty cabin!
 
New routes often take time to fill up - can be a good way to fly a bit more comfortably if you are flexible enough.
 
Pics

Here an image of my BP; note the stub is labeled "Boarding Pass" and the large has "Customer Copy" printed on it.

bp.jpg


When you board the stub is removed and the rest handed back to you. This is very important for those down the back, as this indicates what the passenger is entitled to as part of their fare, lose your BP and you may not get fed!

EBB at gate 4:

gate4af.jpg
gate4fw.jpg


(At the back is OEE; AKA QF73 running an hour or two late.)

I took this from the airbridge as I was boarding:

boarding.jpg
 
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Amenities

I did not mention that before pushing back, I was given the amenities that were included with my StarClass fare. This comprised a set of noise canceling headphones, a "comfort" kit and a video player. The headphones and the "Comfort" set were for me to keep.

packs.jpg


The "Comfort" Pack consisted of a outer cloth like paper wrap held together with Velcro strips. This had two zipped pockets containing an ear-plug, socks, toothbrush (& paste), eye-shades a blanket and inflatable pillow. I did not use any of these on the way to BKK as it was a day flight. I road tested them on the way back last night and seemed ok.

bundle.jpg
comfort_pack.jpg


The headphones were reasonably effective in noise canceling, it came with it own AA battery. However during the flight the battery started to run out of juice; which resulted in clicking noises rather than noise canceling. I was simply given another set of 'phones when I mentioned it. The plug on these is quite inventive. It can be used with a standard single pin stereo socket, but had a second pin that folded away. When wishing to use with the aircraft's in seat audio sockets you simply swing the second pin out to make a two prong plug.

hphones.jpg
2
 
So the headphone sockets aren't hooked up to power? Is this a fuel saving idea?
 
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Re: Amenities

serfty said:
I did not mention that before pushing back, I was given the amenities that were included with my StarClass fare. This comprised a set of noise canceling headphones, a "comfort" kit and a video player. The headphones and the "Comfort" set were for me to keep.



The "Comfort" Pack consisted of a outer cloth like paper wrap held together with Velcro strips. This had two zipped pockets containing an ear-plug, socks, toothbrush (& paste), eye-shades a blanket and inflatable pillow. I did not use any of these on the way to BKK as it was a day flight. I road tested them on the way back last night and seemed ok.



The headphones were reasonably effective in noise canceling, it came with it own AA battery. However during the flight the battery started to run out of juice; which resulted in clicking noises rather than noise canceling. I was simply given another set of 'phones when I mentioned it. The plug on these is quite inventive. It can be used with a standard single pin stereo socket, but had a second pin that folded away. When wishing to use with the aircraft's in seat audio sockets you simply swing the second pin out to make a two prong plug.

2

Do you actually get to take keep the headphones and take them with you? If that is the case it is very surprising. How did you find the rest of the flight, comfort of the seat and the service?
 
Serfty,

Thanks for the photos. It all looks really cheap n' nasty but probably better than QF economy. I know several people who have just booked Starclass, saying it looks like it is at a comfort level and price point that makes good sense for holiday travel. Was that your overall conclusion?
 
maninblack said:
It all looks really cheap n' nasty but probably better than QF economy. I know several people who have just booked Starclass, saying it looks like it is at a comfort level and price point that makes good sense for holiday travel.

Exactly what I'd expect. Offering is premium economy rather than business class.
 
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