Jetstar Star Class

[sherryle]

Hi, still new at this so bear with me.

Can anyone out there tell me if they have travelled with Jetstar Starclass and your opinion on it?

I have been trying since mid November to get 2 business class seats Brisbane - Honolulu, depart 11/11/09 returning 20/11/09 on points. Wednesday, Friday and Sundays are the only days that Qantas fly to Honolulu, the rest is Jetstar. I object to using the same amount of points to fly Jetstar Starclass that I would use for Business Class in Qantas. Bill and I like the bigger seats and they are not quite flat beds but sure bet the 38" recline that Starclass offer.
Hope someone out there can enlighten me.
Cheers
Sherryle

 

[oz_mark]

Unless Qantas change from using 763's to A330's between now and November, Qantas business class on Sydney-Honolulu does not offer Skybeds either.

 

[serfty]

Qantas do not currently use Skybed equipped aircraft aircraft between SYD & HNL; they ordinarily use Dreamtime Equipped 763's.

Dreamtime seats are not flat, but are somewhat better than Millennium equipped JQi flights.

 

[sherryle]

Yes I am aware of that but at least the seats are better and certainly the food, service and general configeration is far superior with Qantas. I have picked this up through reading other reviews. Could you perhaps suggest another airline that I could try as I have plenty of points in Amex that I could utilise
Cheers

 

[Dave Noble]

Yes I am aware of that but at least the seats are better and certainly the food, service and general configeration is far superior with Qantas.

Having just got off of an HNL-SYD a few days ago on a paid Starclass JQ flight and having done QF Dreamtime in the past , I wouldn't overly agree

JQ Starclass is just like QF Domestic business seating wise ; not as nice as dreamtime but not bad. QF does not offer skybeds on that route so the seating difference is not nearly as big as it would be if they did have skybeds
JQ Starclass offers a portable DVD player for entertainment whilst QF offers 6? movies on a loop with a tiny screen
JQ has laptop power as per QF (iirc)
The service level of the staff is on par with service I have had on QF J
On the food side, the 1st meal was probably not as good as QF but the later snack beats what I have tended to have on QF
Both have lounge access and separate check in facilities
The minus I found with JQ was lack of priority baggage handling but on the plus, the baggage reclaim was quicker than I tend to experience with QF. I was 1st through immigration and the carousel was just starting up as I arrived

Dave

 

[file51]

Having just got off of an HNL-SYD a few days ago on a paid Starclass JQ flight and having done QF Dreamtime in the past , I wouldn't overly agree

JQ Starclass is just like QF Domestic business seating wise ; not as nice as dreamtime but not bad. QF does not offer skybeds on that route so the seating difference is not nearly as big as it would be if they did have skybeds
JQ Starclass offers a portable DVD player for entertainment whilst QF offers 6? movies on a loop with a tiny screen
JQ has laptop power as per QF (iirc)
The service level of the staff is on par with service I have had on QF J
On the food side, the 1st meal was probably not as good as QF but the later snack beats what I have tended to have on QF
Both have lounge access and separate check in facilities
The minus I found with JQ was lack of priority baggage handling but on the plus, the baggage reclaim was quicker than I tend to experience with QF. I was 1st through immigration and the carousel was just starting up as I arrived

Dave

Having done the SYD-HNL-SYD flight 3 times last year (2 trips ODU, 1 paid) I 100% agree with what Dave said.

If it was a paid flight, I would strongly lean towards JQ as it is approx 1/3 of the QF fare (unless as stated previously QF had SkyBeds), for points I would book far enough in advance so the QF flight was available, or opt for paying for the flight and trying for a ODU.

The only thing I dont like about JQ *class is if the person in front has the seat fully reclined it very much takes up a lot of my personal space, to the point the DVD player nor a laptop can be used. QF have much more generous spacing between the rows.

 

[serfty]

I flew StarClass on a promotion fare in the first fortnight of JQi operations.

Here's a trip report I did (there have been some minor changes to the service and you can skip the BKK bits if you like):

• http://www.frequentflyer.com.au/com...tos/jeststar-star-class-impressions-8472.html

 

[kvalois]

I flew JQ Starclass to Honolulu and back in October. I found it a far cry from QF Business class. Biggest problem for me and my husband was legroom (he is very tall). In starclass the legroom was much smaller and the people in front of us reclined and his legs were jammed in (they were not very nice at being asked to bring the seat up either). It made the 10 hour flight quite miserable for him. The food was not as good either. I felt check in services were not good, I also did not like the fact that Qantas could not tell me much about the booking, seat assignments, etc (as a Platinum flyer I expect better), even though this was coded as their flight, but operated by Jetstar. The checkin for the return in Honolulu was particularly poorly organised. All in all not something I will be looking to repeat. I am well aware of the difficulty of getting confirmed award flights on QF business class to or from Honolulu, every time I have tried I can get the business class in one direction but not the other, even when booking 10 or so months in advance. Good luck.

 

[sherryle]

Thanks for the input. One of my objection as stated in my original letter was the fact that it takes the same amount of F/F points to go Jetstar Starclass as it does to go Qantas Business Class. What a ripoff!!! I also have been trying since November 08 or a November 09 flight. Our problem is the same as your husbands. I am 6 ft tall and my husband is 6' 3" so we really do need the extra leg room for the 10 hour flight.

 

[Dave Noble]

Thanks for the input. One of my objection as stated in my original letter was the fact that it takes the same amount of F/F points to go Jetstar Starclass as it does to go Qantas Business Class. What a ripoff!!! I also have been trying since November 08 or a November 09 flight. Our problem is the same as your husbands. I am 6 ft tall and my husband is 6' 3" so we really do need the extra leg room for the 10 hour flight.

To be fair, they do also credit as business class when doing a paid ticket

Dave

 

[oz_mark]

Given the product improvements in the last few years in business (i.e. introduction of skybeds etc), I would suggest that it is the QF business redemption rate that is the bargain!

 

[Flying Fox]

Did SYD - HNL - SYD in Aug 08 and generally agree with others here.

I tend to disagree on the food aspect. I found it not as good as QF but it was better than what I expected. In my opion it was better than Y food but served on disposable picnic style plates etc.

The entertainment system was pretty decent too. Good selection for 10hrs but I found the unit heavy but it worked well.

I would say for a J points redemption, its pretty expensive too.

 

[Annuity]

Yes I am aware of that but at least the seats are better and certainly the food, service and general configeration is far superior with Qantas. I have picked this up through reading other reviews. Could you perhaps suggest another airline that I could try as I have plenty of points in Amex that I could utilise
Cheers

Have you considered flying with Hawaiian Airlines? You can use your Amex points and I think you might only need 130,000 points compared to the 144,000 points you would need for Jetstar.

 

[Dave Noble]

Did SYD - HNL - SYD in Aug 08 and generally agree with others here.

I tend to disagree on the food aspect. I found it not as good as QF but it was better than what I expected. In my opion it was better than Y food but served on disposable picnic style plates etc.

They do now serve on normal trays . No disposable plates

Dave

 

[Platy]

Hmmm INMHO you would have to be crazy to use hard won points to redeem JQ starclass SYD-HNL at the same redemption rate as QF, even given the tired old 767 Dreamtime seats.

I do admit to the guilty pleasure of the cheeseburger snack washed down with lashing sof Stick's Piot Noir on JQ Starclass on HNL-SYD, but I would personally always ratehr be on the Dreamtime seats on the 767 to the cramped Millenium style JQ seats - especially in in the "A" seats with tons of space.

Full redemption rate to fly JQ Starclass? Group Qf are taking serious advantage of ya!!!

 

[taswegian77]

I have flown JQ * class too many times to remember always on the MEL-BKK-MEL run and once from DPS-MEL (when we lost an engine) on the way back from BKK.

Anyway I find * class good for the amount of cash paid for it.
1. It typically costs $2100 to return to BKK as compared to $4800 (if you are lucky) with QF
2. It offers full business SC and points as QF which is awesome
3. It allows me still F lounge access
4. The food might be slightly lower standard than QF but the later snacks and meals are better IMO.
5. Priority luggage woudl be nice but even with Yellow tags my bags do not come out first all the time.
6. Check in can be dis-organised so a bad point there
7. I am 6 foot 5 and seat space is never an issue but can be tight when person in front leans all the way back but they are entitled to do that.

Might of got off thread there but IMO JQ * class for the price and offering is good.

IF you are comparing point for point between value of using points then unless it is comparing skybed offering i think i woudl rather fly * class to HNL than economy if I could nto get QF J metal