New Virgin/ Jetstar seating. IFE and Recline in economy?

[evangelionpunk]

Kept trying to find some sort of updated reviews or more importantly photo's/videos but cant find any.

Virgin Australia (domestic) is supposed to have updated seats and new 737-800's whilst Jetstar is supposed to have retrofitted their a320/a321 with new slimline seating.

I have never flown either but kept reading that Jetstar seats dont recline but not sure if that has changed or not.

Has anyone seen or been on any of these options?

What is the IFE and Recline in Economy like?

 

[markis10]

Plenty of threads and photos although mainly DJ

http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ity/djs-new-737s-pretty-impressive-31049.html

http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/virgin-australia-velocity/virgins-new-737-800-interiors-31786.html


[url]http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/travel-news/jetstar-to-recline-seats-28385.html
[/URL]

 

[evangelionpunk]

thanks markis. i had read the 2nd and 3rd thread but did not see any photos of the seats with the IFE.

I assume that by now VA does have IFE's installed on their 737-800's but what does the system look like? I cant seem to find anything showing it


Also regarding JQ just like the 3rd thread I did read what its supposed to be like etc but cant find any images/videos of it or if indeed anyone has been on these "new" seats.

 

[travelislife]

I have been on the new jetstar seats and they are great, removing the seat back pockets is great idea, makes it seem like there is more leg room for it. They definitely recline.

I don't think virgin has made a decision on their IFE yet.

 

[evangelionpunk]

I have been on the new jetstar seats and they are great, removing the seat back pockets is great idea, makes it seem like there is more leg room for it. They definitely recline.

I don't think virgin has made a decision on their IFE yet.

thats good to hear! have they rolled it out on all the flights yet?

I would not want to be stuck in a seat for 4.5 hour flight with no recline and no iFE.

Which route did you take?

Im looking at Melb-Perth.

 

[djfuzz]

I would not want to be stuck in a seat for 4.5 hour flight with no recline and no iFE.

Fair call in general, and they will obviously find something to fill that gap - but this is why investing in your own IFE (tablet or whatever) is well worth it in the long run. Have done a few VA runs in row 3 as well as in PE/J, and was perfectly happy to use my iPad compared with the old IFE / Live2Air offering they used to have.

 

[evangelionpunk]

Im all set for JQ flight.


Couple of q's:


1. Does JQ 970 have the new seats?

2. I was thinking of paying the extra $33 and getting exit row.. Is it worth it or could I get somewhere almost as good for less?

3. Do the seats in the exit rows row 1, 12 and 13 (I believe) recline or not? I have read conflicting reports..... I would like the extra legroom and the ability to recline(if possible).

4. Would this JQ 970 Flight have the ipad IFE? Considering its more than 4hr flight I would have thought it would but operator said it may or may not and no prebooking is available for it. Apparently IFE is mostly for international?....

 

[mannej]

Look at Thejetstarsource website to see the pattern for aircraft rego.
We had no IFE but that was a week or so after it was announced, and the exit rows are luxury compared to the normal rows

 

[evangelionpunk]

Look at Thejetstarsource website to see the pattern for aircraft rego.
We had no IFE but that was a week or so after it was announced, and the exit rows are luxury compared to the normal rows

cheers for the link!

are you getting an error? I keep typing in seat numbers but keeps showing runtime error.....



Yeah shortly after release I can understand but hoping 1.5 months later things would have changed.

 

[TheInsider]

Yeah shortly after release I can understand but hoping 1.5 months later things would have changed.

From JQ's weekly email to staff with all different info:

It has been five weeks since the first iPad flight so time for an update on progress and performance so far.
We’ve rolled out our iPads on 23 aircraft across the A320 fleet, with 24 iPads loaded per aircraft. They have been deployed in the leather cases without extended life batteries or purpose built cases.

Approximately 3000 iPads have been built and are awaiting deployment and circulation around the network, once operational procedures are finalised for the hard cases and extended life batteries.

In terms of sales performance, we only have the first full weeks’ worth of data, but take up has been strong so far, especially on the longer routes. Trans Tasman, all Perth routes, Fiji and the longer eastern seaboard routes have uptake in excess of 80% with many sold out flights.

What’s next?
Our main priority now is to resolve all remaining operational procedures for the hard cases and extended life batteries to complete the rollout on all aircraft across the network.

From January, we will have new content and the first five games loaded, further improving the experience for customers. From February we will have additional movie content loaded and we’re also currently looking at the business cases for Jetstar Asia and Jetstar Japan rollout next year.

This initiative is a true world’s first and everyone at Jetstar should be congratulated for contributing to and supporting this initiative through launch and beyond.

 

[Noob]

So far Virgin have released that they will use wi-fi streaming to guest's own devices using boardconnect which also allows guests to start watching the IFE whilst waiting to board in the terminal and finish watching what you were viewing after your flight.

 

[evangelionpunk]

Thanks insider!

Atleast now I know if they have it not to expect a lot of them and get it asap.



Noob:

As far as Im aware they havent even started that system? Arent they supposed to start working on it with Lufthansa or something next year? If so deployment would be quite a while away....





Im still left trying to decide on seat and Ive been reading conflicting info on web.


Can someone confirm whether I have got this right so far?

1A would not be ideal as door handle takes some of the space and makes it a bit awkard.
1B and 1C is fine apart from being middle and aisle seats.

1D-F have the divider in front of it so less leg room. As well as overhead bulkhead??


All of row 1-? have no overhead cabin bag space? Theyll need to stuff cabin bags into overhead of row 3+?

Do any of the seats in row 1 recline? Especially the 1C?



There is also 2 more exit row seats being row 12 and 13.

Some info online states that row 12 does not recline whereas row 13 does.
Some state that only the window seats on row 12 and 13 dont recline ie 12a/f & 13a/f.

 

[evangelionpunk]

Oh well since no one seems to know I went ahead and paid the extra $33 and booked 1C.


Finger's crossed that I will hopefully enjoy the flight, have plenty of leg room, the seat would be able to recline and Ill be able to get the Ipad.


(Ordinarily I prefer window seats but based on previous poster's info that there may only be 20 on the flight thought bugger it otherwise I might have gone for 13A/F though I hear that 1ABC has the most leg room)

 

[evangelionpunk]

I just noticed something and Im sure someone knows the answer:

1. Would I have been able to select the same exit row seat via web check in and thereby have saved the $33 fee?

2. I had not noticed but they charged me a booking fee of $7.50. Is this right? This charge was not there in the original price beat and only came up when I selected the seat. Should I be paying this?

 

[TheInsider]

I just noticed something and Im sure someone knows the answer:

1. Would I have been able to select the same exit row seat via web check in and thereby have saved the $33 fee?

2. I had not noticed but they charged me a booking fee of $7.50. Is this right? This charge was not there in the original price beat and only came up when I selected the seat. Should I be paying this?

1: You would've had to pay the money either way.
2: Yes, PBG booking waives the CC fee, anything after that charged the CC 'surcharge'. But will not charge again if any other changes are done.

 

[evangelionpunk]

Id say 1c is definitely the best seat on the plane in terms of comfort (ie recline+legroom). The seats were a bit old or well used.

Unfortunately there was no ipad's on the flight and the FA(Cabin Manager) stated that its not yet really rolled out onto domestic flights in force. This sucked as I found myself trying to pass 4.5hours without any entertainment.




It did remind me again how much noisier and more susceptible to turbulence the a320 is in comparison to its big brother a330.

Checkin was fairly straightforward but there were no baggage drop off machines like qantas so everyone was in a massive line.
Also unlike qantas passengers disembark using a ladder and walk into the terminal (LCCT version) rather than using a robotic gangway. Ofcourse everything was chargeable water, snacks, drinks etc.

I found the FA's more casual both in their attire and conduct (compared to their QF counterpart).

What I found curious was how many times the Captain and First Officer came out and FA went in. I counted atleast 5 times, each, which Ive never seen happen before.


One chap was quite pissed off about the whole experience and judging from his clothes and bits of what he was grumbling about seemed like he was unaware that it was an actual JQ flight. Presumably he was under the impression that it was a QF flight, company paid, and that given he was a platinum member did not expect that sort of service.


Overall, being my first time with Jetstar, it was fairly uneventful.

 

[under the radar]

i flew mel/syd last week on jetstar with the new seats...a la slimline and 'seat pocket' above the tray table.... i found them very comfy..and a noticeable increase in knee/legroom.. where my knees used to touch the seat in front with 'old' seats...in the same position i had at least 2inches space between my knees and seat in front with the new seats! ps..im 5'10"

 

[evangelionpunk]

were the old seats the charcoal grey leather seats? I certainly noticed quite a few peoples knees touching the seats in front.

did you have ipads on the flight?

 

[under the radar]

were the old seats the charcoal grey leather seats? I certainly noticed quite a few peoples knees touching the seats in front.

did you have ipads on the flight?

yes..old seats are grey leather..and so are the new ones!! but you will notice the difference in look and feel...no ipads on this flight (was only mel/syd anyway)