OzJet Trip report

Status
Not open for further replies.

Mal

Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 25, 2004
Posts
12,298
I'm currently in the T2 Qantas club, having just arrived from MEL on Ozjet.

Here is some details about my experience. Hope people get something out of my report.

I was booked on the 12:30pm O7 28 flight. Flight was delayed and departed around 1:03pm. Arrived in Sydney at 2:35pm which is 40 minutes after expected arrival.

Overall, I enjoyed the experience. It was a mixture of "professionalism" and "still learning". The airline has a lot of potential. I hope they survive and flourish.

The staff are committed. The staff seem to be enjoying what they are doing and want OzJet to succeed. The flight crew are really good.

I'll start from the beginning. This won't be a traditional Trip report, but should still give some good pointers about my trip with OzJet.

Checkin: I checked in around 11:00am. No-one was in the queue so it was very painless. The staff member (only 1 staff member) was friendly and very professional. I was asked "international" type security questions though (Did you pack bag yourself, have you been with your bag, any explosives etc). Good to see they are wanting to have top security.

From what I saw, it looks like several flights were delayed today. Not sure why. I'm sure people can check the various online sites to see the delays and analyse them. Assume it's first day "nerves" and "learnings".

The waiting area at Melbourne is down the left hand side passage after walking down the stairs after checking in. Gate 12 is the gate they use. The area is decorated in "Ozjet" promotions. They have some very nice seating (small tables with relaxing couch like chairs - much like the Qantas Club). There is also some traditional Airport seating.

The aircraft I was due to be on was VH-OZO (Maybe OZQ if my handwriting is bad!). It arrived in Mel soon after 12:30. Only about 6 pax walked off the flight. Took about 30 mins to prepare for the return journey. A CASA representative was hanging around and did a "spot inspection" type activity. Everything was ok though and we departed at 1:03pm.

For those who care, the ground support seems to be carried out by AAES.

I think there was around 6 pax on my flight too. Seemed to be mostly plane spotter types out for the experience. Only 1 or 2 looked like "serious" business people.

The plane inside is interesting. You can see the age of the planes. (Even down to the "female" attendant call button!). The plane was very clean though and all the panels looked to have been heavily cleaned recently so they were very clean. As I said before, you could tell the planes age though. Seats / carpet look brand new. The aisle seated pax will have some fun reaching the Air vent/lights without taking off their seat belt.

The cabin is in 2x2 arrangement. The seats are all leather and seem to be a variant of the ones that Qantas use in 737-800's. The buttons are all the same, so if you've been in J in a 737-800 that is very similar to what it'll be like. I think OzJet does have better seats though than the 737-8's.

I think there is about 40-something cm between the front of the seat and the seat infront. I didn't have a tape measure, so can only guess. It is nearly a metre from the seat infront to the headrest of your seat. Very spacious.

The seat is pretty comfy, and I didn't notice myself "sliding" down the leather. Nor did I have any weird "leather movement" noises.

They use a magazine called "Arrivals & Departures" for their inflight reading. Never seen it before, but apparently you can subscribe to it. Looks like a mix of The Qantas mag and the Amex "Travel & leisure" magazine.

Taxi and Take-off were without drama. The cabin seems a little louder than what I am used to, but it's not overly noticeable.

A few minutes after seat belt sign switched off, the cabin crew came around for bar orders. I asked for a beer and was given a Crown Lager. Not sure what other beers are available. They also seem to have white wine, red wine and sparkling wine.

Sorry to offend the wine aficionados, but I didn't ask what types of wine were loaded. The red was a "Wolf Blass Shiraz 2002". No idea what the others were, but assume they're Foster's wines. Seemed to only have one type of each.

I'm pretty sure lunch was supposed to be served on my flight. But for some reason (maybe the lateness?) that turned into a "refreshment".

Refreshment was a plate of Proscuitto (maybe bacon?) - about 4 slices. With feta cubes, olives, tomato, zucchini etc. Add a bread roll, dessert of "chocolate mousse", coffee, wine and water and that finishes off the refreshment.

The CEO of OzJet was onboard and said hello to all passengers and asked for feedback. The cabin crew did try for some small talk with passengers.

So, overall what was my opinion?

OzJet will be good when it expands to larger routes such as BNE-MEL. SYD-MEL doesn't really benefit from the larger seats etc. They also need to increase their frequency. Every 2 hours is not going to attract the targets that they are after. I think they also need to increase their wine selection. I don't really care, but know that a lot of business types do care about their wines.

Additionally, I think they need some kind of FF scheme tieup. Maybe a lounge.

Add in some more modern planes, and I think they will be successful. Time will tell though.
 
And I survived too!

Best of all, I avoided the media. But I expect a photo of me will turn up on airliners.net or another plane spotting site thanks the the other passengers :D
 
Very thorough trip report mal. Thanks.

Does not sound like too many passengers right now but hope that increases. I wish ozjet all the best as I know many people on aff will be looking to them as an alternative to Qantas.
 
Thanks for the report Mal.

Wow, I really hope they get more pax than you saw today. I'd have expected a lot more during the first week due to the hype, and then for it to subside a little to a lower but regular level. I'm concerned that they won't last too long with numbers like that!

I might give them a try in the next week or two.

Say, what were the crew uniforms like? I saw an OzJet advert on TV last night, the one featuring Murray Walker, but afterwards had an impression that I'd seen a hostie wearing an old-fashioned hat. Is that true? :eek:
 
Yada Yada said:
Thanks for the report Mal.

Wow, I really hope they get more pax than you saw today. I'd have expected a lot more during the first week due to the hype, and then for it to subside a little to a lower but regular level. I'm concerned that they won't last too long with numbers like that!

Actually I am not surprised; I would have thought that the business traveller ( who they are seemingly targetting ) would be inclined to wait and see how Ozjet operates and whether they are reliable before using them

Dave
 
Yada Yada said:
Thanks for the report Mal.

No worries. I was actually quite happy to fly a new airline I havn't flown before. Especially one like OzJet where it's success will mean better competition in the Australian domestic market.

Yada Yada said:
Wow, I really hope they get more pax than you saw today. I'd have expected a lot more during the first week due to the hype, and then for it to subside a little to a lower but regular level. I'm concerned that they won't last too long with numbers like that!

I was disappointed with the number of pax on launch day. Should be full all day long at least for the first few days. I agree. If they get $1200-2500 per flight, surely that can't pay for fuel etc.

Yada Yada said:
Say, what were the crew uniforms like? I saw an OzJet advert on TV last night, the one featuring Murray Walker, but afterwards had an impression that I'd seen a hostie wearing an old-fashioned hat. Is that true? :eek:

The uniforms shown on www.ozjet.com.au are what they wear. Once the jacket comes off, the guys are wearing standard business shirts with a tie, the girls are wearing female tops with a puffy neck collar. Hard to describe since I don't work in the fashion industry.

<HELP! :?: :?: Any females and/or fashion consultants who have travelled OzJet, Please help describe what they wear! >

Saw no hats being worn...
 
Thanks Mal, as I've said before - I can't wait until they start flying out of BNE.

Cheers
 
I just caught a short news piece about OzJet on Sky News. They showed the first flight departing with Stoddart holding a checkered ribbon at the gate, and also on board with the CEO (Van Pelt?).

There seemed to be a good number of passengers on this particular flight and those who were interviewed after arrival all had positive comments. There is a segment coming up on the Sky Business Report. If there is anything interesting in it I will post again.
 
Yada Yada said:
There is a segment coming up on the Sky Business Report. If there is anything interesting in it I will post again.

Here are a few things reported in the Sky Business Report:

* Stoddart agrees that Dec-Jan was a bad time to launch because business travel goes into a hiatus at this time of the year, but that he did not want to wait until Feb-Mar to begin flights.

* Most flights remain unfilled. By comparison, when Virgin Blue and Jetstar launched, both had full flights and high demand.

* Some lunchtime flights next week are completely empty at present, and Stoddart flagged the possibility of "adjusting the schedule" to suit the circumstances.

* The current discount fare ($200) may be extended to cover Dec and perhaps Jan to encourage better sales.

* They have no plans to float the company on the stock exchange.

* They intend to begin flights to another capital city in March but would not disclose which one.

* They intend to build the fleet up to 10 aircraft.
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

I forgot to write about the IFE in my report above... There pretty much is none! The seats on the left hand side of the plane seemed to have headphone jacks, but I couldn't find them on my side of the plane.

Either way, no headphones were offered.

No video screens in the cabin either that I could see.

Lack of IFE would only start to affect me flying more than about 2 hours methinks.
 
Yada Yada said:
* Stoddart agrees that Dec-Jan was a bad time to launch because business travel goes into a hiatus at this time of the year, but that he did not want to wait until Feb-Mar to begin flights.

* Most flights remain unfilled. By comparison, when Virgin Blue and Jetstar launched, both had full flights and high demand.

* Some lunchtime flights next week are completely empty at present, and Stoddart flagged the possibility of "adjusting the schedule" to suit the circumstances.

* The current discount fare ($200) may be extended to cover Dec and perhaps Jan to encourage better sales.

* They have no plans to float the company on the stock exchange.

* They intend to begin flights to another capital city in March but would not disclose which one.

* They intend to build the fleet up to 10 aircraft.

Brisbane will be the next city. I'm pretty sure about it.
The rest isn't too suprising. They have 3 aircraft now (One still has it's European rego I think but should come online soon). The adjustment will definately happen to the timetables. But without the extra aircraft online, they are restricted with what they can do.
 
IFE wouldn't be high on the priority of business pax - I would think they would be more interested in pulling out their laptop or grabbing a decent meal on board (particularly on a 1 hour SYD/MEL or vv).

Now, with a 2 hour sector like BNE/MEL or vv, it might start to be of interest; but I still wouldn't think it would rate highly in the needs of pax flying OzJet. I'm sure they did their market research and found they could save $$$ by not installing IFE as it wasn't highly rated.

With BNE being the third largest in pax numbers, how could BNE not be the third city. Worst kept secret in the industry.
 
Lindsay Wilson said:
IFE wouldn't be high on the priority of business pax - I would think they would be more interested in pulling out their laptop or grabbing a decent meal on board (particularly on a 1 hour SYD/MEL or vv).
But if they offered a live feed of Cricket (even ABC radio) or Golf, there might be more interest from business pax 8) .
 
If they start flying to PER, and I really hope they do to provide some competition with QF's large J fare, then IFE would be great. I'm not so fussed about it on short hops.
 
They seem to have the spaces for the Personal monitors in the middle of the seat. Yet when you open it up, seems to just be a filling piece of plastic there.

They have the option for it, it seems. One day maybe it will arrive. I think they have other things at the moment that they would like to improve first.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Enhance your AFF viewing experience!!

From just $6 we'll remove all advertisements so that you can enjoy a cleaner and uninterupted viewing experience.

And you'll be supporting us so that we can continue to provide this valuable resource :)


Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..
Back
Top