Jetstar Boeing 787 Business Class Review

When thinking about great long-haul flying experiences, Jetstar probably isn’t the first airline that comes to mind.

But I recently tried out Jetstar’s long-haul Business Class on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and I’m happy to say that it was a pleasant flight.

Jetstar’s Business Class is more like Premium Economy on full-service airlines because you don’t get a lie-flat bed. But you do get a wide leather seat with reasonable legroom, full food and drinks on board, and priority at the airport so you can avoid all the queues.

Importantly, Jetstar prices its Business Class at a much lower level than Business Class on full-service airlines. And by purchasing a Business Max Bundle, you can still enjoy lounge access and earn Qantas points and status credits.

Find out what Jetstar Boeing 787-8 Business Class is really like as I review my flight from Sydney to Seoul.

Flight Details

Flight number	JQ47
Route	Sydney (SYD) to Seoul – Incheon (ICN)
Aircraft type	Boeing 787-8
Class of travel	Business Class
Seat number	3D
On-time performance	We arrived 20 minutes late
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

My Jetstar Business Class ticket cost $949 one-way. (Jetstar doesn’t charge you more for booking a one-way ticket, which is a great advantage compared to many legacy airlines.) This price included the seat, 30kg of checked baggage, 14kg of carry-on, seat selection and all onboard amenities.

In addition, it cost an extra $200 to upgrade to a Business Max fare which included lounge access, the flexibility to cancel the ticket and Qantas points & status credits, which you earn at the “Business” rate. This brought the total price to $1,149.

For full disclosure, I travelled to Seoul at Australian Frequent Flyer‘s expense.

Thanks to my Qantas Platinum status, I would have been able to use the Qantas First Lounge in Sydney regardless of my Jetstar ticket type. The main reason I purchased a Max Bundle was for the 125 status credits and 13,650 Qantas points (including tier bonus points) that I earned for this ticket.

As an alternative to buying a ticket, you could redeem 61,500 Qantas points + $188 in taxes & carrier charges for a one-way Jetstar Business Class seat from Sydney to Seoul (Incheon).

Airport Experience

Jetstar had a dedicated Business Class check-in queue, and I was promptly checked in and handed an express path card for immigration and security. This saved me quite a lot of time, and I was in the Qantas First Lounge only a short time after arriving at Sydney Airport.

Jetstar passengers with a Business Max ticket are normally welcomed into the Qantas international Business Lounge at Sydney Airport. However, I was able to use the Qantas First Lounge and enjoyed a very pleasant breakfast before boarding.

I headed over to the gate after boarding was called in the lounge, to find that boarding wasn’t actually close to starting. Our departure was delayed a bit because the aircraft was still being cleaned. But when boarding did commence, it began with a priority boarding call for Business Class passengers and I was able to jump ahead of the long queue that had already started forming some time earlier.

One of the things I sometimes dread about flying low-cost airlines is the long airport queues. Thankfully, a Business Class ticket lets you bypass all of these – making the pre-flight experience a much more pleasant one.

The Hard Product

If you book a Jetstar Business Class ticket expecting to get a comfortable bed in the sky, you’ll be sadly disappointed. The seat is absolutely not a lie-flat bed – nor does it pretend to be.

There are three rows of Business Class at the front of Jetstar’s Boeing 787-8, configured in a 2-3-2 layout. The seats are wide leather recliners with more legroom, and basically resemble the Qantas Boeing 737-800 Business Class product.

I chose 3D, an aisle seat in the last row of Business Class. I specifically avoided row 1 because I’m quite tall and can’t fully stretch my legs out in the front row due to the bulkhead wall in front. But in row 3, I could comfortably stretch my legs under the seat in front and it didn’t feel cramped.

There was also a wall behind my seat for guilt-free recline. For a daytime flight, I found this product quite comfortable.

Each seat comes with a charging outlet and a personal TV screen, but no there’s no wi-fi. I found the in-flight entertainment content a bit limited, but there was enough to keep me occupied for a few hours. And I was very pleased that Jetstar has music on its IFE system – take note, Qantas! 😉

I had a short nap during the middle of the flight, and was able to get a bit of sleep. But I’m not sure that I would enjoy sitting in this seat on a long overnight flight. It’s certainly better than Economy, but again, it’s not even close to being a lie-flat bed.

Below is a photo of the seat in the fully reclined position and with the leg rest extended. (Apologies for the dark photo – the cabin lights were off when I took this.) The leg rest really wasn’t useful for me at all, but perhaps it might be for someone who isn’t as tall.

The Soft Product

While the seat is closer to Premium Economy, the service and on-board amenities were closer to Business Class on other airlines. The cabin crew did a great job, and I was quite impressed with the overall service.

Jetstar provided a small pillow, blanket, premium headphones and a “chill kit” to each passenger in Business. The chill kit contained wet wipes, hand cream, lip balm, a toothbrush & toothpaste, an eye mask, ear plugs, socks, a pen and an inflatable neck pillow.

There was also a bottle of water waiting at my seat, and a flight attendant offered me a pre-departure sparkling wine or orange juice as soon as I sat down.

Before take-off, a flight attendant handed me three menus with the options for drinks, lunch and the second meal served later in the flight. The flight attendant took my food orders before take-off and then collected the menus back as they didn’t have enough for one per passenger.

These were the Business Class food menus for JQ47 from Sydney to Seoul:

And this was the Jetstar Business Class drinks list:

After take-off, I was offered another drink and a bag of pretzels.

This was followed by lunch, which was served on a single tray. I opted for the salmon, which was fine, and came with a salad that easily beats the Neil Perry green leaf salads served in Qantas Business Class!

The lunch service was completed quickly after take-off. The windows were then automatically dimmed and the lights switched off, meaning the cabin was in darkness for most of the remainder of the flight. The cabin crew did come through the aisle periodically, though, to check if anyone needed anything.

One comment on the windows: While this isn’t a problem specific to Jetstar, I found that the Boeing 787 windows were ineffective at blocking out the sun as we flew into the sunset. There are no window shades on the 787, and the windows were instead set to the most heavily dimmed setting. But for a while, the sun just happened to be at an unfortunate angle where it was shining directly into my eyes. It was totally blinding and I had to ask to move seats for a while. (I’ve had this problem before during sunrise or sunset when flying on Dreamliners belonging to other airlines.)

The lights were briefly switched on again around five hours into the ten-hour flight for the second meal service. This was a quesadilla, which tasted better than it looked.

The meal timings were a bit strange, as the second meal was served with five hours of flight time remaining. I wasn’t really hungry at that point, but I certainly was hungry towards the end of the flight! I would have preferred for this meal to be served a bit later.

Luckily, Jetstar also has unlimited packaged snacks available for Business Class passengers. I was offered this snack menu a couple of hours prior to landing:

The snacks were pretty much as expected:

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.