JQ404 SYD TO OOL(Y)
Introduction
Flight Number: JQ404
Departing: Sydney Domestic Airport T2, SYD 09:55 (10:06)
Arriving: Gold Coast Coolangatta, OOL 10:15 (10:04)
Operated By: Jetstar
Class: Economy (Y)
Type: Paid economy 'plus bundle'
Seat: 7A
Aircraft: Airbus A320-232
Frequent Flyer Program: Qantas Frequent Flyer
Frequent Flyer Points Earned: 800
For a short flight to the Gold Coast, I decided to try the Jetstar A320 service and compare it to that of their 787 which I recently flew to Melbourne. Whilst I thought the 787 would be streaks ahead of the A320 in every aspect, for a flight of this length I preferred the A320 simply because the plane was smaller and there were less people.
Check-in
Jetstar allow you to check-in online 48 hours before your domestic flight. I without a shadow of a doubt recommend that you check-in online and not subject yourself to an agonising wait in the check-in line at the airport with the slowest and most infrequent flyers around (apart from those who fly with Tigerair)- especially at Sydney, where the wait in line could take longer than your flight!
The online process was straight forward and easy to use; if you had checked luggage all you would need to do is print a label for it at the remote kiosk at the airport and take it to the bag drop area, this service seemed to have no line at all!!
Unlike Qantas and Virgin, you'll need to print off your boarding pass if you've checked in online as you cannot save them to 'wallet' on your iPhone.
Lounge
Good luck going to the lounge at Sydney before your Jetstar flight; for Qantas Club and Gold QFF's you can access the Qantas Club lounge, for Platinum and Platinum One QFF's, you can access the Domestic Business Lounge before your flight. BUT... Jetstar operate from T2 and the Qantas lounges are in T3 meaning that you'd have to go through security at T3 to access the lounge, exit that terminal, walk over to T2, clear security again and then board your flight in T2 - you'd have to have a long time to waist before your flight if you wanted to spend more than 10 minutes in the lounge!
Boarding
Chaotic! I understant that there are people and families who are not frequent flyers or have never flown before, everybody starts somewhere, but please listen to the staff!!! As is the norm with Jetstar flights on an A320, people seated in rows 1 to 15 board from the front and people from rows 16 to 30 board from the back, simple no?? Apparently not!! I understand that it is a pain to board from the back of the aircraft but if you really don't want to, pay the $5 seat selection and put yourself towards the front, don't delay everyone else because you are walking down the aisle in everyone's way when you should be walking up it like everyone else. None the less, all other aspects of boarding were handled appropriatly and we pushed back only 11 minutes late.
The Seat
The A320 seat was adequate for a one hourish flight, but I wouldn't recommend it for any more than three hours at which point the restricted legroom and lack of recline become annoying. The seat was clean though the tray table was not (more on that later) and there was a section to stow your reading material above the tray table insted of a net below it.
Jetstar Airbus A320.
Edited image from SeatGuru.
Jetstar A320 'inflight entertainment'
To the left is the layout of the Jetstar A320, rows with a purple box around them are designated 'Extra Legroom' seats and come at a cost of around $24 to select.
Rows with a blue box are designated as 'Up the front' seats and cost $11 to select.
All other seats are 'standard' and cost $5 to select or you can leave it to Jetstar to select a seat for you (NOT A GOOD IDEA).
If you have purchased a 'Plus Bundle' standard seat selection is free.
Takeoff
After a bit of a trundle to the runway from our gate, we were immediatly cleared for takeoff towards the north. One of the things I love about flying north to destinations such as Brisbane and the Gold Coast is that if you're seated on the left hand side of the plane, you'll get a spectacular view of Sydney from the sky. Click through the gallery to see some of the photos over Sydney...
JQ404 over Sydney
JQ404 over Sydney
JQ404 over Sydney
JQ404 over Sydney
Service
Shortly after take-off the cabin crew announced that they would be beginning serving food which was available for purchase. Customers whose tickets are part of the 'Plus Bundle' deal will recieve a $5 inflight food voucher which is a nice benefit, however it doesn't entitle you to many choices without having to pay extra. To use your all of your voucher at once, you can purchase a coffee and muffin pack or a cup of chicken noodles. There was a nice variety available for sale though the prices were a bit of a turn off.
The cabin crew on this flight were pretty nice and worked quickly throughout the cabin, though as I satated before that my tray table was dirty and the crew member saw this and said something like "would you like that to be cleaned?" I said "yes" and she proceeded to give me a paper towel for me to do it myself unlike other times when the crew have proactively cleaned it without hesitation and asking if I wanted it cleaned; what kind of question is that?? Of course I want it cleaned, no one would like to eat off a filthy table! - a minor issue, though nothing major in the scheme of things.
Flight
The view from the window was quite nice as we headed up along the coast to Coolangatta airport. This airplane was only 4 and a half years old though it looked a little bit tatted on the inside, there were no major issues though you could tell the seats were starting to wear thin. There was nothing so impressive about the plane, though I would recommend paying the extra money for the 'Extra Legroom' seats of row 1 for long flights like Sydney to Perth, the 'Up Front' seats are not worth the extra money though as the come with no benefit apart from leaving the plane fractionally quicker than everyone else.
Arrival
We arrived early into Coolangatta Airport, from the north which meant we got to see the Gold Coast from above which was a nice bonus. We began to taxi to our spot but had to wait for a Virgin Australia plane to leave first which added 5 minutes before we stopped at our gate. OOL has no aerobridges which means that you must disembark via the stairs and then walk into the terminal from which you can collect your bags from the carosel which I would imagine would take forever, as everything else does at OOL. It was nice that the Captain was at the front of the plane saying goodbye to all the passengers as they exited, he seemed really nice and was keen to chat with everyone as they left; I think it is really nice that the Captain or First Officer farewell people from the plane, I've found it only really ocurrs in Australia as I havn't had it happen to me on overseas international or domestic flights.
Overall
Today's quick Jetstar flight to the Gold Coast was bareable though I wouldn't recommend it for an extended period of time unless you purchased a seat with extra legroom. The service is what you'd expect, you get what you pay for basically, so don't go in there expecting as much as I did. I'd say the flight was plesant and can't wait to see how it compares to the return leg on a Qantas 737, QF865.