Zephyrous Travels: [Airline Review] - Jetstar (3K533) - Economy Class, SIN-HKT, (7 Sep 14)

Pre-Flight

Since the onward and return flight on Jetstar is the same, I am only going to review one leg of the flight. The check-in counters for Jetstar is located in the mid section of Terminal 1 in Singapore Changi Airport. There was a long queue for those who did not opt for online check-in, there is also a queue for checking in for those who has opted for online check in. Today seem to be a busy day for outbound Jetstar flights. Despite the crowd at the check-in counters, checking in are being done in a speedy manner. The service by the ground staff was very standard, the staffs seem to be trying to do their job and clear as many passengers as possible. There was hardly any smiles given by the ground staff, however they did not forget to remind us the boarding gate and the boarding time.

Night View of Singapore Changi Airport Control Tower

Curbside at the airport

Inside the Terminal 1 building of Singapore Changi Airport

Jetstar check-in counters

Long queue at the online check-in counters

Queue for the non-online check-ins

After immigration area in Changi Airport

The bird flying us to Phuket

At the boarding gate in Singapore Changi Airport

In-Flight

As we were boarding the aircraft, the flight attendants greeted us as with the other airliners. The budget airlines uses a single class A320 for this flight to Phuket. The single aisle, 3-3 configuration boasts a seat pitch measuring 28 in (or 71 cm), which is sufficient for me. However for someone taller, the seat pitch might be a little to tight. The leather seat recline slightly but not too much, due to the tight space between seats. There is the standard tray table which appears to be smaller then that on a full fledge airliner. There are also no in-flight entertainment system on this flight as such there isn't any IFE controls. The seat controls are only limited to a button that controls the recline of the seat. The seat pocket onboard is located on the top of the seats, instead of the usual near the bottom of the seat. This means that not many things can be placed onto the seat pocket and the placement makes it a tad hard to dig deep into the seat pocket. Inside the seat pocket is a Jetstar magazine that introduces their products and more importantly the destinations they fly to, the standard aircraft safety card and a menu of food and products Jetstar sells onboard.

Boarding the aircraft

View of the cabin

Leather seats onboard

Decent leg room

Seat pocket

Seat Pocket

Safety card

Jetstar magazine

The lavatory onboard seemed to be a tad smaller, not too sure if this is due to the need to cramp more people onboard the 180 seat capacity aircraft. Despite the tightness, the lavatory still does its function of being a toilet. As with most full fledge airliners, Jetstar has only hand soap in the lavatory and some vomit bags stowed in the compartments below the sink.

Sink area

Toilet

Other amenities in the lavatory

Service

Since this is a budget airline, neither in-flight meals nor entertainment were present. About 30 minutes into flight time, attendants were seen going around delivering meals to passengers who bought meals when they purchased their air tickets. A little later, air attendants were seen going up and down the aisle with their trolley selling snacks to passengers who did not purchase meals when buying their tickets. Other then that, flight attendants were no where to be seen apart at the beginning of the flight where safety demonstrations are be shown manually.

Attendants doing safety demonstration

Overall

Jetatar delivers what it promises in its business model, getting passengers from point A to point B. For a short flight of under 2 hours, Jetstar does the job. However for longer flights, it might be a tad uncomfortable. As this is a budget carrier, frills such as food, drinks and entertainment, even service is non-existence, even for baggage check-ins. Jetstar is still comfortable for a short flight.