Last minute travelling and Jetstar

NZ · 10-08-2005, 10:51 AM

I'd just like to share my experiences with travelling at the last minute. Last week A family member who I was quite close to went downhill quite suddenly after spending the last couple of years fighting breast cancer which had spread to her liver. The funeral was only last thursday and it was only 7 days before that, that we were told things weren't good.

This presented me with a few problems,

A: my passport had been damaged and I hadn't done anything about getting a new one. I sent my apploication away on friday on express and the NZ passport office (which is in sydney) got it that day. I rang them the next monday and explained the situation so they fast tracked it ($350!!) and said they could send it out that night. My problem was I had already booked tickets to fly at 8am on wed morning so if it did not get back by the next day I would nt beable to fly. I called the wonderful people at Aust post and explained to this sheila the situation and she assured me it would be in my mailbox on tuesday. Her reply after I asked was simply ' Yes it will be there' which did not convince me so I called my local post office who told me that there was no way I would get it back in a day. 2 days yes, but not a day. I was happy that they were up front. My only option then was to travel to sydney in person (from melb) and pick the thing up.
I logged onto Jetstars website and within 5 minutes I had myself booked to fly to sydney and back on the same day. I was flying out of avalon airport at 8 am to arrive in syd at 9:10 and returning to avalon leaving syd ay 2:30 arriving 3:30.
I had some reservations about using jetstar from what i had heard of them in the past about people not getting on planes because of overbooking and not being offered refunds and generally people had described it as a rat race to get on a flight. I booked anyway and hopped for the best.
The next morning I drove to avalon which instantly saved me probably 45 minutes travelling time. Car parking at avalon is $15 per day and $5 there after. I know parking long term is $35 for the first day at melb airport.
Checking in was easy just show some id. They have a simple boarding system. People with kids, disabilities or perople that pay the premium fare get an orange borading pass. People who check in early get a blue pass and a boarded 2nd, everyone else gets a silver pass and are boarded last. There is no allocated seating basically get on the plane and find a seat. You don't get snacks or refreshments for free, but you can buy them. The planes have an audio system which if you want the headphones you pay $3 and they are yours to keep. They have been advertising that the new airbus a320's have leather seats, but really its just a gimmick as I beleive all of the a320's be it qantas, airnz etc have leather seats Leather seats don't make them any more comfier, its just easier to clean them. The flight left on time and the return flight was as easy as the first and I am really happy with that I got for my money. The trips cost $158 return which is pretty damn good.

On to my next peice,

I booked my flights to NZ through a outfit called LastMinute. Their website is www.lastminute.com.au I had been at the travel agents trying to work out flights and had not really been happy with what they had worked out. After looking on individual airlines websites for myself I spotted the link to this site on a google search. Basically what they do is airlines give them special rates on seats of flights that are not fully booked that would otherwise go to waste. Ypu put in the day you want to fly, the place of departure and ariveal and it comes back to you with all the options. For my flights MEL - IVC I got 26 different options. Prices ranged from $555 to over $1000 depending on what seats were avalible , what airlines were used and wether I wanted to have a overnight stay on the way. They also include the taxes in the price.

My cheapest option without an overnight stay was $892 which $155 of that was airport taxes. So again out came plastic fantastic, add $15 for electronic ticketing and $9 booking fee, I was set. 30 minutes later a confirmation email was sent, all I had to do was turn up to the check in counter with photo ID.

In the end I had to fly Melb - auckland - christchurch - invercargill on the way there and invercargill - christchurch - melb on the way back. I had the option of going to christchurch straight out without going to auckland but the connecting flights to invercargill were all the same flight since theres only one or 2 flights there so instead of waiting in christchurch for hours I decided for another $12 I may as well go to auckland and catch up with a mate there. Plus I like the whole taking off and landing. The in between bit is incredibly boring however.

Anyway I recommend Jetstar for no frills travel and I highly recommend www.lastminute.com.au for booking airline tickets

EA2BA · 10-08-2005, 11:03 AM

Never flown jetstar, but have used lastminute.com for accomodation, use it alot actually, you get some good deals, and its all so easy, pre-paid all done, just turn up and enjoy your holiday never had any problems.

Danny · 10-08-2005, 11:11 AM

I had a similar Last Minute experience a couple weeks ago where me and a few mates decided to Fly to Cairns only three days after we'd made the descision. We flew the other budget carrier, Virgin. I cant say I was overly impressed at how uncomfortable the seat was, how close I was to the other people and the smug looks on the Flight Attendants face when she told me quite curtly "This is Virgin Blue, we don't have TV's on this flight sir...."

Other than that, It was OK, Its really a trade off for cheap flights. I found it good enough to do again for so cheap, but I dont enjoy the flights. Maybe I should try Jetstar.

GreenMachine · 10-08-2005, 12:05 PM

I recently flew Brisbane-Avalon on Jestar at the VERY last minute, I found it great and would definately fly with them again.

XA Coupsta · 10-08-2005, 03:26 PM

Danny - Virgin's seat pitch is actually the best (not comparing Qantas first/biz class). So if you think Virgin is cramped Jetstar is gonna be worse.

Especially on one of their Boeing 717's which are much smaller and older than Virgin's fleet.

Also I guess smug looks arent a good thing to get. Agreed. But I am quite surprised myself that you didnt know there is no inflight entertainment onboard Virgin (nor Jetstar for that matter)?? Well they do have audio channels......

Virgin has LiveTV coming soon too......

I think to decide and go within 3 days and getting a good fare is an awesome result! Think back to the ugly days when you had advanced purchase conditions, super high prices..........nasty.........

Again in my opinion, the Australian travelling public has very short memories. Quick to bag new entrants to the market - but easy to forget the days when you couldnt afford to fly anywhere coz of cost. None of these $29 seat sales we often see around the place. No book and go last minute for great prices. No new aircrafts or destinations or anything that is offered now.

NZ - did you price Virgin or Qantas for that matter when looking MEL to SYD? Jetstar has around 4 or 5 flights a day. Virgin and Qantas are both over 20 flights a day. I'd be pretty sure they too would have had plenty of seats at cheap prices when they fly that many times.

And last minute.com - just be wary booking through these sites. Personally I believe you are better going direct to the airlines. More often than not those booking engines like lastminute are usually owned by one of the airlines anyway or their subsidiary's, and they will alter the flight searches to direct bookings to their own business at any case.

NZ · 10-08-2005, 06:19 PM

I didn't price Qantas or Virgin for Mel - Syd. The most attractive thing for me was to beable to fly out of Avalon. I live 3 hrs west of Melb so not having to drive all the way there in morning traffic was the biggest bonus for me.

Seat pitch on Jetstar: Yes they are a bit crampt. I notuiced on airnz's a320 there was another inch maybe 2 of leg room which made quite a difference.

It was interesting because when I was back at home Jetstar is advertising fares Melb - Chritschurch for $39 starting at the end of the year. The actual cost will be $245 as at home they aren't required to advertise the full price with taxes included like they do here. It certinally has people talking anyway.

M14A-Mclaren · 10-08-2005, 06:51 PM

Is Jetstar one of the companys Paul Stoddart owns? or am I thinking of one with a similar name.

MO · 10-08-2005, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M14A-Mclaren

Is Jetstar one of the companys Paul Stoddart owns? or am I thinking of one with a similar name.

I think its OZJet yet to launch...could be wrong?

Perana · 10-08-2005, 09:02 PM

Im pretty sure Jetstar is a subsidiary of Qantas

**Peuty** · 10-08-2005, 09:28 PM

I had a similar expierence to you NZ, Jetstar is good for what it is.

But I must say that international Air New Zealand flights are fantastic!

Filthy GT-P · 10-08-2005, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Perana XR8

Im pretty sure Jetstar is a subsidiary of Qantas

Correct

Danny · 11-08-2005, 12:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by XA Coupsta

I am quite surprised myself that you didnt know there is no inflight entertainment onboard Virgin (nor Jetstar for that matter)?? Well they do have audio channels......

Yeah, I didnt wanna spend $2.50 on a set of earphones when you can get them for free on other airlines. Its just the priciple of it

: I'm a tightarse...

XA Coupsta · 11-08-2005, 08:29 AM

Yeh Jetstar is just basically Qantas. Sheep in wolf's clothing....

I reckon look for more of Qantas to become Jetstar. Jetstar has a lower cost base than the 'mothership', different EBA agreements with their staff - so they can get around the older union influenced deals Qantas has to deal with. So as Qantas becomes Jetstar they can lower their costs (albeit sneakily though).

Ozjet starts soon. They will be a premium business class only cabin - going for the corporate/government business. They'll stick to the major markets.

And Danny - point taken on the tight ****. Im with you! But mate that was what I was alluding to - is for you to get a cheap seat 3 days from wanting to fly somewhere - sorry man but you wont get TV's and free stuff onboard as well!!! I'm not sure if you travelled much back in the Ansett/Qantas days. Sure they had inflight entertainment, and hot meals and all that jazz - but hey forget paying a good fare for it. Specially 3 days from travel - you'd be paying a bomb $$$ wise.

Oh - you'll pay for headsets on Jetstar too bro. Besides you dont even need to buy them. Its a universal jack that takes your standard walkman/mp3 style headphone.

You might get em for free on Qantas........oh hang on.......look at the price you pay to fly........are they really 'free'?......

NZ · 11-08-2005, 09:16 AM

The audio plugs are not the same between airnz and jetstar thats for sure!. The jetstar plugs use 2 seperate prongs. I don't know what would happen if you plugged a normal one into one of the holes you might only get sound through one speaker but I definitly couldn't use my jetstar ones on the airNZ plane which only had one hole. I guess thats so you can only use their headphones and not your own. They got it all worked out.

NZ · 11-08-2005, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peuty

I had a similar expierence to you NZ, Jetstar is good for what it is.

But I must say that international Air New Zealand flights are fantastic!

Yeah but their domestic flights suck! Those ATR72's are nasty. My seat wouldnt stay in the upright position. The hostess came round ' oh sir you'll need your seat upright for take off' I try to adjust it and it just goes right back when i lean back again ' oh theres a few of them that do that'

**Peuty** · 11-08-2005, 09:33 PM

Hahaha hell yeah, the good ol Aerospatial. I must admit that when I saw the props, i thought I was going to die.

NZ · 12-08-2005, 09:27 AM

Well one thing they do seem to have a bit more of a kick in the pants when they take off and being a smaller plane they get blown around a bit which is quite enjoyable. I was hoping for a violent storm just to make the trip a bit more exciting. No such luck tho.

**Mechan1k** · 12-08-2005, 03:13 PM

I wouldn't use Jetstar ... might be OK for last minute ... but had my flights booked to head up to DayDream Island for the ed of this month ... and I kept being told that they were cancelled and been changed to different days ... it stuffed up my holidays I have taken from work ... they changed it 6 times in the last 2 months ... all different dates and times ... and then cancelled the return trip but had no alternative flights to give us coming back.

I callde them several times ... and they had no clue at all ... very unprofessional indeed ... especially for a QANTAS subsidiary ... awful ... one of their representatives was downright rude as well.

I'd never use them at all ... plus the planes they use are old recycled Ansett planes from memory.

No thanks.

I'll be giving Virgin Blue another try ... my fiancee flew to Brissy the other month for work with them ... and she was happy with them ... will see how they go in 2 weeks time.

QANTAS interstate was fine to use though ... but can be expensive ... depends if you get a good deal at the time.

old_mate · 12-08-2005, 04:48 PM

Jetstar, Australian airlines are all qantas subsidiaries

jetstar do not use ex ansett aircraft. Their 717's are formerly of QantasLink (impulse airlines) and are funnily enough being returned to QantasLink (to be operated by National Jet)

All Jetstars A320's are brand newies.

Qantas' economy seat pitch is better than Virgin Blue

Glad you enjoyed your Jetstar experience Karl, most people seem to think its a reasonable way to travel but others are just too accustomed to the flyiong experience of your full service airlines, such as Qantas, Ansett etc etc. And its with no doubt that jetstar will replace more and more Qantas domestic services over time. They can do it far cheaper.

XA Coupsta · 13-08-2005, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by old_mate

Qantas' economy seat pitch is better than Virgin Blue

Not sure how I am going to prove this (been to both companies web sites but they dont have anything on it) - but Im certain that Virgin's pitch is like 31 inches, and Qantas's 30.

It is a very little known fact though. And hey - we are talking about a whole 1 inch here (and why they still measure in inches who knows).