This was a family holiday for hubby, my 9 year old daughter, 8 year old son, my mother and myself.
We departed Sydney on Sunday June 3rd and flew Jetstar for the first time on a direct flight to Denpasar. Everything went smooth at the airport, actually I'd have to say it was the first time we have experienced getting through to our departure gate so quickly with no long cues. This was a great start to our holiday as it gave us more time to browse duty free and relax and have a coffee and snack before we boarded our flight at 5.45pm.
The flight left on time and the plane was fully occuppied with enthusiastic holiday makers. There was a large group of about 30-40 adults and children travelling on this flight, and they all had T-Shirts made especially for the trip that they were all wearing. On the front of their shirts was a logo that read 'Newcastle to Bali, Gay and Happy Tour 2007', and above that was their individual name or nickname, on the back of the shirt were all the groups names listed, and they were staying at the Bali Garden Hotel. I thought the shirts were a great idea and I'm sure they would have kept a lot of businesses and restaurants happy in Bali. So to anyone who may be reading this and was in that group 'Hi and I hope you all had a great time in Bali'.
My thoughts of my first experience flying with jetstar was that for a budget airline they were exceptional. We did get the exact seat numbers which we had chosen for both of our flights. The seats were comfortable and I liked the bendable head rests. We did not hire the personal portable dvd players, and I thought that the entertainment provided on the screens was satisfactory enough. We did pre-order the comfort packs which consisted of a comfy blanket, velour inflatable pillow, eye mask, socks, toothpaste and a small toothbrush and ear plugs. You do get to keep the packs, so obviously you wouldnt need to purchase them again. The flight was not cold and we didn't use our comfort packs, my son used his as a novelty and he had his ear plugs in, eye mask on, socks on, inflatable pillow around his neck and blanket on, which lasted for about 10 minutes. If wanting to save a few extra dollars I probably wouldnt bother pre-ordering them, just take a jumper with you. We did pre-order meals and they were not much to rave about, the kids had chicken with rice and the rice was all dryed up. We had the beef with vegies which was ok. The main meal came with a bread roll, butter, small salad and a mini dove chocolate, plus your choice of soft drink, juice, tea or coffee. Got a free water when we first boarded the plane and free earphones. Although on the return flight we didnt get a bottle of water, and the kids were asleep so didnt eat their meals. Next time if we fly jetstar we will not bother with the meals and just take our own snacks and eat a hearty meal before boarding the plane.
Would I fly jetstar again?....If the fares were super cheap I definately would! If the price of garuda was not that much more then I would choose garuda for the service, meals and drinks. Jetstar plane was brand new and the flight was smooth, with no turbulence.
On the return flight in regards to luggage allowance, we had bought a set of scales at Denpaser (to leave at Bali with a friend of ours) and pre-weighed all our luggage prior to leaving the airport and were not over weight. However when the luggage was weighed at check-in one of our bags was 3 kilos over our allowance and my mum's bag was 5 kilos over. So not sure what happened there but we were not charged for the excess weight, although we were prepared to shuffle things around to even the weight out or to pay for excess. I was told that they are a bit more leaniant if its a direct flight, but if you are going say via melbourne to Sydney for example, then you will have to take items from your check in luggage to your hand luggage and more than likely pay excess, as they may weigh your bags in Melbourne.
Next Installment to come JBR 2 - Our Bali Holiday.