Flight Review
Jetstar | JQ801 | YBSU (Sunshine Coast) - YPAD (Adelaide)
Hey Everyone! On the 29th of September, I took a flight from the Sunshine Coast to Adelaide, onboard Jetstar Australia. I’d like to share my experience with you; the good things, the not so good things, and how I felt about the flight overall. Let’s get into it!
Please note: It may look like there are over 10 pictures in this post, however I’ve combined the pictures into groups, to make sure I’m not breaking any rules.
The aircraft taking me to Adelaide that day was VH-JQG, an Airbus A320, that at the time of writing is 15 years old. It is fitted with the ‘dorito’ winglets (not the Sharklets that were on the aircraft that took me to the Sunshine Coast) which are found on most older A320 aircraft. It was configured with the previous generation of Jetstar seats, which are becoming quite rare in the Jetstar fleet, as most of their aircraft have been fitted with new, slimmer seats.
I was in seat 3A for this flight, which offered a very nice view of the engine, wing, and the scenery too. The legroom was surprisingly good for a low cost carrier, with plenty of space between my knees and the seat. The seat itself was not as comfortable as I’ve found the newer seats to be, and it caused my back to be in a bit of pain after the flight. The flight today was quite empty, with not even half of the seats being full.
The boarding process for this flight was rather slow, as only the door at the front of the aircraft could be used. This caused a delayed departure of around 25 minutes. After boarding was completed, we pushed back onto the taxiway, and started our engines.
As we taxied our to Runway 18, we passed a Virgin Australia 737-800, bound for Sydney, and an Air New Zealand A320neo, preparing to make the return leg to Auckland. Flights from the Sunshine Coast to Auckland are not year round flights, they are actually seasonal services. I was quite lucky to catch this beautiful bird!
The Sunshine Coast airport is a rather small airport, with a very short runway. We had to back taxi down the runway to get to the end of Runway 18, passing the construction site for the new runway that is being built at the airport, which will be able to handle aircraft as large as the 787, opening up many more opportunities for the airport. We turned around at the end of the runway, and commenced our takeoff roll.
As I said before, the runway at the Sunshine Coast is rather short, which requires aircraft to use full power to takeoff. Because our aircraft was quite light, we left the runway earlier than most aircraft do, with the power of the thrust launching us into the sky. We made a left turn very shortly after takeoff, out towards the ocean, then a right turn to get us on course to Adelaide.
The menu onboard Jetstar is quite good for a low cost airline, with plenty of food and drink options. I went with the Sausage Roll and Steak Pie package. It was very tasty considering it was aeroplane food.
As I opened the tray table, I discovered a muesli bar wrapper shoved in the seat back pocket. Not necessarily something you want to discover on a plane, when you are eating a meal…
After I finished my meal, all that was left to do was to enjoy the views of the stunning Australian scenery from 32,000 feet.
We commenced our descent into Adelaide about 20 minutes before we were scheduled to reach the city. According to the captain, we encountered some strong headwinds as we neared Adelaide (although we couldn’t really feel it) which delayed our arrival by around 15 minutes. Our flaps went down as we passed over the Adelaide hills, with our gear coming down as we entered Adelaide.
The final approach into Adelaide was a bit turbulent, but truly stunning. We passed by the city and the Adelaide Cricket Ground, shortly before making a very smooth landing in Adelaide, after 2 hours and 39 minutes of flying. We taxied into gate 26, which was conveniently the furthest away for the baggage claim.
Overall, this flight with Jetstar was very good. While there was room for improvement, the cleanliness, comfort and value for price was great. I would happily fly Jetstar again, and I look forward to the next time I do.
Thanks for reading this far through the topic! Have you every flown with Jetstar? If so, what was your experience like?