LAUNCESTON to MELBOURNE (LST-MEL) on Jetstar A320
As QF refused to book me on the return QF Link flight I had an hour or so to wait until the Jetstar flight. I was unable to OLCI because of the QF segment in the booking but had plenty of time to check in at the airport.
The small terminal was bustling at this time of day with flights on Qantas, Virgin Blue and Tiger all within a few minutes of each other. Add in Jetstar not that much later and that is a lot of competition on the route to Melbourne.
Check in was quick and I was handed a supermarket check out style boarding pass in two copies - one to hand over at the gate and the other to show on boarding. There was enough time to use the lounge next to check in. This had maybe a dozen seats, a modest drink selection (a few beers and wines, water, soft drink, spirits), a small offering of snacks but no real food. One computer terminal with burnt in images on the monitor and glacial speed. A tv in the corner, some newspapers and magazines.
The flight is called early - well before even the aircraft arrives. As a jet flight there is security screening at the gate. Boarding is in one mass - no priority or preboarding here. Forward rows use front stairs and rear rows the rear stairs. Boarding is rather quick, although in part this is due to the light load (perhaps half full).
The 30" pitch is rather tight and I angle my legs and knees into the empty middle seat.
We take off on time. I wondered if 5 crossings of the same piece of water in a day is some personal record, until I remembered I also have had 5 crossings of the waters between Singapore and Jakarta on the same day.
As a low cost carrier there is no free water, tea or coffee. Everything is for sale. The 4 FAs spend much of the flight going back and forth in pairs - first with the carts selling food and drink, then again to collect the rubbish. For those "served" last they had maybe 5 minutes to eat/drink before handing back the rubbish - so it was surprising to me just how many people did buy food/drink.
We landed slightly early but as I was seated towards the back (no forward row preference on account of my status) it was after scheduled arrival time before I disembarked.
Overall my first Jetstar experience was not too bad, although I would not want to have a 4 hour flight with them. Probably the most painful bit on this short flight was the loss of FF points.