Review of Jetstar Airways flight Sydney → Brisbane in Economy

Australia 2023- The Trip so Far!

Jetstar Airways- A Qantas spin off!

Jetstar Airways is a low-cost airline established in 2001 and began flying in 2003. It is part of the Qantas Group and operated budget friendly flights across Australia as an alternative to the more expensive and premium Qantas Airways. It has also rivalled airlines including Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia), REX- Regional Express and Tiger Airways Australia.

Jetstar has grown into a brand in its own right and has international subsidiaries Jetstar Asia based in Singapore, Jetstar Japan based in Japan as well as the now formerly Jetstar Pacific based in Vietnam (which is now Pacific Airlines). The Australian Jetstar brand also operates within New Zealand as well.

The airline started off with a fleet of Boeing 717-200, most of which ended up flying for QantasLINK. Airbus A320 aircraft have formed the backbone of the fleet since 2007, though the Airbus A320ceo are being phased out as of 2024 in favour of brand new Airbus A320-neo, Airbus A321-neo and Airbus A321ceo. The Airbus A320-family is the most common aircraft across all the Jetstar brands.

In terms of the airlines wide-body operations, the airline used Airbus A330-200 to operate further afield or more higher demand routes which couldn't be achieved by the Airbus A320ceo. But by 2015 the A330's were relocated into the mainline Qantas fleet as the airline took on brand new Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners. Bombardier Dash 8 Q-300 were briefly operated by Eastern Australia Airlines on behalf of Jetstar from 2015-2019, but this partnership has ceased.

Whilst the budget airline has boomed in most of the world with big names coming up all over the world, Australia has been mainly reliant of Jetstar via Qantas for its home grown budget airline. Tiger Airways came the closest as Jetstar's biggest competition but that ultimately failed. But in the post pandemic market with Virgin Australia, REX and Bonza Airlines rising up from the ashes- things could be very different for Qantas and Jetstar!

It goes without saying that I was not going to miss out on a Jetstar flight when I was in Australia during November 2023, and it didn't take me long to fit one into the overall trip!

Let's begin the Flight Report on my Jetstar flight across the East Coast from Sydney to Brisbane!

Jetstar Ground Experience at Sydney Kingford-Smith

I got dropped off at the domestic terminal for Sydney Kingford-Smith by an Airport Shuttle bus service from my hotel. I was dropped off by the Jetstar check in entrance, which is accessed through Entrance C.

I had a small checked bag to drop off, so I made my way to the bag drop, but was told by a Jetstar check in employee I'd have to wait ten minutes before the bag drop opened, it was the morning rush, so I assumed this was to allow people with earlier flights to be able to drop bags without being held up by later departures. Quite a fair move on Jetstar's end, but a bit annoying I had to wait 10 minutes… had it been longer I wouldn't have been too worried as I could have found a coffee shop to relax in.

I found an electronic weight scale to try my bag out and it came in at… 7.6kg, well under the 23kg limits for Jetstar's checked bag allowance. My suitcase in fairness is a "carry on" case, but as I don't tend to pack using big suitcases, it was not an issue for baggage fees on this trip.

It didn't take long to get airside as security ran quite efficiently and once Airside I travelled through the shops to find some good spotting areas for the next 2 hours I had airside before my flight was due to leave.

Some Jetstar branded toys were on sale at one of the newsagent shops alongside some similar Qantas toys. I personally collect snap fit 1/200 scale models, but there weren't any on sale at this Airport.

I set up by the end of the Pier with Gates 56-59, which were not far from my scheduled gate 54. It overlooked the international terminal and the main runway for the arrivals and departures from this part of the Airport. It was also possible to see planes taxiing to the other side of the Sydney Airport.

As far as an airside spotting session goes, it was very productive seeing plenty of new sightings for me as a UK spotter. It was odd seeing the daily British Airways flight to Sydney Kingford-Smith arrive, having seen it depart London Heathrow many times! Spying the "Retro-Roo 2" Qantas Boeing 737-800 was a nice find!

My plane eventually arrived, so I went to go meet it coming into the Gate.

An interesting side-note is this would be the only flight on my entire Australian trip to be operated by an Airbus A320-family aircraft. The rival Boeing 737-800 would end up making the bulk of the flights on this trip, with other rarer delights and wide-body aircraft rounding everything off.

The Jetstar Experience: JQ812 (SYD-BNE)

My flight that day was to be operated by a Jetstar Airways Airbus A320ceo registered as VH-VGR. Delivered brand new from Airbus in April 2010, the aircraft has flown for the Australian budget airline since then. The aircraft is configured for 180 passengers in an all economy layout, making it six seats less denser compare to my more familiar UK based easyJet A320s. From March 25th 2020 to August 19th 2020 the plane was stored at Melbourne Avalon Airport due to the Australian pandemic lockdowns.

I boarded the Jetstar A320 and during my walk down the jet bridge I found that as I was sitting in the forward-aft part of the cabin I would enter through the jet bridge, whilst anyone behind Row 15 had to enter via the back and an open board… Personally I would have preferred the open boarding myself- but it wasn't a huge impact on me personally. 

I opted during my booking to select Seat 8A, which was right by the engine and the furthest forward window seat I could acquire included in my package booking (which also included a checked bag and a $10/AUD meal allowance). 

We pushed back about 10 minutes behind our scheduled departure time, but there was a good tailwind so the crew felt confident we'd easily make up the time on this flight up north. We left the gate and made our way down to Runway 16L, the Southern of the three runways at SYD.

Passing the "Shep's Mound" spotting point and the control tower for Sydney Kingford-Smith, we powered out of Sydney Airport and over the Botany Bay. We flew out over the sea almost avoiding flying over land the entire climb out. Once clear of Sydney airspace we made a left turn North-bound for Brisbane, we flew into some thick cloud cover as we departed.

Our route would take us over the Tasman Sea, where we'd fly into land again over Newcastle, NSW. We'd then fly from New South Wales into Queensland over land before making a left turn over Gold Coast before flying into Brisbane Airport passing the main city itself.

Jetstar Airbus A320s have a pretty basic but functional cabin. I found it comfortable enough for this city to city flight of just over an hour, but I would probably not enjoy it as much on a flight of 3 hours or more!

However comfort is a luxury at the end of the day, and budget airlines don't cater to comfort- they get you from Point to Point for as cheap as possible and if you want extras, then you better pay up!

Speaking of "paying up", here's a look at the Jetstar Australia menu. The New Zealand menu is identical and there is no price difference between the AUD and NZD. Not something I've seen on easyJet (for comparison) when you pay different amounts in either EUR or GBP.

I made the use of my $10 food voucher and ordered a ham & cheese toasted sandwich with an orange juice. I paid a little extra to cover the outstanding cost from the orange juice, not sure of the exact price- but it wasn't much when converted into local GBP. Cash payments were not accepted on the flight, card payments only.

We eventually began our decent into Brisbane Airport just before we got to the Gold Coast, our arrival brought us in over the main Brisbane city, so it allowed for some nice views of the sky scrapers from the left hand side of the plane on arrival.

We arrived into Brisbane Airport about 10 minutes ahead of schedule, pushed ahead by the aforementioned tail winds that morning. The flight usually takes about 90 minutes. A short taxi brought us to a remote stand, meaning a short walk to the Airport terminal on this lovely clear day in Brisbane!

I ensured to be one of the last people off, on my way out I enquired about a quick visit to the flight deck which was kindly granted. I grabbed a quick look about and a photo before thanking the crew for a nice flight before exiting the plane. I was also able to grab a final shot of the Airbus A320 bathing in the Australian sunlight as I made my way over to the Terminal building.

I quite like the grey-silver base paint to the Jetstar livery as its a nice deviation from the standard Eurowhite seen on various airlines across Europe and North America.

Bonus : Click here display hide

24 Hours in Brisbane!

I had the best part of an entire day in Brisbane, so I opted to explore the central areas around the city which was quite easy on the Brisbane Metro system. One part of Brisbane I covered once I had checked into my hotel and dropped off my baggage was the Wheel of Brisbane.

This attraction provided some amazing views around the City Centre.

Earlier in the day, I found out that Brisbane City Hall was also open to the public and had a museum inside which turned out to be free entry- so I spent almost two hours there observing the history of Brisbane city as well as exploring the publicly accessible areas.

The museum contained various pieces of artwork, artifacts of the past, old ceremonial flags, history of the Lord Mayors of the city as well as a massive music hall, where an organist spent some time playing the massive Pipe Organ instrument for a few minutes- I believe rehearsing for a later event. They were also setting up a feature exhibit for a chosen local artist.

I was also keen to find out that Brisbane has these boat services that are part of the cities metro system that run up and down the Brisbane River. There are three lines you can use for different stops, so I opted to take a quick ride around for about an hour. It was the start of the evening and the "Golden Hour" which made it even more impressive.

My hotel was only a 5 minute walk from the Central Train Station, but I got a room which overlooked this intriguing landmark- "The Old Windmill" a listed heritage tower mill located at Wickham Park.