Review of Jetstar Airways flight Cairns → Tokyo in Economy

Introduction

After spending a few good days in Cairns seeing my friends and family in the far north of Queensland in Australia back in late march and april, it was time head back to Tokyo. I would be flying with Jetstar, same as my previous flight. Once again, Jetstar is a subsidiary of Qantas Airways and one of the biggest low-cost carriers in Australia. There international product seemed interesting, so another brutally honest review of Jetstar's international product from Cairns to Tokyo. Hope you enjoy…

At the airport

Cairns Airport has 2 terminals, 1 for domestic and 1 for international. There are several domestic flights departing from cairns and about half a dozen international flights. Jetstar, Virgin Australia, Singapore Airlines, Air Niugini, Air New Zealand operate from Cairns Airport. 

I arrived at the airport around 2 and a half hours before my flight. I got my friend to drop me at the airport, but you can use taxis or ubers to get to the airport.

There were quite some long queues at the check-in desks. Unfortunately, there were no check-in kiosks, so I did have to wait.

Unfortunately, the landside of the airport had almost nothing other than a cafe at the arrival area, so I just headed towards immigration and security. I would say it was descently efficient and there weren't as many queues there which was good.

After you go through security, your immediately greeted by some duty-free. Once you go past that your airside.

The airside is pretty small but sufficient. It had a few shops, a cafe and plenty of seating.

Unfortunately, there is no lounge. I would like to see one added as Cairns has around half a dozen international flights per day.

However, with the addition of Singapore Airlines flying their A350-900's to Cairns, maybe they're making a lounge??

After exploring for a while, I did some planespotting.

By the way, Virgin Australia flies the same route as Jetstar with their B737 max 8's. One advantage is that VA flies to Tokyo's Haneda Airport which is closer to the city, but one disadvantage is that the plane is small, so you may feel claustrophobic and the flight may be slower compared to Jetstar's 787.

Boarding

Here is a look at today's plane!

Aircraft Information

Aircraft - Boeing 787-8
Reg - VH-VKK
MSN - 36237
Line Number - 321
Age - 8.8 years

Jetstar being a low-cost carrier, there is no priority boarding for status members. Boarding started with business class passengers, travelers with infants and disabled people. Then economy class passengers…

I was pretty bored at the airport, so I decided to board early.

Walking down the glass jetbridge. Always nice to have these.

An Air Niugini Fokker-70 at the gate beside us. You don't see this plane very often!

Once I stepped inside the cabin I was immediately greeted by the friendly cabin crew, and I headed towards my seat.

Cabin and seat

Jetstar's B787-8's have 335 seats. 21 business class seats, which are more like premium economy on a normal airline. And 314 economy seats in a 3-3-3 configuration. Each seat has a width of 17" and pitch of 30". Legroom is definitely on the tighter side, but understandable for a low-cost carrier. My seat was 53J, a window seat near the back of the plane. 

Here is a seat map.

And here is the cabin. Definitely looks better than many other low-cost carrier airline seats. The black color scheme with the small touches of orange make it look really sleek and cool. In my opinion, they're not bad!

Each seat comes with a 9" IFE screen. Each passenger gets USB ports under the screen and shared power sockets beneath the seats. There is a standard sized tray table, which can be extended. Underneath that there is a seat pocket. Each seat has adjustable headrests, which is nice to have. Also the USB ports and power sockets are free to use, unlike Scoot. The seats aren't bad for a low-cost carrier! I would say they're good and has some competition with the other airlines.

I am very, very short. (Not gonna say my height here 😂). For me legroom was fine, even great, but for tall people, it may be tight. Also, I got all 3 seats to myself, which was super lucky! Definitely makes it more roomier.

The flight

The door was closed at around 11:45am and the cabin crew started the safety demonstration. We started pushing back at around 11:50

Another Jetstar B787 arriving. This plane is going back to Osaka International Airport (KIX).

We started our taxi at around 12:05. You can see some Fokker 100's, a larger version of the Fokker 70, in the background. Alliance Airlines has a fleet of 25 of them, so they are rather common here in Australia.

Taxi time wasn't very long and we took off at around 12:20.

I was even able to spot Green Island (a coral cay) and the Great Barrier Reef from above. Beautiful!

Meal service started around an hour after takeoff. Jetstar being a low-cost carrier features a buy onboard inflight service. I always want to eat food on a plane, so I purchased a lasagna and Pepsi Max for lunch.

The presentation was definitely something. Not the most appealing. But taste wise it was delicious! My Pepsi came shortly after and was served with a cup with ice.

By the way, here's the menu in case your wondering what you can get on Jetstar flights. There is a wide selection of foods and drinks, but prices may be on the slightly higher side.

Flying somewhere over Papua New Guinea…

Now, many of you may be wondering what the IFE is like. Unfortunately, you have to pay to access the screens. The price is $10 and there is a selection of movies, TV shows, music and games which was alright. Could've been worse though. Also, there's no Wi-fi.

There is a flight map, which is free but quite basic.

For the next few hours, the cabin lights and windows were dimmed so passengers could take a nap.

In terms of lavatories, there are 6 onboard. 1 for business class passengers and 5 for economy. It was standard sized, but had all the basics.

After checking out the lavatory, I decided to take a short nap. Since I had 3 seats to myself, I was able to stretch out.

Around 2 hours before arrival, the crew turned on the cabin lights for the second meal service. Is it just me or does anyone else really like this orange mood lighting?

For the second meal service, I purchased a ham & cheese toastie and a lemonade. It was good, nothing really special.

We started out descent at around 17:45.

Descending into a rainy Tokyo evening. I apologize for the low quality photos, my camera isn't the best.

Taxi time was a little long. I was able to see quite a few planes along the way.

Disembarking

We had to get to the terminal by bus, which wasn't so ideal. Because I was seated almost at the very back, I was one of the very last to get off.

One last view of the cabin.

Being able to see the plane from this close is always great for us aviation geeks.

The airport experience was very smooth. Also worth noting that the airport was spotless!

And here we are at the infamous terminal 3 of Narita Airport!

That concludes this flight report. Thanks for reading!