Did another half-yearly pilgrimage trip to Bangkok with my partner for some shopping, praying, massaging, dining and tailoring. It was a rather late planned trip but on the way up, Jetstar was able to offer some rather attractive fares. I had also redeemed 9,600 Qantas FF miles for a one-way ticket up, which is inclusive of 20kg luggage allowance and paying only S$34 in taxes. However on the way back, due to the end of the school vacation, all flights were rather expensive. We managed to get the return flight on Thai AirAsia for a rather reasonable price, considering that prices increased rather rapidly nearer to the travel date.
Checked-in online earlier and pre-selected our seats for free. My QF redemption ticket had also allowed me to choose the extra-legroom seats for free, but however as my partner's ticket required a fee to be paid (S$20) for emex rows, we slumped it out on normal rows, which was not too bad a thing as we ended up having a row of 3 seats each!
Boarding Pass (taken after boarding with small stub torn off)
New attraction at Changi Terminal One, Social Tree!
The Valuair-titled Jetstar A320, 9V-JSN, would be operating our flight from gate D30.
KLM B773ER preparing for the short hop to Bali.
Lufthansa whale just arrived, with lots of Jetstars and a Qantas parked at T1.
26 June 2013
Jetstar Asia
3K 517
Singapore (SIN) - Bangkok (BKK)
A320
9V-JSN
Economy Class
Reached the gate when boarding has commenced. Entering the rather newish looking 9V-JSN.
This aircraft was fitted with new slimline seats, which are touted to be more comfortable and offer more legroom than the previous generation of seats. The clever design by moving the magazine pocket to the headrest area of the seat has dramatically improved knee-room and made flying on budget seats much more bearable.
From another angle.
No complains from my long legs! So much better than the seats on the older planes, or any other 180-seats fitted A320s! I was able to stretch my legs right under the seat in front, and with knee-room to spare too!
At the gate.
Boarding was done very efficiently as flight was barely half full. Thus we grabbed a row of seats each after aircraft doors were closed on scheduled. 4 crew on this flight, 2 guys and 2 ladies. Again, all rather professional in their service delivery.
Pushing back from the gate. Crew also did a manual safety demonstration.
Spotted Jetstar's new A320 with sharklets!
Started the very long taxi to Rwy02C. The wind direction has changed on that day, giving Singapore a respite from the very bad haze just experienced days before.
Spotted the following planes taking off. Firstly, a Shanghai Airlines B763, operating a flight to PVG on behalf of China Eastern.
Followed by a Silkair A320.
And another Jetstar A320 just ahead of us.
With not too many departure traffic, we made a rolling takeoff from Rwy02C, for the 2hr flight to Bangkok!
Climbing to cruising altitude.
Announcement after seatbelt signs were switched off.
Magazines and stuff.
Above the clouds.
Shortly after, immigration forms were distributed followed by pre-booked meals and drinks. This was followed by the buy-on-board snacks/drinks carts. Observed quite a number of Caucasian passengers with pre-booked meals. Guess they were connecting passengers from Qantas?
Looking at the prices of the onboard menu, we decided not to order anything. Save our dollars for Bangkok! Anyway, below is the onboard menu.
Crew conducting sales of snacks and drinks. This was followed by duty-free sales.
View of the cabin.
Flying into the sunset.
Slightly more than half an hour prior to arrival, the pilot announced the start of the descent. Surprisingly, the crew immediately had all passengers seated upright and seatbelts fastened even though we were still a few minutes away from actual descent. This is rather unusual for Jetstar to prepare the cabin so early for arrival, and indeed a couple of passengers did asked the crew why the need for preparations so early. Heard the crew replying something to them something about bad weather and sure enough, when descent started into the thick clouds shortly after, we encountered some bumps, but they were not too bad. Guess the pilots had informed the crew to prepare the cabin earlier for landing due to the expected bumps on descend.
Just after breaking through the clouds.
Descending.
Lots of padi fields below.
Flying pass the airport.
Flew up to the north before making a turn back for approach into the airport.
Spot the rainbow!
Flaps and gears down.
And the pilot made a very smooth landing onto Rwy19L at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi.
Waiting to disembark.
Another view of the new seats.
We parked beside a TG A380!
Quite a wait at immigration before we got our bags. By the time we cleared immigration (and we were one of the first from the flight), all bags were already out on the baggage carousel.
