Review of JetStar Japan flight Hong Kong → Tokyo in Economy

A throwback to the year 2019. It was my summer vacation to Tokyo, Japan. This was not a good flight for a normal traveller in any sense, but for my shopaholic aunt, this is IDEAL. She said the air ticket for a budget airline would be way cheaper than JAL or ANA or Cathay (which is true), so that she could save the money for more Coach and Burberry (ugh…). She also likes the flight time for this flight, as it flies throughout the midnight, and lands just after sunrise, which means she could have an extra morning for one more outlet park (uggghhhh…)

Anyways, here we are on this flight. Check-in was at Terminal 2, and it was the first (and only) time I was there. Now the old Terminal 2 is demolished and will be built into a new terminal. The photos of the check-ins at Terminal 2 have been lost, I'm afraid, but it was way more comfortable than Terminal 1: more spacious, fewer people, nicer staff members. Great experience at Terminal 2.

So after the customs, we took the APM train to the airside. Terminal 2 was more like a shopping mall with no boarding gates. So here we are at Terminal 1 again. 

Boarding was at gate 25. The flight was delayed slightly by 45 minutes. Still acceptable, I guess. 

Since I was at airport a little bit earlier, I did a bit of planespotting around the area.

 Asiana A380

ANA Boeing 767
Also going to Tokyo, but to Haneda (HND) 

SWISS Boeing 777

Cathay 777-300ER
This is B-KPA, which I would be riding half a year later. It was a flight to Taipei (TPE). It would be posted later.

And here is my plane to Tokyo.

Airframe info: JA16JJ
Seat: 18F
Scheduled Departure: 0135
Scheduled Arrival: 0710
Actual Departure: 0223
Actual Arrival: 0734 

Seldom see a narrowbody jet parked at these main gates. Thought they would be in satellite terminal or bus gates. Looks a bit weird to be honest. 

This is what an empty cabin looks like. The seats look quite comfortable. Indeed they were. Much more comfy than the British Airways A380 I rode before. 

Quite-empty overhead bins

This is what the safety card looked like. Cute red panda in Jetstar uniform.

Not long after takeoff. My supper was served. Curry pork chop with rice, that's it. To my surprise, it was the best in-flight dining I've ever had! Curry is quite suitable for in-flight meals, and Japanese curry being not spicy is suitable even for kids. The only issue is the portion is quite small…

By the way, since Jetstar is a budget airline, catering is NOT free. This meal costed about USD8 by then. Acceptable 

Red-eye flights are meant to be a time to sleep, so that was what I did. But the weather was not at all great, with a typhoon approaching Japan at that time. I remembered the turbulence we encountered. So that is what makes a A380 different: greater mass, less instability.

We landed a little bit behind schedule anyways.  Not a pretty sky. Clouds and drizzle. That's it.

Met this Vanilla Air A320 when taxiing to the gate. Vanilla Air has merged with Peach air already. How does Peach Vanilla ice-cream taste? I bet it would be nice

So here is Terminal 3. Vanilla air and Jetstar park here, while those conventional airlines go to Terminals 1&2.

That's JA01JJ next to us!