[Trunter]

Just interested to know about your experiences with Australian aeroplanes.

I have to say that in my opinion, Australian planes are usually very professional and are of top quality. Compared to some other planes like Alitalia and Air Canada, I think we've got it really lucky here.

I usually find the services to be great and they always leave a good impression on me, the flight attendants are also usually really nice and friendly, the planes are clean and the entertainment is acceptable for me also. I don't worry too much about the food but I've never had any problems there either.

I think the fact that they also have a very good safety record (at least, no fatalities) also works to their favour, especially Qantas's, which has been around for so long.

 

[BrizzyChris]

I'm flying on Jetstar to Tokyo next year, anyone been with them internationally, or to Japan specifically? What was the experience like? I don't have high expectations.

 

[invincible]

Flew Jetstar to Osaka last year, I had no complaints at all.

It's a long flight so I do suggest you pay the little bit extra for a meal and blanket unless you intend to bring your own. Seats were decent and the staff were helpful.

 

[Svartmetall]

I think the fact that they also have a very good safety record (at least, no fatalities) also works to their favour, especially Qantas's, which has been around for so long.

Don't like Qantas due to their limited leg room when I looked at flying with them - they offered 28-29" leg room on most of their planes, though they did offer 38" in premium economy.

EDIT: Seems they've boosted their leg room to around 30-31" now. Lots has changed since 2004.

 

[spiffy]

Do any of the local carriers offer better seat width and/or leg room in economy than the others, or are they all much the same?

 

[perthguy78]

www.seatguru.com

 

[JVogt]

Flew Jetstar to Osaka last year, I had no complaints at all.

It's a long flight so I do suggest you pay the little bit extra for a meal and blanket unless you intend to bring your own. Seats were decent and the staff were helpful.

Same here - Sydney to Osaka and back last year. Highly recommend forking out for the meals (which were quite good, would you believe!!). I have no complaints, particularly for the price I paid - which was quite cheap because I flew during June (rainy season = cheap).

 

[spiffy]

Thanks

 

[tayser]

Do any of the local carriers offer better seat width and/or leg room in economy than the others, or are they all much the same?

Cathay Pacific = gives you an extra inch of legroom on their newer A330s (Aircraft type appears as "33B" on their webiste) - I'm 184cm and I was able to cross my legs!

And yes, as perthguy78 suggested - find the specific aircraft type of your fare (usually if you click the flight number on the booking pages, they'll display the aircraft type on the following screen) and look it up on Seat Guru.

 

[BrizzyChris]

Flew Jetstar to Osaka last year, I had no complaints at all.

It's a long flight so I do suggest you pay the little bit extra for a meal and blanket unless you intend to bring your own. Seats were decent and the staff were helpful.

Oh, that sounds good then. I paid the little bit extra for the exit row, but didn't pay for food (figured I would bring some snacks). But surely they would give you a blanket for free??? What if you were freezing?

Also paid $12 for one of those entertainment tv things.

 

[tayser]

Singapore Airlines 747s = shite and in desperate need of replacement.
Singapore Airlines 772s = a big step above their 747s.

 

[Marty_]

I'm too tall to physically sit down in a standard economy seat. I judge an airline by how accomodating they are of my situation.

So far, Jetstar have been the only ones to notice me in advance and approach me to ask whether I had an exit row arranged. When I said that I didn't, they went out of their way to put me in an exit row. Virgin Blue are typically accomodating (once they checked my seating was suitable after I spectacularly took myself out by bashing my head on the top of the aircraft doorway). I haven't flown QANTAS for several years, so can't comment.

I get most trouble from international airlines. Cathay Pacific was THE WORST. I spend most of a flight from Hong Kong to Brisbane standing up.

It's kind of redundant now anyway for the domestic airlines as you can pay extra and get an exit seat. Didn't used to be able to do that.

 

[Airbus_A320]

Virgin Blue: Great Service, seat a little hard, great IFE, great menu, not so great fares, fleet starting to age, although love the Ejets (please line the seats up with the window please..)
Tiger: Nice soft Cloth seat, empty flights so heaps of space, shocking menu, worlds worst customer service, great new fleet, cant cope with the way they deal with Delays anymore. MEL-SYD cheap flights are great.
Jetstar: Seat not too bad, not to great on long flights, menu average, new A321s are a Gem, those pre recorded announcements for EVERYTHING is downright annoying. Service is not to bad considering they are LCC
Qantas: Horrible old Fleet, IFE is a joke. Not a fan of Plane food, so I dont usually fly QF, in most cases VB. New International A380's look attractive
Vaustralia: Cant fault anything, my favorite airline at the moment. Great product at Great prices

 

[tayser]

Singapore Airlines 747s = shite and in desperate need of replacement.
Singapore Airlines 772s = a big step above their 747s.

Following up their 77W's = very nice, KrisWorld IFE is tops (still not as good as StudioCX) but all in all, very comfortable flight - was able to cross my legs in the seat (I'm 184cm tall too).

 

[Max Headway]

V Australia were OK from BNE to LAX (flight 7) in June. But coming back on flight 2 (LAX-SYD) scheduled to depart 19 July, not so great. After we were all boarded, the plane was then held on the ground for three hours, due to an incorrect figure being entered in the fuel records.hno: On the upside, nice new planes, and a good range of entertainment options.

In future, to get to the States, I'd gladly fly Korean Air to/from Brisbane, simply to use two excellent airports (Incheon, and BNE International terminal).

 

[demanjo2]

But surely they would give you a blanket for free???.

They wont.

Jetstar international are very good if you can get a reasonable price. Sometimes i notice that their prices are far too expensive for the service they provide. Luckily all my trips to japan with jetstar have been at a good price.

I have had no major reason to complain. Planes usually on-time. Good check in.
Only thing is the staff arent very "helpful", but its the level i would expect from a LCC.

 

[Trunter]

Does Qantas fly from South Korea? It flies TO South Korea, but what about from? It seems like they don't which seems pretty silly given that even Finnair has flights from there. I guess I'll have to fly via Cathay Pacific.

 

[Terrier Tantrum]

Had my first Tiger flight from MEL-SYD. The bad thing is the huge amount of time you wait to check in and board. I was falling asleep.

Good thing is that it's very cheap and they gave me an emergency exit seat so I had an enormous amount of space. I don't know why they gave it to me, I am quite short.

 

[tayser]

Does Qantas fly from South Korea? It flies TO South Korea, but what about from? It seems like they don't which seems pretty silly given that even Finnair has flights from there. I guess I'll have to fly via Cathay Pacific.

Asiana Airlines fly ICN-SYD-ICN (ICN = Seoul) and Qantas codeshare on them.

 

[Fabian]

I've only flown with Qantas and Virgin so I cannot comment on the other two.

Qantas - Flights aren't expensive as you think, and you get your luggage allowance, inflight entertainment and food. I try and fly at meal times so I do get a feed with grog included. Flight attendants are nice. Good service. I also recall a flight being cancelled the day before flying and they automatically moved me to the next flight.

Virgin Blue - Flight Crew are not as cheerful as I would expect them to be and the fun element that goes with flying with them does not exist. I opt not to eat or take advantage of the inflight entertainment, though I do like the individual screens and the map showing the location of the plane. Good fares even with a luggage allowance included.