Questions and Answers

I am planning a trip down under and Jetstar has some great domestic fares in Australia, however my question is from an American perspective are they more like Southwest or or like Spirit/RyanAir and would you recommend flying them?

I’m pretty sure that they’re more like Spirit however, on international routes, they are more like norweigan

You have to pay for checked baggage, so in that sense, they are more like Spirit. But you’re allowed to bring on a full size carry on at no extra charge, unlike Spirit. Virgin Australia also has competitive rates to Jetstar so if that’s an option, I’d choose them as they dont’ charge for checked baggage.

I think theyre closer to Spirit/Ryan Air. I flew their subsidiary Jetstar Asia SIN-REP. Paid checked bags but otherwise the flight was fine. Cramped and horrible seat pitch but doable for a short flight.

As an Aus resident, I try Jetstar every few years, attracted by low fares, and almost every time I come to regret it. I suspect I have personally been unlucky, but I have only flown Jetstar about 6-8 times in the last 6 years, but have missed a job interview once due to a late night cancellation and their unwillingness to put me on a morning flight the next day. On another occasion they were 2 hours late on the first flight of the day, causing me to miss an international connection (separate tickets, but 2.5+ hours in a tiny airport). Luckily the connecting airline let me fly next day for free, and I found a cheap hotel room. I also missed a 3 hour connection (again separate tickets on different airlines) at MEL when they rescheduled a flight DPS-MEL at about 6 hours notice. Had to burn 40k miles or so and about $80 to get an alternative connecting domestic flight MEL-home at the end of a holiday – was lucky, cash fares on that particular <1 hr sector on that day at such short notice were $400+ per person. Their response on each occasion was a shrug and the distinct impression they really meant "f**k you".

Outside of these occasions, my experience is that their staff don't care and are only one level above hostile, they are frequently 10-40 minutes late on most flights and the fellow passengers leave a lot to be desired in travel experience/etiquette and, very sorry to say it but it's unavoidable, general class.

Most people generally consider Tiger to be even worse, but my experience has actually been reasonable, though I've only flown them three times.

As for the full service carriers, Qantas are best, even if they know it (Delta), Virgin Australia are almost as good, but know there is a perception problem and so try harder, though that's changing as they catch up (American).

Thanks for your advice [USER=659]@thelongroadau[/USER] I think it may be unavoidable to fly them as they are the only airline with a nonstop on my route and otherwise it be a 18hr travel day vs a 4hr flight. This is good to know and I will avoid them on all other flights in Australia, I will just set expectations low and expect nothing.

As a side note, their “Plus Bundles” make no sense on pricing, it would be $65 for the Plus which is a seat assignment, meal, checked bag, and QF Miles, although if you buy alacarte it is only $50 without miles, and I never credit to qf anyways