I love low cost carriers. There’s something so honest about the experience and not hiding behind a facade of “premium experience.”
This was my first trip with JetStar. We actually booked this flight just a few hours before departure, we had planned on staying in Thailand longer, but had a change of plans. To that point, Val and I are not sitting next to each other. We’re 2 rows apart, I’m on the left side in an aisle seat, Val’s on the right in a window. So because of that, we both took photos and I’ve used all of them for this JetStar A320 review.
Note: JetStar has since discontinued this route(and their JetStar Asia service based in Singapore). This review is still representative of JetStar A320 service as these aircraft are now used elsewhere.
Bottom Line: JetStar is a pretty generic low cost carrier. The seats are small and everything is a paid service. With that said, it’s perfectly pleasant for a short trip. I wouldn’t hesitate to ride with JetStar again.
Krabi Airport Check-in
We arrived at the Krabi Airport after our boat ride from Railay and then taxi ride. This is a different terminal than the one we arrived here at on our Air Asia Flight from Bangkok, this is the international terminal.
Well, this was the worst airport experience I’ve had since our ITA flight from LHR back in 2021. We arrived at KBV airport almost exactly 2 hours early, we assumed with no bags to check we’d be in great shape. We hadn’t been able to check in online ahead of time, that’s why we got here 2 hours early instead of closer to 90 minutes. Turns out we were very wrong. It’s a real shame too, the Krabi airport looks modern and pleasant.
There was a line that literally went out the door and around the corner. Apparently they are having some computer issues and have to do everything on paper. Unfortunately our online check in didn’t give us boarding passes so we had to stop at the desk. The line took more than 2 hours to process us and we weren’t the last one’s. Our flight would be delayed by about 45 minutes because of this.
We walked right to the gate after passing security and immigration. Unfortunately no time for food or using the lounge. This is a bus gate so we boarded the bus and took the ride to the airplane. We were on the second to last bus to board.
JetStar A320 Boarding
We got off the bus and took the stairs up to the boarding door. I love boarding without jet bridges, it just more fun.
We found our seats, in the same row, but on opposite sides of the aisle. Val’s in a window and I’m in the aisle. We booked these flights yesterday so I’ll take whatever.
I was nicely surprised that there was still overhead bin space for both of our bags. We’re among the last to board.
JetStar A320 Economy Seats
The seats on JetStar’s A320 are all the same. Except for the exit row, there are no differences between any seat, just 30 rows of 3-3 seats. They are a standard slim line seat and none recline.
Leg room on the JetStar A320 is tight. Keep in mind it’s a low cost carrier, so it’s never going to be spacious. I’m here in the aisle seat. With my small backpack under the seat in front, there’s enough room for my feet on either side.
Here’s Val in the window seat. She has a slightly large backpack than I do, she’s also 6 inches shorter so has a little more leg room.
No in seat entertainment on the JetStar A320. There’s also no wifi offered either. This flight is only about 2 hours so no big deal, but there are some longer flights in the JetStar network that would become a little boring. There’s no power offered here so have a power bank for your devices if you want to keep them charged.
JetStar A320 Pushback and Takeoff
We quickly pushed back and taxied to the runaway as the flight attendants gave the safety presentation. I was a little surprised they made me take off my headphones for takeoff, that’s a new one.
We took off and made our turn towards Singapore.
Lovely day for flying, Val said the views were really nice as we tookoff out of Thailand.
JetStar A320 Snacks and Drinks
The seat belt sign was turned off somewhat quickly and people quickly sprung up for bags and to go to the lavatories.
Jetstar offers a buy on board program for drinks and snacks. I’m pretty hungry so it’s honestly tempting, but I had a Snickers so we’ll see how well that holds me over.
JetStar onboard menu(continued).
I had my snack and settled into the rest of the 90 minute flight down to Singapore.
JetStar A320 In Flight
Outside, it was a lovely day for flying. Through the trip the seat belt sign was kept off as it was smooth air all the way from Krabi to Singapore.
I’m a little jealous that Val got some pretty great views from her window seat.
Inside the cabin was pretty relaxed, mostly seems to be people heading home from vacation.
JetStar A320 Lavatory
The JetStar A320 has 3 lavatories onboard, there are 2 at the back and 1 at the front. This toilet is at the back of the plane. Not palatial, but not terrible for an ULCC. It was also kept clean and I value that a lot more than size.
JetStar A320 Descent and Landing
With about 20 minutes left in flight, the flight attendants came through and prepped the cabin. Again, they made me take off my headphones, very weird.
A flight attendant asked a few people with tight connection for their flight numbers. Hopefully they make it, we’re about 35 minutes delayed.
The seat belt sign was turned on soon after that. The flight attendants took their seats as we descended into Singapore.
As we made our approach, Val got some great window views of Singapore outside and in the distance.
On of my favorite views is of all of the shipping vessels waiting their turn here at the Singapore port. This is such a busy place in more way than one.
We touched down just a few minutes later. We are about 30 minutes late due to the lack of ability for people to check in back in Krabi.
JetStar A320 Final Thoughts
I have a soft spot for low cost and ultra low cost carriers. JetStar is certainly in that category of airline. I have no complaints about today’s flight between Kraibi and Singapore. What I obviously had issues with was the lack of functioning on-line check in and the huge line at the check-in counter it caused. The manual check-in process is slow and JetStar only has one flight per day here so they just didn’t have the staff to keep up.
Once on the plane, I had a perfectly pleasant flight. As expected, there’s not a ton of space in each seat, no in seat entertainment, or wifi. I was pleased that even though we boarded last, we still had space for our luggage. The bathrooms were also kept clean and the flight attendants were perfectly polite. All in, good flight, just odd I had to take my headphones off for take-off and landing.