I’ve mentioned that Jetstar has some amazing sales throughout the year so it’s always worth looking at these before redeeming miles on Qantas or Virgin.

I took these screenshots a couple days ago and they are pretty much what I had bought the year before at around this time for travel in September.

Typical of the low-cost carriers, they will try to upsell you to various bundles.  I knew that we would have already had dinner by this time and just want to sleep on this flight, plus I also knew we would have carry-on backpacks only.  So I just kept the original fare with no added extras.

Jetstar will still try to upsell you features one by one.  This time I went for the pre-booked seat, as far forward as possible but still in the $7 zone.

Jetstar flies an Airbus A320 on this sector all economy in a 3 x 3 configuration.  Nothing to get excited about but it’s always nice to get on and off as quickly as possible.

I did the online check-in and we took our carry-on backpacks to the gate.  Much to my surprise (this being my first flight on Jetstar), the ground crew were weighing the carry-ons!  Even the small ones like ours which were well under the maximum measurements but we did have the camera gear and the Pizzey-Knight field guide.  They have scales at the kiosks where you can check in if you haven’t done so online and they were strictly enforcing the 7kg weight limit.  Thankfully they weren’t familiar with Scottevests and Ina and I quickly shoved some books and a camera in our pockets, then presented the backpacks for weighing.  They passed and were tagged as carry-ons.

The weight thing is probably the most frustrating thing to birders as it’s fairly easy to pack light but the camera gear, especially those 400mm lenses can weigh 2kg all by themselves!  I didn’t bring the Canon gear for this trip but even the Nikon P900 was still heavy compared to a normal tourist camera.

The other shocker is that sometimes they don’t even give you water on the plane!  This time they did in small plastic cups which was enough to survive the flight.  One way around this would be to bring a small empty water bottle and refill it after security.  We were prepared for the return trip and did this.

Anyway, Jetstar has its place as a cheap way to get from A to B with no frills.  Be prepared and keep your eye on the prize – the birds that await at the end of the journey!