JQ reduces seat pitch on A320's & locks all seats upright

[ozbeachbabe]

Those of you who already find there is not enough leg room on JQ A320's may want to think twice when deciding which airline to fly on next.

The rego's of the latest 'updated' fleet begin with VH-VGx compared to VH-VQx for the existing A320 fleet. Saw VH-VGU in DRW yesterday enroute from SIN to NTL on what I assume was a ferry/delivery flight JQ7992 currently in a 180 Y seat configuration. I believe they can squeeze more seats in which would explain the massive reduction in pitch so may be what happens when it arrives in NTL.

Besides the lack of leg room the other disadvantages I foresee are as follows:

* The inability to recline any seats at all. This is due to the seat pitch already being at the absolute minimum of 27 inches & reclinable seats would further reduce the space rendering it illegal.

* I believe exit rows with be 28 inches so hardly worth paying any extra now when it's less room than what you had previously in a normal seat.

* Extra seats are at the expense of one aft toilet & given that the forward loo is meant to be for crew use that would mean one aft toilet for 180 pax!!! What other airline in the world has such a poor ratio of toilets to passengers?

Advantages? None for passengers but more profit for management. Obviously smacks of a beancounter decision as absolutely not customer focused in the slightest. Let me guess - it's probably done overseas somewhere where the average flight is an hour.

I would love to know what routes these aircraft will be operating on. I sincerely hope it's not a 4 hour plus flight from SYD or MEL to DRW! :evil: :evil:

 

[markis10]

27 inches seat pitch - do we all need to go on a biggest loser bootcamp to fit? JQ was just moved into the Tiger camp for me, being the "never fly" list versus the "fly when you dont have another airline to choose" list.

 

[Mal]

Was it a demo plane originally for Ryanair?

If that's the future of Jetstar's domestic operations, then I'll be avoiding them <even more than I do now> !

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Was it a demo plane originally for Ryanair?

It's former rego was F-WWDQ according to the fleet stats on the website link below however when you search that rego it comes up with a photo of that aircraft in Tiger Airways livery :?:

Jetstar Airways - Details and Fleet History - Planespotters.net Just Aviation

Above link still shows it as 177 config though.

 

[markis10]

It's former rego was F-WWDQ according to the fleet stats on the website link below however when you search that rego it comes up with a photo of that aircraft in Tiger Airways livery :?:

Jetstar Airways - Details and Fleet History - Planespotters.net Just Aviation

Above link still shows it as 177 config though.

Might have been another aircraft, that one left TLS two days ago.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Tiger put 180 seats in A320's and there is still recline. Seat pitch is 28 inches. The emex rows definitely much higher than 28 inches....

so im not quite sure how you got your figures? Tiger also have 2 aft toilets in a 180 seat config.... hmm

 

[Saab34]

Its got something to do with the back galley designs. Tiger and AirAsia have the same with two lav's opposite each other at the rear with the back galley curtained off where as JQ has a bulkhead with a window in it. JQ have a lav in the back galley for some reason also?

I see no logic in this new config (or the previous 177Y), why not just copy what AirAsia and Tiger have gone with. Relatively simple (and standard) design.

 

[Flying Fox]

27", no thanks!

I'm sticking to QF.

 

[bossreggie]

I hope I never have to find out how bad these seats actually are. Looks like they are going from bad to worse.

 

[albatross710]

presumably the extra PAX, seat pitch etc would be factored into the pricing. If people know it is going ot be cramped on JQ, then they will set their pricing expectations lower.

 

[straitman]

presumably the extra PAX, seat pitch etc would be factored into the pricing. If people know it is going ot be cramped on JQ, then they will set their pricing expectations lower.

In all seriousness, is it possible to set the expectations much lower :?:

 

[Dee Thom]

If JQ are jamming 180 pax into their A320's , maybe TT is hurting them not only on their holiday destinations, but also mainline routes ie., BNE, SYD, MEL, and JQ are prepared to go head to head with them, remembering that Tiger is adding new metal on well thought out destinations.
QF and DJ being more for the business/ upper market would only be basically effected.
It will be interesting to see if the new pitch is applied to all their A320's.

Cheers Dee

 

[albatross710]

A brand danger is if seat pitches are different on different routes that people get an experience on say the MEL - SYD sector and swear never to fly on JQ/Tiger on other sectors where the seat quality is different.

Will be interesting to see how that is handled.

 

[Harry G]

at the top of the list would be maintenance - seats are fixed to avoid any "break" problems which may cause a plane to go tech .... crew having to "seats in upright position please" also - it is similar to the leather seats on JQ now TT ordering on new craft....... not for passenger comfort but maintenance such as I was told by crew on TT, if kids piddled on seat cushions the crew could not clean and a cushion removed, 1 seat less on flight........ now on leather it is simply a wipe.......

Seat pitch is a huge issue and will agree that with DJ heading towards business travel and being a real threat to QF particularly the Government Departments TT and JQ will go head to head......

There is common sense and the aviation indusrty so perhaps we should not get the two confused but one would "hope" that the two use this and take passenger comfort into consideration on long flights such as DRW PER etc...... but lets see.......

everyone going back to QF the posts note???

on my way to DRW recently via ASP - clearly the 737 had an extra row of seats in it because you could not be that close to the pax in front.......
whilst eating my breakfast, pax in front reclined seat - had to belt him on the head to go forward as it was IMPOSSIBLE to try and move with seat reclined so before we get too excited about seat pitch, lets get some sherrifs on the QF flights to check their pitch!

 

[mm472]

I am wondering if this was a few days early ??

April the 1st is VERY close !

MM

 

[anat0l]

This is a joke, right?

I haven't heard of an airline that has 27" pitch on their seats before and I'm tempted not to fly one that does! (Now darn me who has two F Lounge runs coming up on JQ, however I hope they do not touch the A330-200s).

Surely 27" is pushing the legal boundaries somewhere, even if you made reclining impossible.

I thought JQ was reasonable albeit amateur before; if they consider this move then all I can say is "God help them", because they will be an absolute disgrace to the Qantas group and to the Australian airline market as a whole.

 

[milehighclub]

Jetstar Asia has 180 seats on it's A320

This is only 3 more seats than the Australia and New Zealand based A320 (177). The extra space for 3 seats could be achieved by moving a toilet in front of the rear door to behind it and halving the required galley space. This way the pitch doesn't have to be reduced. Anything over 180 passengers also requires an additional crew member to keep the 1/36 ratio in place, and I also don't think the A320 is certified for more than 180 passengers.

The front toilet is not reserved for crew only - anyone can use it

 

[Aussie_flyer]

I think the OP was going by a rumour only, there is NO factual information released by Jetstar that I have seen or heard. Perhaps all the 'how dare they' 'i will never fly them again' type posts might wait for an official press release or official word from the airline, or some kind of actual FACT

 

[markis10]

I think the OP was going by a rumour only, there is NO factual information released by Jetstar that I have seen or heard. Perhaps all the 'how dare they' 'i will never fly them again' type posts might wait for an official press release or official word from the airline, or some kind of actual FACT

How could it be a rumor when OZBEACHBABE saw the aircraft and her role allows non public access airside at DRW?????? Why would JQ release a press release saying we are going to shove more of you on board, I have never seen an airline release a press release about a reduction in passenger space, have you, with the exception of the recent DJ one saying they would increase the pitch for biz at the expense of VFR traffic. Lets not forget the majority of the seats are already at 29" pitch, 100 of the 177.

 

[straitman]

I think the OP was going by a rumour only, there is NO factual information released by Jetstar that I have seen or heard. Perhaps all the 'how dare they' 'i will never fly them again' type posts might wait for an official press release or official word from the airline, or some kind of actual FACT

dazz81,

I backup what markis10 has said and suggest you go and reread post #1 and look at the source of the information. ozbeachbabe is not a rumour monger and has air side access to places that most others do not.