haydensydney
Established Member
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2008
- Posts
- 1,375
I had a opportunity on Xmas Eve to fly on DJ to meet my family for Xmas in Port Macquarie. Due to the late booking of the flights, my options were to pay $380 on QF or $325 on DJ... both seemed unreasonably expensive but I was not surprised due to the Xmas rush. For the record, I fly QF domestically, and only in J (with one SYD-MEL exception a few years ago). Being slightly nervous about flying on a Crash8 in economy, I decided to break away from tradition and try out DJ for the first time in Premium Economy.
This isn't a trip report per se, more like a summary of my observations:
1. Checkin - It was good to see that there was a premium line for checkin however I was quite dissapointed that DJ does not attach Priority tags on PE luggage.
2. Lounge - I guess I had high expectations of the lounge as I had visited the website which included all sorts of virtual fanfare for the lounge experience. My first impression of the SYD lounge was "tacky" - the interior design was similar to what is presented in a IKEA catalogue. The food bar however met expectations with a sandwich bar and two types of soup - after the cough that they dish up in the QF lounge, I was happy to be able to construct something (edible) of substance. The Bar selection was OK but the SavvyB I had yet again made me realise that not every Malborough drop is a nice one... I should have just stuck with the beer. Overall the lounge was OK but it was nothing special.
3. Flight - This was a packed bus for obvious reasons. Getting onto the plane was easy with the front door & back door being used based on the row you were sitting. My first impressions of entering the cabin was that of dissapointment. I don't understand why DJ has PE on the E170, afterall it is such a small aircraft it would seem difficult to construct a premium cabin that presented any premium-like value with a 2X2 layout. I know AC has a J cabin on their E-jets, yet the layout is 1X2 and the seats appear to be their normal J offering.
I had requested a window seat at checkin, and due to the load on their flight, I had a neighbour sitting next to me on the aisle. Getting to my window seat was a struggle - there is very limited room between the row in front (I am unsure of the pitch). Once seated, I realised I was sitting in what was merely a red coloured Y seat. To make things worse There was a constant struggle for domination of the armrest throughout the flight - yet, somewhere close to PQQ we came to a unspoken truce whereby I would occupy the front of the armrest, and she the back. Sort of like top & tailing in bed when your a kid.
After takeoff, the "hostess with the most-ess" performed a quick drink/snack run of the PE cabin followed by a continuation into Y. There were two other FA's on this flight. I chose a Rum&Coke (my QLD heritage coming to the fore) and a macadamia/cashew snack mix - both were lovely and I was happy to not have to pay for my munchwa. The flight time was only 35 minutes and this passed very quickly - Landing at PQQ was uneventful and disembarking was very old school and had that regional feel about it (although, not as regional as Taupo in NZ hehe).
4. Conclusion. Overall I would say that I was reasonably dissapointed with the PE offerring. DJ in itself appears to be a great carrier in terms of Y travel for Y travellers, but seems to be clueless when it comes to anything premium. I believe Australia needs a second premium offering other than QF, but this dosn't even come close. I think DJ should seize the opportunity and fill that gap with a proper J experience... that would ensure prices and service levels remain competitive in the Australian market. Although this was a rather poor experience of DJ's PE product, I am not writing off the product in its entirety because...
1) DJ is a low cost carrier afterall and I should have lowered my expectations accordingly
2) The E-jets are regional in nature whereas 737 PE product looks like it could be a much better inflight experience
3) QF on this route does not even have a premium product, so anything above Y is a plus
...therefore I will probably give them a go on a 737 service in the future however for the time being I will stay put with QF and their (tired but) consistent J product.
BTW Has anyone else felt the same way re: E-jet PE travel, and what are others experiences in PE on a 737 service?
This isn't a trip report per se, more like a summary of my observations:
1. Checkin - It was good to see that there was a premium line for checkin however I was quite dissapointed that DJ does not attach Priority tags on PE luggage.
2. Lounge - I guess I had high expectations of the lounge as I had visited the website which included all sorts of virtual fanfare for the lounge experience. My first impression of the SYD lounge was "tacky" - the interior design was similar to what is presented in a IKEA catalogue. The food bar however met expectations with a sandwich bar and two types of soup - after the cough that they dish up in the QF lounge, I was happy to be able to construct something (edible) of substance. The Bar selection was OK but the SavvyB I had yet again made me realise that not every Malborough drop is a nice one... I should have just stuck with the beer. Overall the lounge was OK but it was nothing special.
3. Flight - This was a packed bus for obvious reasons. Getting onto the plane was easy with the front door & back door being used based on the row you were sitting. My first impressions of entering the cabin was that of dissapointment. I don't understand why DJ has PE on the E170, afterall it is such a small aircraft it would seem difficult to construct a premium cabin that presented any premium-like value with a 2X2 layout. I know AC has a J cabin on their E-jets, yet the layout is 1X2 and the seats appear to be their normal J offering.
I had requested a window seat at checkin, and due to the load on their flight, I had a neighbour sitting next to me on the aisle. Getting to my window seat was a struggle - there is very limited room between the row in front (I am unsure of the pitch). Once seated, I realised I was sitting in what was merely a red coloured Y seat. To make things worse There was a constant struggle for domination of the armrest throughout the flight - yet, somewhere close to PQQ we came to a unspoken truce whereby I would occupy the front of the armrest, and she the back. Sort of like top & tailing in bed when your a kid.
After takeoff, the "hostess with the most-ess" performed a quick drink/snack run of the PE cabin followed by a continuation into Y. There were two other FA's on this flight. I chose a Rum&Coke (my QLD heritage coming to the fore) and a macadamia/cashew snack mix - both were lovely and I was happy to not have to pay for my munchwa. The flight time was only 35 minutes and this passed very quickly - Landing at PQQ was uneventful and disembarking was very old school and had that regional feel about it (although, not as regional as Taupo in NZ hehe).
4. Conclusion. Overall I would say that I was reasonably dissapointed with the PE offerring. DJ in itself appears to be a great carrier in terms of Y travel for Y travellers, but seems to be clueless when it comes to anything premium. I believe Australia needs a second premium offering other than QF, but this dosn't even come close. I think DJ should seize the opportunity and fill that gap with a proper J experience... that would ensure prices and service levels remain competitive in the Australian market. Although this was a rather poor experience of DJ's PE product, I am not writing off the product in its entirety because...
1) DJ is a low cost carrier afterall and I should have lowered my expectations accordingly
2) The E-jets are regional in nature whereas 737 PE product looks like it could be a much better inflight experience
3) QF on this route does not even have a premium product, so anything above Y is a plus
...therefore I will probably give them a go on a 737 service in the future however for the time being I will stay put with QF and their (tired but) consistent J product.
BTW Has anyone else felt the same way re: E-jet PE travel, and what are others experiences in PE on a 737 service?
Had flown DJ same route early Dec. No real difference in offerings from my point of view. Certainly the ongoing supply of pink cup cake as meal doesn't provide QF with noticeable edge over DJ.
