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

[Ascent]

The reason some people are finding the seats tighter and others arent noticing it is probably because with the old config (177) seats aft of the overwing exits on the aircrafts left had an extra inch (?) of room. They have fixed that now and afaik all seats now have the same pitch.

 

[Harry G]

an inch here or an inch there.......... at the end of the day, you are getting crammed in and it is your choice....... you choose to fly with them........them being either TT or JQ and whether they like it or not, JQ's current track record with cancellations, getting away from aerobridges in melbourne (on time departure reasons?? or is it costs??) makes them no better than their competitor.......
you want comfort...... do your home work and you will find that DJ and to a lesser extent QF have a far better offering (although a recent QF flight to ASP felt like I was sitting on the outback dunny!!)
what cost saving are you really getting if you have to complain about the offering??

 

[xt_20]

I was on JQ109 from PER to SIN - 5 hr red-eye flight and one of the new aircraft was used.
No reclining seats and pitch seemed unusually smaller.
VERY uncomfortable, especially for a 5hr red-eye and I now don't know if Tiger or Jetstar is worse.

Those planes are probably OK for short trips of under 1.5 hrs, but it was a torture for me and I am not big in size. I booked this ticket well before March (when this thread was started) and if I had known, I would not have purchased this ticket.

Doesn't leave us with much choice flying PER - SIN.
Tiger is last on my list, with Jetstar joining it at the bottom. Looks like I have to pay more to fly QF or SQ or transit via KUL on MH / D7. Bring on DJ!!

 

[docjames]

I was on JQ109 from PER to SIN - 5 hr red-eye flight and one of the new aircraft was used.
No reclining seats and pitch seemed unusually smaller.
VERY uncomfortable, especially for a 5hr red-eye and I now don't know if Tiger or Jetstar is worse.

Those planes are probably OK for short trips of under 1.5 hrs, but it was a torture for me and I am not big in size. I booked this ticket well before March (when this thread was started) and if I had known, I would not have purchased this ticket.

Doesn't leave us with much choice flying PER - SIN.
Tiger is last on my list, with Jetstar joining it at the bottom. Looks like I have to pay more to fly QF or SQ or transit via KUL on MH / D7. Bring on DJ!!

The problem is it (the reduced pitch 321) appears randomly around the "network" so you've really got no idea when you book.

 

[pauly7]

getting away from aerobridges in melbourne (on time departure reasons?? or is it costs??)

Nope, QF mainline needed the space so they expanded the Regional area that services the turbo props to also cater for JQ.

As they don't hook the aerobridges up to the turbo props they didn't install any

I kinda like they have segregated JQ off in the main part

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I was on JQ109 from PER to SIN - 5 hr red-eye flight and one of the new aircraft was used.
No reclining seats and pitch seemed unusually smaller.
VERY uncomfortable, especially for a 5hr red-eye and I now don't know if Tiger or Jetstar is worse.

Those planes are probably OK for short trips of under 1.5 hrs, but it was a torture for me and I am not big in size. I booked this ticket well before March (when this thread was started) and if I had known, I would not have purchased this ticket.

Doesn't leave us with much choice flying PER - SIN.
Tiger is last on my list, with Jetstar joining it at the bottom. Looks like I have to pay more to fly QF or SQ or transit via KUL on MH / D7. Bring on DJ!!

Doc I think when xt_20 is referring to flying one of the 'new' aircraft he is referring to a new to the fleet A320 with seats locked upright ie rego's VH-VGx as opposed to the 'new' A321's, two of which are 10 years old.

Visibly the older A321's look old as they're a dull powder grey looking thing with the nose cone a slightly different shade of grey whereas the newer ones look new with an irredescent silver paint job & matching nose cone.

Looking at the JQ website it shows JQ109 operating as an A320 aircraft.

 

[xt_20]

Doc I think when xt_20 is referring to flying one of the 'new' aircraft he is referring to a new to the fleet A320 with seats locked upright ie rego's VH-VGx as opposed to the 'new' A321's, two of which are 10 years old.

Looking at the JQ website it shows JQ109 operating as an A320 aircraft.

Yes that is true -- I think it's a new 320 with non-reclining seats, not a 321. Looking at Skytrax/airlinequality, I'm not the only one who thinks it shouldn't be used on flights over 1-2 hrs long.

 

[Harry G]

I do recall reading "somewhere" that JQ was NOT going to use aircraft with locked seats on hauls longer that 1.5 hours but it is expected that they would do this!

whilst the PAX accepts this from the carrier, they will continue to do it.......vote with your feet not your wallet.......... whilst JQ is trying to fight the onslaught of TT, DJ and QF have reclining seats!!!
but if you want budget............... get a back massage with the money you have allegedly saved by using the budget carrier when you get to your destination, all be it stiff!

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I do recall reading "somewhere" that JQ was NOT going to use aircraft with locked seats on hauls longer that 1.5 hours but it is expected that they would do this!

whilst the PAX accepts this from the carrier, they will continue to do it.......vote with your feet not your wallet.......... whilst JQ is trying to fight the onslaught of TT, DJ and QF have reclining seats!!!
but if you want budget............... get a back massage with the money you have allegedly saved by using the budget carrier when you get to your destination, all be it stiff!

Probably wasn't a 'core' election promise Harry G!

JQ were using a "new" A320 VX-VGx on JQ61 today MEL/DRW/SIN which is a tad over 1.5 hours.

 

[Ascent]

Was chatting to some crew the other day. From what I understand seats are being refitted so they are able to recline. Too many complaints it seems.

 

[crazydave98]

Qantas' application to the AISC yesterday for more capacity on Indonesia routes notes that Jetstar is reconfiguring aircraft PER-DPS & PER-CGK from 177 to 180 seats from October. So much for keeping it to short sectors. Jetstar seems to be looking more like AirAsia and Tiger.
http://www.iasc.gov.au/applications/files/4567.pdf

cheers

CrazyDave98

 

[Harry G]

apart from the seat pitch, the whole "Asia" thing is going to be of interest......
quite a few budget competitors are trying to get market share as is JQ.... the interest will be if and what comes of the Australian Pilots objecting to the useage of Asian crews on the Australia - Asia sectors - base in Singapore..... which "may" flow thru to cabin crew being called upon to assist??

Personal opinion only......
JQ will no doubt be getting competition from TT, Air Asia and now trying to make inroads to Indonesia...... TT is all over the place, just like Australia, making a damn nuisance of themselves and sending themselves and others in the process, to the bank for more money (AKA shares being ofloaded in TT worhty of further investigation)

Asia is vital to the budget carriers as it has the population to sustain and I guess JQ has to try and not only defend its turf but grow otherwise SQ may swallow them all!!

 

[NM]

... Jetstar is reconfiguring aircraft PER-DPS & PER-CGK from 177 to 180 seats from October. So much for keeping it to short sectors.

As far as international flights from PER are concerned, they don't much shorter than those routes mentioned. Both are shorter than DRW-SIN. Can't be much worse seat-wise than QF's BNE-AKL on a 734 .

 

[JQash]

In regards to no recline on seats on the newer JQ aircraft, i have been told that these aircraft over time will revert to reclining seats due to public and staff complaining. The cost of changing the seats back to a recline type had quite a big price tag, and was joked that someone has made a costly mistake.

Apparently newer aircraft to be delivered beginning next year will have reclining seats installed.

 

[straitman]

In regards to no recline on seats on the newer JQ aircraft, i have been told that these aircraft over time will revert to reclining seats due to public and staff complaining. The cost of changing the seats back to a recline type had quite a big price tag, and was joked that someone has made a costly mistake.

Apparently newer aircraft to be delivered beginning next year will have reclining seats installed.

That is good news for the travelling public.

It is good to see they are actually becoming a little proactive to public pressure.

 

[Joshua]

Apparently newer aircraft to be delivered beginning next year will have reclining seats installed.

Up go costs for heavier seats then. So new aircraft will be equally crammed but now the ***** in front of you can recline into that space? Probably the time when a CX style Y seat recline would work well.

I'm sticking to my own policy of including the cost of an exit row / front row seat when comparing JQ to other prices.

 

[oz_mark]

That is good news for the travelling public.

It is good to see they are actually becoming a little proactive to public pressure.

They have been in the past. Think assigned seating, think Qantas club access.

 

[FlyboyAl]

Flew from HBA to MEL this morning on a JQ A320 VH-VGR and was in row 27.
No seat recline at all which was a good thing as if the seat in front had reclined, I would have lost my kneecaps.

The distance from the front of the seat base I was sitting on, to the back of the seat in front was 9" - I measured it.

I can live with it for short haul, but I'd sure hate it for more than 2 hours.

 

[Dee Thom]

The distance from the front of the seat base I was sitting on, to the back of the seat in front was 9" - I measured it.

I can live with it for short haul, but I'd sure hate it for more than 2 hours.

Not wishing to be a harbinger of bad tidings, I've just read an article in " USA Today " headed "New airline seats perch fliers in just 23 inches". I kid you not, they are called skyrider packs, and are saddle-like seats with straight backs. The person actually semi-sits/stands much the same as riding a horse. They're designed by Aviointeriors, an aircraft seat designer based in Latina, Italy, and are targeted at all LCC's world-wide. (Bet Ryanair jumps at them, they've been trying to legally have PAX stand during flights)
Imagine how many extra PAX could be coralled into the "Horse Yard" behind the pilots on DJ or TT, the mind boggles!!!!!

Cheers Dee

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Don't worry - the 'skyrider' seats are pretty much fantasy I think.

Like the idea of 'standfing passengers' - the issue is that aircraft are only certified to carry a maximum number of passengers. For a 737 - boeing would need to install extra emergency exits to allow additional passengers - so in a way - what's the cost saving?

Someone rightly pointed out somewhere else that they could make biz class cabins larger and cram more economy seats in, but that's not the LCC model to have biz class.

Plus - cram in more seats and you need more cabin crew. At some point the cost savings for these wacky ideas just don't add up.

Maybe we could see the seats installed on smaller aircraft like ATRs which already have 4 exits and not that many pax, but on larger aircraft? I dunno.