As I am writing this, we are five hours into our nine and a half hour flight to Osaka (about half way) and I am writing this post for something to do as much as anything else.
The Star Class cabin in this Airbus looks rather neat with five rows of leather covered seats using the old Qantas business class seats, There is a little more legroom than domestic business class although there is a long box under most of each seat for the electronics. This reduces leg room and makes it impossible to fully stretch out our long legs. The best seats for leg room are the aisle seats in the centre section – seats D & F.
This plane (Airbus A330) is only two and a half weeks old. It looks and smells brand new. This is only its third flight.
Rather than being a real business class, Star Class is really a premium economy way to travel. The staff are friendly and attentive and the food is better than I might have thought – for lunch, David had a pasta dish while I had a bento box (cold), I wanted to get into the spirit of travelling to Japan. The meals were nothing to write home about, but they were more than edible and at least there was a choice out of three alternatives. They were served with a glass of standard wine. The crew have been around the cabin a few times during the flight with drinks and snacks.
There is a reasonable selection of movies available on a DVD Player that comes with nice noise reducing headphones. Each seat has a power point for charging computers or iPods.
Assuming that nothing goes wrong such as losing our bags (heaven forbid!), I think that we are getting reasonable value for money on this flight.
The ‘means will justify the ends’. And that Jetstar experience certainly exceeds local! Nine hours is a good test!