There are some flights too cheap to justify points or a business class trip. However they are often at terrible times of day. They include the 1:45am Scoot departure from Singapore’s Changi airport (4:45am Sydney time), the 12:15am Jetstar Darwin to Sydney flight or the 10 hour Jetstar overnight flight from Sydney to Honolulu. I have undertaken all of these, but my most recent was the Sydney to Honolulu flight with Jetstar. Departing at 5pm the flight takes over 9 hours, arriving 6:15am Hawaiian time.
As a true Points Brotherhood fan, I opted to have no luggage, no food and no entertainment and to twiddle my thumbs for the 9 hours. However, travelling with 3 friends, we opted to spend an extra $9 each (luckily I walked to the airport so felt I had saved the money – see Drew’s post), to sit next to each other.
How to avoid Jetstar carry on luggage fees
Jetstar is pretty strict with their hand luggage, allowing only 7kg, however today they blessed me with a whole extra 500g (had to pack the extra snorkel for the trip), accepting my 7.5kg luggage (I had weighed it at home and it was only 5.5kg…). The extra trick was holding my laptop and work folder in my hand so the extra 2kg is never weighed.
Despite spending a whopping $9 to choose my seat, we were still up the back in row 48. However, the benefits of this is no one else sitting in the last section of economy is going to pay for a middle seat so had two seats for the price of one!
How to get eight hours sleep on a Jetsar flight
Jetstar’s rollout of the 787 Dreamliner on this route, provided budget comfort. The seats had minimal recline, but the headrest folds are very comfortable particularly when combined with a neck pillow. If you wanted to pay for entertainment (why would you unless operating a banned 15inch MacBook Pro) it was an affordable $13. However, a 9 hour flight arriving at 6:15am meant that i needed to maximise my beauty sleep so prior to take off had my earplugs and facemark on, neck pillow positioned – and according to my Garmin slept for 8 hours 17 minutes
For the budget traveller, having no entertainment, no need to wait for the food trolley and purchasing a seat near the back means maximising sleep and are ready for a full day of snorkelling, hiking and hula!
