Airbus 320 Seat 29F (Economy) Flight time: 08:50-10:00 (08:58-09:36) Duration: 1 hour 10 minutes 5th May 2022
O V E R V I E W : After being confined to just domestic travel with some recovery from the global pandemic, there was more signs of normalcy as countries around the world started to move towards the endemic phase. With one of the world’s busiest international route pre-pandemic having a less hassle travel with the removal of on arrival quarantine and testing, I took the opportunity to revisit Lion City down south and experience an international flight once again after 855 days with my last one being Tokyo to Kuala Lumpur on 1st of January 2020. After researching on the best available option with the lowest fare, I booked myself on Jetstar Airways with the one way ticket to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur at a very competitive price of only RM78. This however will not be my first time on Jetstar as I have taken numerous flights with them pre pandemic on the same route.
On the day of departure, I arrived at KLIA2 about an hour to spare before my STD and to my surprise there wasn’t any queue on this rather full flight (which I got to know from the Check In Agent). I suppose most passengers decided to arrive early to complete the pre departure process as document checks were still lengthy (Vaccination Certificate / SG Arrival Card) during my time of travel.
Managed to secure a window seat at the check in counter and it felt great having my passport in hand after so long besides the hard boarding pass instead of those flimsy receipt types used by some Low Cost Carriers.
KLIA2 was still quite empty at that point of time with mainly domestic travelers and limited International flights. I then proceeded to the International Departures security check and the excitement was definitely building up at that point after only restricted to clearing Domestic Departures security for the past 2 years.
Unfortunately, the International Departures pier at KLIA2 has minimal commercial activities with most F&B options including McDonalds remained closed during my travel period.
After a short wait at my boarding gate of the day, my equipment to SIN which was an Airbus 320 arrived and boarding was called shortly after according to the seat rows and I got to be one of the first groups to board as I was seated towards the end of the aircraft.
Again, I was extremely excited to be stepping foot into an international flight after so long, despite it being just a short hop under an hour!
Upon boarding, I was surprised to be handed a disinfectant wipe by the cabin crew which is not expected on a low cost carrier especially. Nevertheless, it was a nice touch and if only more LCCs considered these as well during this new normal of travel.
A view of the cabin from my seat towards the tail end of the aircraft, which seemed pretty clean and well maintained.
Mandatory seat pocket content shot! No inflight magazine offered but just the Safety Card and Onboard Menu in sight, the offerings are quite pricey in my opinion.
Pushback commenced promptly and after a short taxi to the runway, I found myself on my way to my first international destination since the start of the pandemic!
It was an uneventful cruise all the way to Singapore on this short flight, with minimal cabin activity where the crew were seen to be only offering some light refreshments possibly to passengers who purchased higher fare tickets which has them included. After a long taxi upon touch down at Changi’s newest runway, my aircraft arrived at Terminal 1 where 3K operates from in SIN.
After an orderly disembarkation, I was in the short queue for immigration clearance with the actual process taking less than a few minutes with the officer on duty, and this was contrary to my expectations as I prepared my physical folder with various printed documents ready for inspection however no questions were asked. Interestingly, as passengers have already registered for the digital SG arrival card online, even my passport was not stamped and I received an email as the prove of my entry into Singapore instead.
It felt amazing to be stepping foot in a foreign country once again as I made my way out of the arrivals concourse, with a detour to the baggage carrousel here at T1 even though I had no luggage to collect in admiration of the interior design which recently underwent a refurbishment, looking absolutely stunning and inviting! No surprise of this amazing feat being in the World’s Best Airport.
C O N C L U S I O N:
As highlighted in the introduction, I have experienced Jetstar Airways on numerous occasions now flying the same route and there wasn’t any noticeable differences in terms of the offerings besides the hand out of the disinfectant wipes upon boarding due to the pandemic. In terms of the softer product on the service by the crew, not much to note on this very short flight but overall they came across friendly when engaging passengers. That said, I hope that I will get the opportunity to experience Jetstar on a longer flight in the future should their fares remain competitive in order for me to have a more holistic picture of their product offerings.
FlyKingsley.com 