Introduction:
When I was in Seattle in June this year and saw Jetstar’s first 787 on the final production line, I knew I had to get on the inaugural flight! Finally on October 9, tickets went on sale! The inaugural flight was on November 13 from MEL-OOL and I immediately booked it. As I was working that day, by the time I got to a computer the fare for this flight was $149. But that didn’t bother me! This report will only cover the inaugural Jetstar 787 flight. The other flights in this trip will be covered in a separate report.
Melbourne Airport:
I flew in from Brisbane the day before on Qantas. I was staying at the ibis budget so it was just a 5 minute walk over to the Qantas/Jetstar terminal. I had already done the web check-in on Monday. I arrived at 7:30am; I think I would’ve been one of the first people to arrive for the flight! I just grabbed some breakfast and wondered around the terminal. I then found out that we would be using Gate 21 so I waited there for the 787 to get towed over.
At 9am, VA304 arrived from Brisbane with my friend Josh on-board. VH-YIU operated this flight which has a very strange nose cone!
And just after he arrived the magnificent Boeing 787 was towed around. By this time quite a few people were around including some media.
Then JQ431 arrived with Brock Little on-board. VH-VGY operated the flight (second time for him
)
Beautiful!
Decorations at our gate
Departure board at our gate
Media around our gate
Jetstar Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka with Jules Lund watching on
Bags were handed out to all the passengers. These included a lanyard, passport holder, keychain, cardboard plane, sun hat and a certificate. After Jules, the CEO and somebody from Boeing talked, Jules said let’s get on-board! Even though they weren’t actually ready to board haha! So a massive queue formed at the gate. 10 minutes later boarding commenced, Josh, Brock and myself were probably amongst the first fifty to board.
Inaugural Jetstar Boeing 787 Dreamliner Passenger flight!
November 13, 2013
Jetstar
JQ432
MEL-OOL
VH-VKA B788
Seat 27A
About to hop on-board!
On-board!
