New A320 'Larger JQ Titles'

[Greg F]

I think its VQF?

Apparently due into Newcastle this afternoon sometime

[phil.l]

Any sighting of VH-VQF should be c/n 3474

[Jamie D]

not alot coming up on acarsd for it. this is the only registered flight so MAYBE it has been delivered

ACARS mode: 1 Aircraft reg: VH-VQF [ ]
Message label: ** Block id: @ Msg no: 29de
Flight id: AIB474C [] [Airbus Test]
Message content:-
SBS-1 Callsign: AIB474C
----------------------------------------------------------[ 09/04/2008 20:27 ]-

[Chris Primmer]

Hey fellow spotters,

It arrived about Lunch time on Saturday and is still at the Jetstar hanger at Williamtown.

ChrisP

[Paul Hunter]

Was sitting at Bay 99 here at Sydney overnight, has since departed this morning.

Regards.

[Dave Parer]

VQF operated JQ802 SYD to HVB & return JQ803 HVB to SYD first up this morning.

Looks like next ops is JQ410 SYD to OOL.

[Marty H]

Landed on Rwy 16 at MEL @ 17:05 today

[Dave Parer]

I've been tracking VQF on Plane Plotter today. It's first day of operations were;

JQ802 SYD-HVB
JQ803 HVB-SYD
JQ410 SYD-OOL
JQ441 OOL-MEL
JQ446 MEL-OOL
JQ425 OOL-SYD

Does anyone have a picture of VQF in the new colours?

[Michael Dawson]

Here it is at Brisbane this afternoon.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2054/2461251560_3d379c2534_o.jpg

Cheers

Michael

[Dave Parer]

Terrific photo Michael.

I must say I do like the new scheme. Looks great on the A320.

[Chris Tully]

I saw her in the flesh on Friday and the new leather smell was wonderful.

Everything was sparkling inside.

Cosmetically the interior is a little different with a few changes Airbus has made to A320 interiors.

Very nice indeed.

[Michael Morrison]

Fantastic shot..... It looks stunning in the pic.... I still thinkt he silver livery is one of the best around.:p

[Scott Lindsell]

Great shot Michael !!!!

[Lukas M]

I saw her in the flesh on Friday and the new leather smell was wonderful.

Everything was sparkling inside.

Cosmetically the interior is a little different with a few changes Airbus has made to A320 interiors.

Very nice indeed.
Was on her last night. Is this the first JQ has recieved with the new interior.

Being Last flight of the day she was an absolute mess though

[Chris Tully]

Yes! This the first bus with the new Airbus A320 interior.

Sight cosmetic changes.

And yes, they do get very dirty thanks to inconsiderate pigs that grace our skys...

[Marty H]

Yes! This the first bus with the new Airbus A320 interior.

Sight cosmetic changes.

And yes, they do get very dirty thanks to inconsiderate pigs that grace our skys...

What they cant clean an aircraft during a turn around?

[Rhys Xanthis]

What they cant clean an aircraft during a turn around?

well a320's are on a 30 minute turn around.

Some general cleaning would be done, cleaning toilets, making sure no rubbish around, but theres not much tome for a really decent clean i would assume.

[Lukas M]

As long as the seats and floor is clean, no crumbled biscuits!:D I usually have to clean the window/tray myself.

[Marty H]

well a320's are on a 30 minute turn around.

Some general cleaning would be done, cleaning toilets, making sure no rubbish around, but theres not much tome for a really decent clean i would assume.

No excuse other airlines do it.

[Rhys Xanthis]

I think we need Lukas to answer what exactly he meant by "she was an absolute mess though"

Yeh, i often find on QF or JQ or anyone else for that matter i always take wet-wipes with me to clean down the filthy tray tables....

[Chris Tully]

No excuse other airlines do it.

Marty, the only cleaning that can be achieved during turn-arounds is a rubbish collection and general tidy of seats, seat pockets.

How the hell is the airline going to vacuum and wipe down every seat and tray in 30 minutes?

By the time the last passenger is off, the first ones come on within a few minutes.

When the airline is running behind and 'hot-turns are performed it is just about last person off, first person on immediately.

Marty, I'd like you to show me evidence that Virgin and Tiger have cleaners that come on, vacuum, wipe down and collect rubbish during turns-arounds.

[Lukas M]

My situation last night was:
-3/4 crumbled and stood on biscuits on the floor
-Finger-printed windows
-Sticky tray table with boarding sticker all over it
-The vacant seat next to me was wet
I wasn't too fussed, as long as I could see out the window, but the wet-seat next to me was rather unnacceptable. The "Adelaide" Cabin crew, were were fantastic, made up for it though:)

Also, it was an 1hour turnaround

[Chris Tully]

Proper cleaning is only performed each night when the aircraft terminates.

Also, 1 hour turn-arounds are pretty uncommon. Although they exist within the schedule on some routes, delays remove this fat very quickly.

Crew do not have the ability to vacuum cabin floors, so if the typical disgusting passenger allows biscuits to fall and be crushed into the floor, there is nothing the crew can do about this.

OTP is always paramount as every one is always happy to winge if the flight is delayed or running late...

[Clarke P]

In my opinion, from your summary..

- The crumbled biscuits should have been hand-vacuumed.. they should (but probably can't or don't) keep a little one onboard for such problems..
- Fingerprints on windows too little a matter to spend time on, unless the fingerprints were in chocolate or something. (when time is money)
- If the tray table wasn't down when they were cleaning the cabin, they probably had no idea, and if they did they probably risked that you wouldn't use your tray table (not everyone does).
- The wet seat should have been wiped or something.. your seat is the epitome of your flight.. plus it would have been a noticeable enough and relatively important thing to attend to.

So in summary, I think the biscuit thing and the wet seat should've been dealt with, whereas the other two issues were too minor to deal with in such a short time.

InterCons (5 star) R/A's enter/change sheets/vacuum/wipe mirrors & windows/dust/clean bathroom/replenish tea&coffee.. whereas one of FormuleOne's (3 star) R/A's change sheets/vacuum/clean bathroom.

It is a little more crucial for FormuleOne to have rooms available on time than InterCon, as InterCon have more ways of dealing with such situations than FormuleOne.

Thus, OTP is more crucial for Jetstar than for QANTAS, etc.. because QANTAS have stronger ways of backing themselves.. so they have a little more time to pay attention to detail.

[Lukas M]

Totally agree Clarke, as they kept the lights dimmed for the whole flight, I dont think anyone actually cared. Anyways I only paid 1cent, so It didn't worry me the slightest, although it was noticeable

[Philip Argy]

How wet was the wet seat? Do you mean soaked with water, or do you mean a small spill, or somewhere in between? Anything more than a minor spill that would dry quickly sounds sufficiently out of normal bounds to have been the subject of special attention, but only if its state was apparent to the quick-clean crew.

It's hard to imagine that someone made a conscious decision to leave a seat "wet" unless perhaps they knew it was going to be unoccupied or there was some other mitigating factor. :confused:

[Marty H]

Proper cleaning is only performed each night when the aircraft terminates.

Also, 1 hour turn-arounds are pretty uncommon. Although they exist within the schedule on some routes, delays remove this fat very quickly.

Crew do not have the ability to vacuum cabin floors, so if the typical disgusting passenger allows biscuits to fall and be crushed into the floor, there is nothing the crew can do about this.

OTP is always paramount as every one is always happy to winge if the flight is delayed or running late...

Crew do have the availablity to vacum, aircraft carry hand vacum cleaners in the overhead lockers, after a one hour turn around the aircraft should have been sparkling, what did cabin crew waste their time doing whilst the aircraft was on the ground???

[Raymond Rowe]

Maybe if Cleaners were employed then there would be clean aircraft. hate to see the condition of the toilets at the end of the day.The situation would be a OH&S problem as well.
Not to mention a health hazard where food is involved.

[Marty H]

Marty, the only cleaning that can be achieved during turn-arounds is a rubbish collection and general tidy of seats, seat pockets.

How the hell is the airline going to vacuum and wipe down every seat and tray in 30 minutes?

By the time the last passenger is off, the first ones come on within a few minutes.

When the airline is running behind and 'hot-turns are performed it is just about last person off, first person on immediately.

Marty, I'd like you to show me evidence that Virgin and Tiger have cleaners that come on, vacuum, wipe down and collect rubbish during turns-arounds.

Cabin crew do it as part of their job, they are required to go through the whole aircraft all seat pockets are cleaned out rubbish removed and the cabin is vacumed with hand vacum cleaners,and seatbelts crossed, catering is all done by the caters and then boarding starts once catering have left and the aircraft has been cleaned, takes all of ten minutes to do out of a half an hour turn around.

[Greg F]

Although i am a bit Bias to JQ, I have to put my few cents in......

I do agree that on a few occasions I have been on an A/C that is a bit dirty, greasy finger prints on windows all over tray tables and the seat in front.
I just ask for a cloth. And wiped over myself.

But I always take my rubbish and tidy up my seat pocket too..
Its just courtesy in my opinion.


But on the flipside just imagine... you can see the greasy prints on the leather... then they can be wiped clean... what about 'cloth' seats.....Just soak the grease and food smears in and disappear into the cloth... yuk...

[Brendan Lawrence]

Chris you sound like you're in the know because you're spot on with your explanation of the turnaround process. If we arrive on-time or late and have 30 minutes or less to turn the aircraft around for next flight departure then we conduct a "hot" turnaround and any more than 30 minutes before next flight departure and we do a full/standard turnaround.

On a hot turn we remove large/obvious items of rubbish from seat pockets and obviously anything on the seats themselves, remove tied-off garbage bags from the aircraft, and ensure the safety briefing card is visible and not completely obstructed from view.

On a full turn we remove ALL items of rubbish from seat pockets, remove tied-off garbage bags from the aircraft, bring the safety briefing card to the very front, and cross all seatbelts.

If we spot any kind of spill or wet spot on a seat it would be wiped off/dried with a cloth - that would never deliberately be left there for the next pax to sit on. This is regardless of whether it's a standard or hot turnaround. If you come across a wet spot then it's been an honest mistake or miss by the cabin crew.

And I have to add that we are under great pressure to conduct the cabin tidy as QUICKLY as possible because from last pax off to first pax on can be as little as 3 minutes sometimes - the garbage bag can still be getting dragged up the cabin as the pax are coming up the stairs! lol.

As for the crumbled biscuits/pringles on the floor; we do have a little dust-buster kind of vacuum stored in the aft overhead lockers but it's a hit-and-miss affair as to whether your aircraft has one that's workable, but more-so we often simply do not have time to get it down and vacuum crumbs on the floor - generally only if it's a BIG mess where some kid has gone on a stomping spree of several pringles they've dumped on the floor!

In the case of a 1 hour turnaround which is VERY rare, we would of course perform the full turnaround removing any wrappers or rubbish that we find, and like I said, the vacuum would come down if there's a lot of crumbled mess in a particular row of seats, but Marty I have to respond to your statement about the crew "wasting" their time during the turnaround...

We (cabin crew) are not hired to be full-time cleaners - at Jetstar and other LCCs yes the cabin crew are expected to "tidy" an aircraft during turnarounds and I accept that as part of my job description, but we are not required to get out the chux and the spray-and-wipe and go sparkling-up the entire cabin. That task is done on a nightly basis by our dedicated cleaning crews, so if you're on first flight of the day for that aircraft then yes it WILL be sparkling. If there has been a vomit or any other bodily fluid or major spill during a particular sector in the middle of the day then we order an "ad-hoc" clean where a cleaner from that port will come onboard during the turnaround and clean/sanitise that area even if it means delaying the flight slightly. Anything of an OH&S or public safety/hygiene risk is dealt with and not ignored. But yes sometimes we have to look past a little bit of unsightly cookie crumbles on the floor throughout the day in order to fulfil OTP which of course is paramount.

So if we do happen to occasionally have the luxury of a 1 hour turnaround then us crew will carry-out our full turnaround as required and then we might actually have time to get off the aircraft and grab a REAL coffee from the terminal for 10 minutes! :p Now I don't think that's asking too much considering some ground-based office workers will get a smoko or coffee break several times a day.

[David M]

Greg F wrote:
But I always take my rubbish and tidy up my seat pocket too..
Its just courtesy in my opinion


Greg, you'd be one of the rarest people on earth. In over 800 sectors I think I may have had a hand full of people who have left the seat the way they found it. And they were staff! My hat is off to you.. There should be more like you!

How the hell is the airline going to vacuum and wipe down every seat and tray in 30 minutes?

Being a solo flight attendant we have to vacuum, clean all trays (approx 34 seats), seat pockets, change rubbish bins, clean dirty windows, restock catering in approx 30 minutes. The 30 minutes is from engine shutdown to start up and therefore includes pax deplaning and boarding. If we don't do this then we get a tea & bickies talking to by the head of the FA department. It's not hard to get it done, but it does mean you have ot get your skates on. Outports are even faster with only 20 minute turn arounds to do the same except for vacuuming (only if required) and only a minor catering restock.

So if you have say 4 FA's on an A320 with 160 seats, then that's only six more seats per person to clean in the same amount of time. I haven't witnessed a turn around on an A320 before and don't know what else must be done, but surely a little bit of spot cleaning could be done if required.

David.M.

[David M]

Brendan... as little as three minutes!!! I stand corrected.. you guys really are under the hammer!

David.M.

[Daniel M]

Cabin crew do it as part of their job, they are required to go through the whole aircraft all seat pockets are cleaned out rubbish removed and the cabin is vacumed with hand vacum cleaners,and seatbelts crossed, catering is all done by the caters and then boarding starts once catering have left and the aircraft has been cleaned, takes all of ten minutes to do out of a half an hour turn around.


you make it sound like your employed as a cabin crew member? just what exactly is your job description again? cabin crew manager maybe? because you seem to like telling people what exactly their job is...

[Olle Q]

What a great photo Michael, HD-quality to me.:D:D
Thank´s.

[Marty H]

you make it sound like your employed as a cabin crew member? just what exactly is your job description again? cabin crew manager maybe? because you seem to like telling people what exactly their job is...

You and I both know what happens during a turn around Daniel in regards to cleaning of the aircraft and it is what I said it is so where is the issue?

I have never boarded any aircraft with any airline and found crumbled biscuits or wet seats, after an hour turn a around that is a **** poor effort.

[Clarke P]

Chris you sound like you're in the know because you're spot on with your explanation of the turnaround process. If we arrive on-time or late and have 30 minutes or less to turn the aircraft around for next flight departure then we conduct a "hot" turnaround and any more than 30 minutes before next flight departure and we do a full/standard turnaround.

On a hot turn we remove large/obvious items of rubbish from seat pockets and obviously anything on the seats themselves, remove tied-off garbage bags from the aircraft, and ensure the safety briefing card is visible and not completely obstructed from view.

Sometimes I doubt you guys even have the opportunity to do that. :eek:

One of my JQ flights from OOL not all that long ago was delayed to the point where previous-flight passengers were deboarding via the back while next-flight passengers were boarding via the front.. sched 20:00, boarded about 21:30, was a real rush to Sydney before curfew as it would seem. :p

[Chris Primmer]

Hey there,

Noticed a new Jetstar parked out the front of their Williamtown hanger today. I believe it was VH-VQD. Can anyone confirm?

Also has anyone seen where VH-VQH (GO ROOS) has been flying between at all?

ChrisP

[Andrew McLaughlin]

Hey there,

Noticed a new Jetstar parked out the front of their Williamtown hanger today. I believe it was VH-VQD. Can anyone confirm?

Also has anyone seen where VH-VQH (GO ROOS) has been flying between at all?

ChrisP

Hey Chris

Saw GO ROOS at Sydney this morning before I flew to Brisbane.

Cheers

Andrew

[John Thoroughgood]

Yes indeed, VH-VQH Go Roos arrived at roughly 0730 this morning, but still had not departed before I did at 1000. Wondered whether it may have been held for promotional purposes, dare I say in Leagues heartland!?

Compared to Qantas' effort for the Wallabies and Socceroos, I thought Jetstar's design for the Kangaroos was a bit ordinary. No doubt it will instill some debate. I suspect its one of those designs you either love or hate.
Anyway, at least the Kangaroos are now in the mix.

[Andrew McLaughlin]

Here it is...

http://i346.photobucket.com/albums/p402/Magoodotcom/IMG_5870_small.jpg

[Chris Primmer]

Hey Andrew,

Nice Shot!

Did it have another logo up the front before?

ChrisP

oh is that the Olympic A330 in the back ground?

[BradR]

oh is that the Olympic A330 in the back ground?


I think it is an Etihad A340.

Brad

[Gabriel S.]

I think it is an Etihad A340.

Brad

Yeah, and behind that is the Olympics 330.

[Jamie D]

Great shot andrew

[Adam P.]

Great shot andrew
...'s daughter http://www.geocities.com/kookabat/eusa_whistle.gif

[Andrew McLaughlin]

...'s daughter http://www.geocities.com/kookabat/eusa_whistle.gif

Oh, she got a great laugh out of that one mate, as did I! :D

Yes, the Air China Olympic A330 was in that morning. It arrived at around 0645 (too dark to shoot) and was tugged over to the remote stands at around 0800 (when I was parking, shuttling and checking in for my flight to BNE!)

A new Cathay Silver Bullet 744F was also in and parked over on Juliet for over an hour whilst waiting for a bay to clear at the freight terminal. Lots of aircraft waiting for bays at T1 that morning!

[Craig Murray]

Here it is...

There goes another photographic spot in next months monthly :D

Superb shot, it looks great.

[Steve Crook]

What are the internal changes on the new aircraft?
I flew Sydney to the Sunshine Coast and back last week. It was the last flight up and last flight back respectively. I have to take my hat off to the cabin crews. They were efficient and friendly throughout even though I'm sure it was the end of long days for them. Cabins on both flights were clean and fresh.