Popagandhi

I like Jetstar Asia. I like them a lot. They are the only budget carrier I have the fuzzies for (or indeed the only carrier, though I like Gulf for its hot Swedish stewardesses), maybe because they fly to destinations I want to go to (instead of Krabi, or Hat Yai, or.. I don’t know where else I don’t want to go), and are constantly opening new travel possibilities. The period between August and October alone already saw them announcing new routes to Kolkata, Bangalore, Phuket � in addition to already flying the ‘healthy’ routes of Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei.

Now they fly to Yangon, Myanmar, too, effectively putting to rest all my grandiose plans about land and sea travel into Burma (yes, I spend my ’study’ time studying more of travel possiblities) so as to avoid the dreadfully expensive SilkAir flights. At S$338 return (>$400 with taxes factored in), Southeast Asia really isn’t the cheapest place to go to, for assorted reasons. Yet people here often confuse proximity for affordability, and expect to go to Cambodia for $100 or Myanmar for $150. Phnom Penh and Yangon are not Bangkok, not yet. But when they are, you can bet on the last dime in my wallet (the one reserved for Beer Lao) that I will be scurrying out of these places so as to avoid the package tour (Chinatown travel agents) crowd.

Jetstar is my favourite budget carrier also for one simpler reason: they do not employ the same gimmicks as the other carriers. AirAsia and Tiger can and will announce many rock-bottom prices, but you will never find them (even for someone like me who is online all the time, and online and surfing for travel news most of the time). Jetstar simply says they fly to Kolkata for $198 one way, and Bangkok for $30 one way, possibly cheaper Tuesdays-Thursdays. And you will find these tickets. Even after adding in the taxes, you could hardly be “shocked” about anything. Have I mentioned they have begun flying to India, and are working on more Indian routes? No reason not to love them. Jetstar, if you’re reading this, this blogger is waiting to heartily endorse you for the very cheap price of Bangkok return tickets twice a year for two, and tickets for two to all your Indian destinations once or twice a year.

To ‘upsize’ the endorsement, I will even pose in your dreadful uniform for the low, low price of flights and accommodation to Hong Kong and Taipei. (I sometimes say budget carriers can afford to pass on their savings to us by scrimping on proper uniform design, and that’s fine by me.)

But my girlfriend will tell you I like Jetstar over the other budget airlines for the superficial reason that they don’t have a godawful bright red or Tiger-striped, unintuitive website. Instead they have nice solid colours, OK typography, and a layout and checkout process that makes sense. And you know, she’s always right.

In other budget travel news, Tiger will fly to Da Nang (Vietnam) from Singapore. Yay!