Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Darwin 1- or Why United is better than Jet Star



It is sort of amazing. The flight from Brisbane to Darwin is about 5 hours long! I could get to LA from Ohio in that amount of time...and that feels like a much bigger change. But, even if we disregard the duration of the flight, Darwin is a serious challenge for travel. Point 2: 9:05 PM departure. Even if it hadn't been delayed- which is was, until 10:15, we would not have arrived until 1:05 AM. (OK. You math(s) gurus- that IS 4 hours and I said five. However, there is a time difference and, granted, it is only 30 min, but, come on, you don't come here for "just the facts".) Point 3: the flight "home" departs at midnight-ish...and arrives at 5:30 AM (late, though- like 6 AM)...then you go to work. Sure, you can try to cram in a nap- but a certain dog will spend 60 minutes either licking, scooting, or just changing position from one side of you to the other. This happens even if you are careful to give her breakfast!

The Jet Star Airbus is very attractive with faux leather seats- but it isn't sleep worthy. No head rest. Minimal recline. And, nothing is free. If you want water, you'll pay. As you will for coffee or food. Unfortunately, you can't buy a pillow or blanket.

And, they fly to Hawaii. Eegads! What sins must you possess to board the purgatory plane?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How many miles is it from LA to Ohio, and how many from Darwin to Brisbane? Australia is very very big you know.

Having said that, there are other things that affect how fast planes can go, like the prevailing wind etc. Don't know how to find out how much they are coming into play

I thought JetStar was cheap Qantas - maybe their planes are just veeeeeeerrrrrrryyyyyyy slooooooooooooowwwwwwwww

NNV said...

Cathi- you raise a good point. Some research was in order. The distance between Brisbane and Darwin is 3500 km- which according to a web site called "Blue Travel"- you should allow yourself 17 days to make that drive. (!!) Between Columbus Ohio and Los Angeles is 3196 km.

Anonymous said...

The difference, of course, is there is plenty of human imprint to see between LA and Columbus, whereas between Brisbane and Darwin there is an enormous amount of no humans at all.

17 days eh? well, if you include how long it takes to get over it, I guess...