Sydney to Bali, which airline?

Sydney to Bali, which carrier?

Would love opinions from the seasoned traveller. I'm Velocity gold but I don't rate the 738 for a 6 hour journey. Jetstar's dreamliner works for the dates I want and is about 65% cheaper than Virgin. Garuda appear to be to superior service offering but their safety record concerns me? Singapore doubles the journey time.... What would you do?

How does Jetstar Business class price compare to the Virgin price? If it's not much more i'd be inclined to go for that, particulary if you could (and wanted to) pick up the Status Credits for a little extra.

It's very comparable to Virgin. circa $1200 return Vs. circa $1500 return. But on a self financed leisure holiday, for 2 people, it's getting up in cost for a sneaky Bali getaway. I'd struggle to part with $3k return Vs $880 return on the same bus. 

The predicament is, I just can't see much difference between VA and Jetstar on this route.

Has anyone experienced the Jetstar dreamliner business product?

Is anyone across the ins and outs of Etihad's codeshare agreement with Garuda? Will my EY gold afford me normal gold perks or does it have to be an EY coded flight? (Which Sydney to Bali is not.)

Is the Jetstar flight a day or a night flight? I have flown Jetstars Dreamliner a couple of times and it was a very nice plane. If it is a night flight i would definitely reconsider your options though.

As for Garuda, they have really cleaned up their act in recent years, got all new planes, so their safety record is a lot better than what it used to be. As for your EY Gold perks, im quite sure it would need to be on an EY flight number. Hope this helps

Jetstar depart in the afternoon which is ideal - less annual leave required. 

The Velocity gold perks are near non-existent. 

Hayden, agree with the bigger plane. It makes a huge difference!

I haven't flown the route, but I'd chose Garuda hands down.  Skytrax (lol) gives them a 5* rating.

If you chose between JQ and VA, then I'd chose JQ just for the larger aircraft.  6hrs on a 738....ewww.

Depends on your body size. Both VA and JQ suck in Y, but JQ Y is 9 across in the 787 and the pitch isn't good. Frankly I'd take the Garuda option or hide in a Fijian resort instead. 

Hopefully my body size will be shredded with 6-pack and nice tan come Bali time, but for the now it's just an average physique! ;)

Garuda looks likely.

I flew Garuda and found them to be amazing. Great service.

Jetstar is a trusty airline though and I feel completely safe flying on them.

You'd never get me on a Virgin 738 to Bali. 

Can you upgrade to business on Virgin using points? That would probably swing it for me. The upgrade of the intl 738s is supposed to be complete by April, so depending on when you travel business might be available.

Business is already available on the 738s which service Bali.

You're thinking of the 738s operating trans-Tasman and South Pacific routes which only have Premium Economy, perhaps?

Ah true - sorry I thought they used those planes for all the short-haul intl routes.

Plus upgrading would need a flexi-fare... so perhaps not such a good option after all.

Have travelled 737 with va. Not bad aircrew were great, express path good with ff status. Travelled back on Jq 787 useless crew, aweful checkin. This time travelling va on the way out then onto sin with Garuda and home on ek j class. Would recommend va, small plane but better service, despite the nurses hen weekend ( at least they enjoyed the flight)

You can subject to availability. With only 8 business class seats, it goes quickly.