pmacbee

Hi,
We've been living in Singapore for the last several months and are planning our last trip SE Asia trip before returning to the US. We have ten days, which we intend to split between Hanoi and Bali. (Maybe not the most logical combo, but two places we haven't visited yet!) Getting our air itinerary together has been a lot harder than we expected -- left it late -- but it looks like we can get a great SIN-Bali roundtrip fare on Valuair/Jetstar. Given the very unhappy record of budget airlines flying in Indonesia recently, though, I'm a bit concerned. We've never flown them. does anyone have experience with them, thoughts? Also, any thoughts on where to stay in the mountains in Bali would be great -- we are looking for eco-friendly, serene but child tolerant as we have a four year old boy. Thanks!
Pam

chimani

Never heard of Valuair. But unless there are two Jetstars .. then you must be talking about Jetstar which is the budget carrier for Qantas.

Heard of them?

Best safety record in the industry. Not American, of course (yet).

pmacbee

Thanks, Chimani. Since we're quite new to this part of the world, I actually did not know that Jetstar was the budget carrier for Quantas. That's very reassuring news; thanks for enlightening me. Not sure what the Valuair connection is to Jetstar. Our flight is Valuair, but their confirmation comes on Jetstar letterhead, so I assume they have the same owner/operator.

abc88

Valuair is a budget airline company from Singapore, and JetStar is a budget airline under (but dn't know if still is) company under Qantas. The two companies recently merged or formed an alliance last year and so I think they are sort of the one company even though they seem to have kept their own names. In fact there is JetStar which does flights to/from Australia, and then JetStar Asia whcih does intra asia flights and Valuair doesm flights in/out of Singapore.

cruisinred

But jetstar doesn't fly to Hanoi.
I think the only budget airline flying the route from Singapore to Hanoi is Tiger air.

pmacbee

Thanks, all, that's a big help! We actually will need to break our trip into two roundtrips out of Singapore to make it work, so we're doing Valuair to Bali, and a different carrier to and from Hanoi. Silk is theoretically a "budget" carrier, but it puts most American "full service" flights to shame (don't get me started, it's embarrassing). Is the Valuair experience comparable to Silk, or more budgety than that? My safety concerns are allayed by knowing that Valuair is well known and that somebody did their due diligence in the merger with a Qantas sub, so now I'm just curious!
Thanks so much for your help -- great to have so many knowledgable people out there willing to share their experience!
Pam

JamesA

There is Jetstar Australia which operates domestic flights and international flights. They offer budget long haul flights ( pay for food etc ! ), and they operate some sectors that include Bali-Singapore and vv. So those are probably the flights, it is budget service.
Valuair and Jetstar Asia along with Tiger are Singapore based budget / low caost airlines, there has been a tie-in between Jetstar Asia and Valuair.

If you check Tiger Airways website you can check on those Vietnam flights.

If you are living in Singapore I would pick up the weekend travel section from the Straits Times and you should get all the travel updates and promotions there.

If you are doing Bali for a few days also check for packages that include hotel and flight as they can sometimes be a good deal, it is just flight, transfer and hotel together, you can check the budget fares and hotel rates and then compare, www.airfares.com.sg are in Hong Lim Complex and their website is worth a browse to see what's on offer. Though for the budget airlines you need to book direct.
Do check alternatives though, some Jetstar fares from Asia to Australia were not that great when you added all the add-ons, in fact were not that good comopared with even Singapore Airlines or Malaysia Airlines, also check for Singapore Airlines promotions for Bali, they have 3 wide-body flights a day ( last time anyway ) so you may find some deals.
Shop around - check the travel section of Straits Times.

Lyndie

Have used Jetstar for Sing/Kolkata & Sing/Bangalore twice last year. Perfectly acceptable airline. They no longer fly to India but I would not hesitate to fly with them!

JamesA

Silk Air is a "full service airline", wholly owned by Singapore Airlines.

It operates the low density routes, uses Airbus 320/319 with Coach/Economy plus Business class, many also operate with a Singapore Airlines flight number, you get Kris Flyer ( Singapore Airlines ) mileage etc etc, through baggage and thru boarding cards. They fly to Lombok but not to Bali as that's a Singapore Airlines route, Silk Air fly to regional destinations.

pmacbee

I'm starting to grasp what a newbie I really am, and am very grateful for all the great advice!

JamesA

pam, it really is difficult to keep 'up to date' with who is flying where, there are 'so many' new airlines and new routes operating, it is not and easy task keeping up to date with them all!
Do note that Singapore now has a budget terminal, but note Silk Air fly from the main terminal as part of Singapore Airlines( not sure if 1 or 2 but it's one of the 2 main ones ).

The good news is so many deals ! Always worth checking with the main airlines too as they often now have some 'very competative' deals on offer.

I think it is 'reasonable' to say that Valuair, Tiger, Jetstar out of Singapore all have quite good reputations, if any delays happen they can build up during the day, so morning flights often are the best for reliability.
Do note departure times, budget airlines need high utilization of aircraft so many can be 'very early'. And remember about the budget terminal as I am reasonably certain the long haul Jetstar (Australia) will fly from one of the main terminals as they are part of Qantas.
Also Tiger, Valuair, Jetstar 'all' use new Airbus 320's which are the 'widest' of the single aisle planes.
You are certainly right doing each one as a separate trip to get the best deals.

albaaust

I believe Jetstar are now flying into Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh) and at the moment have some great deals on. Check their website!!