The best seats in Business/Star Class on Jetstar's Airbus A330

Travelling in Jetstar's Business Class on long-distance flights from Australia and New Zealand? Here's our guide to picking the best seats on the plane.

The plane

Jetstar's Business Class -- formerly known as Star Class -- is only found on the airline's long-distance flights that use Airbus A330 planes.

That means you'll only see the option on some -- but not necessarily all -- long-haul flights to Hawaii, Phuket, Bangkok, Tokyo, Osaka, Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast, Cairns, Singapore, Auckland and Bali.

The cabin

Jetstar Business Class is really an international premium economy class, or a watered-down domestic Australian business offering.

With a 38-inch seat pitch (the space between your seatback and the one in front), there's not an awful lot of room.

There are 38 business class seats in a 2-3-2 configuration across six rows. By comparison, Qantas' international version of the same plane has one fewer seat per row and one fewer row in the cabin for a total of eight fewer seats.

The best seats on the plane

1A 1K: with nobody reclining back into you, and an easier hop out for the person in the aisle seat, these are definitely rows to pick if you're a window fan. Bear in mind that you may be moved to make way for an infant, though, and if you're very tall you may prefer to sit in another row to extend your legs fully under the seat in front of you.

1E 1F: if you're an aisle seat fan, these are great because there's no middle seat in the first row. So nobody will be climbing over you to get out. (The advice above about babies and tall people applies here too.)

2D 2F: looking for the most legroom? These are the seats to pick, because with only two seats in row 1, row 2's aisle seats let you stretch your legs out to the side. Bear in mind that you're likely to be run over by a trolley or trampled in flight, though.

The worst seats on the plane

2E 3E 4E 5E: these middle seats mean you have to climb over someone. Avoid them if you can.

Row 6: at the very back of the cabin, you're more likely to be disturbed by the galley kitchen to the centre of the plane and economy class behind you.

Row 5: Still close to the galley kitchen, there's likely to be more noise here as well.

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.