Stephen787 flew Qantas Business, on a B747-400 (Config 1) (27/10/2011 10:03)

BKK to LHR.
Leaving BKK at around midnight after a visit to the shared BA/QF lounge meant that most business passengers were ready for a quiet flight and some sleep on this 12hr flight to London. I was seated upstairs in 18K, one of the favoured window seats with the handy side lockers. These lockers make a huge difference as your hand luggage is at conveniently at hand removing the need to get up mid-flight to access the overhead lockers or to disturb your sleeping companion.

Champagne, water and a nasty tangerine fruit juice was offered before take-off. Given that this was a night flight with an early morning arrival, Qantas has hotel-style breakfast order cards waiting at your seat so you can order in advance leaving more time for sleep. Menus for supper were also handed out along with amenity kits, pyjamas and noise cancelling headphones so that supper could be served straight after take-off into the humid night air.

On this flight the crew were much more friendly than my flight up from Sydney and the female crew members wore smart black pyjama style outfits. As the upper deck cabin was only half full supper was quickly served. There was a small supper menu consisting of a toasted foccacia with goats cheese, eggplant, dried tomato and pesto; Honey Dijon glazed sea bass; a Thai style duck; and a Lamb and red wine pot pie. Followed by Tiramisu, fresh fruit or cheese for afters. The food was of good quality and presentation, a pity the fish was a little bland.

After supper I settled down with the On Q IFE system. Plenty of choices to keep most people entertained for hours. As I usually do, I caught up on a couple of movies I'd missed out on at the cinema. The lie flat seat was not fully flat but when set at 80% it was at a decent angle for sleep.

Waking up over the Caspian sea at sunrise the view was a treat and quite mesmerising. An excellent breakfast of fresh fruit, yoghurt, with corn cakes and bacon followed while we flow over Poland and Germany. Then it was time to freshen up and change before landing at Heathrow.

Arriving at Terminal 3 was like a step back in time. Those low ceilings and narrow walkways give away its age. It appears that BAA are trying to freshen up the terminal in time for the Olympics but I'm not sure how much you can do with that building. Finally getting to immigration with a fast track card I expected to breeze through the barriers, but in fact we were kept waiting longer than passengers in regular lines thanks to the officials controlling the queues. Over 45 mins waiting in the fast track line was ridiculous, but at least the trip was almost over.

Overall a decent business product that ticked most of the boxes. Once they refit the 747's with the fully flat seats to bring them in line with the A380 this will be a much better experience.

Stephen787 flew Qantas Business, on a B747-400 (Config 1) (18/09/2011 10:51)

Syd to BKK. Seat 17A Upper deck window.

Great seat with side lockers under the windows which makes accessing your hand luggage during the flight very easy.

Seat comfortable even though it is an angled flat version on this 9hr flight. The cabin is in excellent condition for this 19yo aircraft.

Crew were busy during meal service and could have smiled a lot more to make passengers feel welcome.

Food and wine high quality but food was a bit bland. Great IFE system with noise cancelling headphones. No pre-landing snack after 9hrs but there was a small snack menu available after the main meal.

Overall a quality product that just needs a little sparkle.

Scampiboy flew Qantas Business, on a A380-800 (26/08/2011 11:15)

Francophileonthemove flew Qantas Business, on a B747-400 (Config 1) (18/07/2011 04:56)

I flew Qantas from Melbourne - Hong Kong - London Heathrow in seat 17A (upper deck). I usually use BA and this flight was indeed a code share but using Qantas aircraft. The seating is dreadful! They are billed as flat bed but aren't! When seated, my seat was impossibly hard and too upright. When lying down, you end up on a slope with your feet wedged under the seat in front. Again, the seat is impossibly hard. The constant buzzing of seat mechanisms as passengers attempted to get comfortable was really irritating. Because the seats are so ugly, grey and large the cabin looks smaller, darker and more old fashioned than other airline's business class products. Apart from that the amenity kit, pillow and blanket were great and much better than BA. However, the food service was odd.

On boarding in Melbourne we had an ultra quick and very minimal 'supper'. Before landing in Hong Kong we had breakfast
(1) which was basic but acceptable; we were then offered breakfast
(2) in the lounge and on boarding for London we were offered breakfast
(3). How many breakfast's does a guy need!

During the flight there was the offer of some spectacularly unhealthy sandwiches and chocolate bars but nothing vaguely healthy. We finally had a rather rushed but very good lunch 2 hours before landing.

QF food was generally very good. The wine list and the offer of an inflight sommelier and highly trained cabin crew (in relation to wine) is the classic marketing mistake of overpromising and underdelivering.

The crew on the first sector didn't have a clue even which champagne they were serving! All in all a mixed experience. The marginally better food, blanket and amenity kit than BA don't make up for the back breaking seating and the crew do need some training and supervision. They lack polish, decorum and knowledge. I would choose BA on this route next time.

EugeneChan flew Qantas Business, on a A330-200 (International) (08/06/2011 07:35)

I recently flew Business Class between Auckland and Sydney on QF114, which was operated by an A330-200 aircraft.

Check-in was very efficient. There was a designated lounge area dedicated for Business Class passengers. An immigration officer was present in the check-in area to pre-clear Business Class passengers and there were lounge seats for us to fill out our departure cards etc.

The Qantas Lounge was nice - there was a large variety of breakfast and lunch food, as well as both complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Since I had just arrived from a 14 hour flight from Vancouver earlier that day, I was happy to be able to have a shower in the Lounge to refresh myself.

As expected, I was one of the first to board the aircraft. The Business Class cabin had a welcoming feel to it and ambience - the seats were arranged 2 x 2 x 2.

The seat was a Skybed seat which reclined almost horizontally, but I think there was a very slight angle to the seat. Apart from that, it was very comfortable particularly after I placed a below under my head to watch the TV in front. The seat was spacious with ample legroom not only for my legs to put some of the bags and coats. However, I had the window seat and it was slightly awkward having to go to the toilet because the passenger next to me was sleeping flat. I either had to wake him up and request him to sit upright or walk across his legs. I chose the latter and that was a bad choice because I underestimated the difficulty of it and sort of tripped over his ankle. Very embarrassing.

There was a pre-drinks service. My lunch meal was delicious and it was ready within 40 mins after taking-off. From memory, for entree, I had either beef or lamb carpaccio; for main, salmon, and I do not remember what I had for dessert. I was excited to learn that the cutlery, china and glassware were designed by some industrial designer or someone to that effect. There was a large selection of wines on offer.

Service was excellent. The cabin crew were attentive and ensured that all passengers were happy and satisfied.

We arrived about 15 minutes early into Sydney. There were quite a few other international flights that arrived at the same time but luckily, I received a priority immigration and custom card, which meant that I could go skip to the front of both the immigration and custom lines, probably saving 20 minutes in total. And as expected, my luggage was one of the first to come out.

Overall, I was very satisfied with the Qantas Business Class product and service. I will certainly travel with them again in the future. I also recently flew from Sydney to JFK via LAX with Qantas in Economy - that was also very good.

BMBettesworth flew Qantas Business, on a A380-800 (18/05/2011 14:16)

Flew LHR/ Singapore/LHR in the new A380. Seated in the middle of the centre cabin on top deck in row 19.

Qantas have really upped their game with this aircraft. Seats were very comfortable, with massage facillity and 180 lie flat capability. The cabin was spacious, entertainment 1st class (although had to be reset on outward journey).

I was amazed by the quietness of the cabin. The food was excellent, particularly Duck Shepherd's Pie on return journey.

The plane has a larger than normal bathroom which is great for changing etc. The cabin service was personal and pleasant, I didn't like the wine on offer so the attendant went down to first clas to fetch the bottle of my choice. All in all, most impressive.

SamWardill flew Qantas Business, on a A380-800 (18/04/2011 20:39)

Check In

I checked in online and printed my boarding pass. However this didn’t yield me much benefit as there is not much to choose between the seats (according to the various online reviews). On arrival in Singapore airport I had forgotten that business check-in was all in a separate plush area so I went to the economy check in. As there was no queue I dropped off my bags there.

Lounge

The Qantas/BA lounge at Singapore is pretty basic. There is not a great choice of food, drink or newspapers. The ambiance is nothing special. I went off to find the airport food court for a last hit of Singapore hawker centre style food before departure.

Boarding

Boarding is where an A380 business class comes into its own. You are guaranteed a dedicated business class ramp. This was my second ever flight on an A380. The first had been a few days earlier with SQ in economy from HKG. It was good to be on the upper deck this time! When I got on to the plane the stewardess was very welcoming and even searched the plane (to no avail) for a copy of Business Traveller magazine for me.

Seat

The seat is comfortable to sit in with its massage function. I didn’t find it particularly comfortable to sleep in. It didn’t quite feel like a flat bed. It felt more like a lie-flat seat. There was, however, lots of space. There was also a bar area up front where passengers could chill out. However I didn’t see anybody really using it.

IFE

Because I didn’t find the seat that comfortable for sleeping, I was glad that there was a good selection of films to watch. I managed to get through four films and did not get bored. The supplied headset was good quality so much so that I left my own Audio Technica noise reducing cans in the bag.

Food

The evening meal was very light. I assume that this was partly because the flight departed SG so late and partly because many passengers had already eaten a large meal on departure from Sydney. The food did also seem to take an age to be served which wasn’t ideal for a very late evening departure. The breakfast order was a la carte with the order taken on departure on a hotel door knob style breakfast menu. It was one of the best flight breakfasts that I had ever had and clearly was the main event on this route.
Arrival
Arrival in London was very smooth. My bag appeared quickly and I was on my way home.

Summary

I had been anticipating my first A380 flight for some time. I am a bit of a flight nerd and I wanted to see what it had to offer. My experience with the Qantas A380 was good but it did not wow me. I think that next time I would choose to fly BA on this route. You can’t beat the cosiness of the upper deck on a 747 and I prefer the BA seat for sleeping.

doctorjosh flew Qantas Business, on a B747-400 (Config 3) (25/07/2010 12:56)

SYD-NRT and BKK-SYD on B747-400 in Business. Both flights were on time. There was no Business class check-in lane at SYD, which was very strange. Business lounge at SYD was large, comfortable and offered a good selection of food (both hot and cold) and beverages. Business lounge in BKK was reasonably sized with a good selection of food and beverages. The shower facilities were excellent. However, the BKK lounge becomes very crowded because both a QF and BA flight (who shares the lounge) arrive and depart at the same time. Priority boarding was honoured on both sectors. The seats are reasonably comfortable for sitting but not so good for sleeping, as they are angled lie-flat and are quite hard. The seat feels narrow and the pitch seems restricted when in the recline position, which also makes it harder to sleep well. IFE was good with AVOD. On-board catering was generally quite good but the lack of a hot breakfast on the BKK-SYD sector was disappointing.

A nice amenity kit is provided and "designer" pyjamas on overnight flights is a very nice touch as are the face towels in the lavatories. Flight attendants were very friendly and helpful. I was seated in the front section of the lower deck on the SYD-NRT sector. The cabin felt private but not crowded. On the BKK-SYD sector, I was seated in the upper deck. The cabin felt private but a little claustrophobic, which I think is due to the bulky feel and design of the seats. However, the side storage area makes up for it. The Express card on departure and arrival in SYD (for immigration and security) is very welcome and appreciated during busy times. Overall, a good product which I'd be happy to use again as long the price is reasonable.

PhillDanze flew Qantas Business, on a B747-400 (Config 3) (12/06/2010 09:05)

I have flown business class on QF's Australia - US route many times with Qantas. The product is reliable time and time again with comfortable, private seats, high quality food, and excellent, up to date in flight entertainment.

Whist the cabin crew are friendly enough, they always seem to be in a hurry and thud up and down the aisles - it is quite annoying and it happens on most flights. The seating arrangement too is a little old fashioned with all seats facing forward with some rows having three seats next to each other meaning the person in the middle needs to step over their neighbour to get out.

QF's frequent flyer program is also very good with excellent lounges where all food and beverage is complimentary.

Arriving into Australia QF baggage tends to take a while to come out, much slower than at international airports; they have never lost a bag of mine though in over 10 years of business travel.

claire715 flew Qantas Business, on a A330-300 (19/11/2009 06:32)

Stylish cabin, efficient service. More than 100 kinds of wine you can choose. A lot of good Australian wines selection.

Prepared sleeping gowns for guests is really a thoughtful idea,makes me comfortable in the cabin.

The only complaint is that my seat's power supply is broken, but the biz class is full so can't change seat for me...

TiffanyLaw flew Qantas Business, on a A380-800 (06/11/2009 15:30)

I flew Business class on Qantas new A380 from LAX to Melbourne. The aircraft was very impressive the bathroom was the size of a large dressing room that you can actually change your clothes without touching the walls, the storage for my carry-ons around my seating was much larger than the 747's and A330's and the reclinding pod seats folded flat with plenty of leg room. What a beautiful plane and I'll always choose this aircraft to fly if it's available.

terminalfive flew Qantas Business, on a B747-400 (Config 1) (08/06/2009 19:17)

Good service - decent seat but not flat so sleeping not all that easy on a long twelve hour flight

austline flew Qantas Business, on a A380-800 (27/01/2009 05:51)

Fantastic much better than SQ as you do not get the feeling of claustrophobia. Overalls service and standard of food and wine much better. SQ are on the decline.