After stepping off a 15-hour flight from Los Angeles to Sydney on Qantas in premium economy class on the A380, I felt oddly refreshed. What I thought would impress me failed to impress me while what I thought would fail to impress me ended up impressing me.
Qantas A380 Premium Economy Class: My First Impressions
The Qantas A380 premium economy cabin is huge with 60 seats on the upper deck. I was able to snag 31K, a bulkhead seat, which opened up at check-in. This seat provided extra legroom, no one reclining in front of me, and access to storage under the window.
I figured I would not be able to sleep well because it was not a lie-flat bed, but I actually managed to sleep very well for about eight hours. Part of that was undoubtedly how tired I was, but the seat was very genuinely comfortable and most of all I liked how the footrest flipped out 90º from the bulkhead, creating a comfortable mesh canopy for my feet like a hammock. Somehow, I was able to side sleep in the fetal position with my feet and ankles resting on the footrest.
What also helped was the superb pillow and blanket, which was frankly far better than the business class blankets on carriers I frequent like SWISS or Austrian.
I knew Qantas has not yet installed internet on its A380 and while going 15 hours without internet is a long time, I was prepared for it and enjoyed watching movies while awake.
What failed to impressed me was the meal service. It wasn’t bad, mind you, and was nicely plated, but it seemed like it was just economy class food served in ceramic instead of plastic dishes.
The beef and vegetable dinner entree tasted like a cheap frozen dinner and the pre-arrival breakfast featured those nasty triangular hash browns that used to be a staple of my elementary school cafeteria as well as ham and mushrooms that were so processed they were inedible. There was no croissants or breakfast rolls loaded either.
But it wasn’t all bad. I asked a flight attendant if she could mix me up a makeshift Negroni with dinner (using Campari, gin, and the desert wine since there was no Vermouth) and it turned out quite well.
The mid flights snacks were also very good, especially the cheese toasties:
And the French Press coffee was also strong and flavorful.
Overall, this was a very good flight.
CONCLUSION
I have a feeling that had I been stuck in middle seat for the longhaul flight, my assessment would be less favorable, but 31K was excellent, the service was lovely, elements of the meal service like the mid-flight snack and coffee were great, and best of all I slept well.
I’m still going to fly business class when I can, but this was a very manageable experience.
Stay tuned for a full review with more info on the seating, IFE, amenity kit, lavatories, and other aspects of the service both on the ground and in the air.
The food looks pretty good to me!
It looked great. Unfortunately, it tasted quite bad.
Love the mesh footrest thing. What a good idea
Did the seat next to you stay vacant? And was Premium Econ full or nearly so? Just curious, since more airlines are saying that PE is an increasing profit center for them…
Cabin was 100% full.
Qantas has recently suffered huge reputational damage… the CEO of 15 years quit after cashing in his shares, and then ran off to Ireland and has been accused of refusing to return to Australia to testify in front of several investigations noted below, the Chairman announced his departure after a lot of pressure from shareholders and the pilot group to resign, the company is being sued in the courts by a government consumer affairs watchdog, just one of the reasons being that they kept selling seats on flights they knew had been cancelled. They are also being investigated on charges that they deliberately withheld refunds, made refunds near impossible to claw back for cancelled flights during the pandemic, and for firing 1700 workers illegally. Their brand stinks in Australia, where Australians used to hold “their” airline in very high regard. No longer!
Mind you, this hasn’t affected their safety record, which is the best in the world, and their cabin crews are trying very hard to improve their contact experience with customers.
If their brand “stinks” like you say why are there planes mostly full , theres alternatives if it’s so bad.
Simple, really. If demand exceeds supply then even the worst carrier will be full.
Exactlyright. I tried FIRST reeentlyand jot worth the enormous cost. Got type of food poisoning as well.Business better for $$ but the bed in First ..fabulous!
Park Hyatt for a night? 🙂
Nice review of the premium economy! I always find the service a little jolting. I flew in 2018 with my son in first class and they refused him another bowl of Raisin Bran until they had asked all the customers if they wanted one lolllll.
You betcha. Thought about the much more reasonable Hyatt Regency, but could not resist…and boy did I make the right choice!
Did you have a chance to look or eat at the capella?
Do you know if that footrest is in other PE rows behind you? Looks great to use
Other rows have footrests that come out from seats like an easy chair.
I have been reluctant to fly premium economy for fear that it’s just economy class with a little more leg room but those review might convince me. I know that business class is potentially very restful. Maybe International premium economy seats are similar to domestic first class?
Seats are very similar to domestic first class, though typically a bit better with a footrest.
Recently flew Qantas economy from DFW to Syd and let me assure you the food you got in premium Econ is miles ahead of economy food – we basically got a microwaveable dinner, no starter or dessert. Breakfast if I recalled was a choice between some nasty eggs or fresh fruit; that’s right fruit was not included as a starter but instead was considered a main. Only thing that made the flight bearable was an empty middle seat. Never again with Qantas
This review will be very useful for the one or two people who succeed in snagging a bulkhead seat. The rest of us will continue to avoid Qantas
Ha. I hope it will be useful to some more people. I can’t imagine the other footrests are so horrible.
The food may not have tasted great but at least it was loaded and available, in marked contrast to BA’s provisioning. Equally as you didn’t mention otherwise, presumably the seat and screen worked? Again, something regularly not the case in British Airways Premium Economy.
Will cover in full review. Screen worked just fine. Nice IFE library. Sadly, no internet.
The economy meals on Qantas are absolutely aweful, they look like muck and taste similar,no fruit or desert, just a plate of hot muck and a bit of stale bread.
Avoid
I will never fly Qantas again. We flew from Perth to Sydney. They broke the wheel on one bag and left one in Perth. In Sydney it was up to us to retrieve the bag the next morning at Sydney before flying back to US on United … The people we dealt with at both airports were Rude…
Qantas is okay