From: Sydney
To: New York
Cabin: Business Class
Rating: 6/10
Flight number: QF 11
Airplane: Airbus A380
Flying to the Big Apple (also known as New York) from Australia is a long journey, and unfortunately, options are fairly limited for those wanting to travel in comfort. The reason is that all but one flight requires you to switch over at LA / San Fran / Dallas Fort Worth and switch to a domestic American airline provider – if you haven’t travelled with one before, then lets say the service and quality of product leaves much to be desired!
Luckily, Qantas does fly one direct service using the Airbus A380 (with a stop over in LAX) to New York. Below is my review of the flight.
Airbus A380
Qantas have 12 Airbus A380’s, generally used on routes between the East Coast of Australia to London / US, Hong Kong and Singapore.
The Qantas A380 is configured to have 14 First suites, 64 Business seats, 35 Premium Economy seats and 371 Economy seats. Qantas intends to progressively refresh its whole A380 fleet to bring it in line with the A330 cabin quality (e.g. upgrade the existing Skybeds to the Business Suites which are top of the line). The upgrades will commence some time in 2019, but until then, its the Skybeds on the A380s!
Before the flight!
I had use of the Qantas Sydney lounge – the pending upgrade sounds amazing, but the lounge experience is dated and was very busy in the morning . My detailed review is available here.
On the flight!
The seating arrangements are 2- 2 -2. While this worked about 10 years ago, most top notch business class cabins now have direct aisle access for all seats, saving you from having to climb over the other passenger. The seats are somewhat dated, but at least the seat can become flat so you can get some sleep! Also, there is plenty of leg room which is great.
Dining and in-flight service
The flight includes a turndown service, where they add a thin bedding which makes a huge difference to the quality of sleep – it adds a little bit of a cushion, and makes the seat softer – the flight attendants will assist you with this!
Below is the menu. All the meals were amazing!
This is the Moroccan spiced carrot soup with coriander yogurt and dukkah croutons. Smooth, and spicy – just the way l like it!
This is the seared Cone Bay barramundi with herbed garlic potatoes, broccolini, lemon, olive and almond salsa. The barramundi was fresh, and so were the veggies.
This is the baked vanilla custard with rhubarb, honeyed pears and almonds. Nice dessert to finish the main course off!
You also fill in the breakfast card, with a range of choices depending on your preferences!
Overall
Can’t wait for the pending upgrade of the A380’s – this is better than economy, and probably the best business class offering to the Americas – but compared to the Qantas A330 and the other offerings from the Middle East and Asian airlines, it is lacking. The food was the highlight for me – fresh and tasty.
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