Anyone (else) travelled Qantas Business Class to DPS?

[Philjbod101]

In Sep this year, my partner and I travelled QF BC, MELB-DPS-SYD and were left... less than impressed. Dec we’ll be doing JQ BC, SYD-DPS-SYD.
I’m proposing to write a comparison between the two, BC on a full service vs. BC on a budget airline, admittedly different aircraft (QF 737 vs JQ 787) admittedly different routes (QF MEL-DPS-SYD vs JQ SYD-DPS-SYD) but similar enough I feel, especially the return flight, to provide a valid comparison.
I can take some photos of the; check-in queue, cabin, seats, menu and meals on the JQ flights but anyone have photos of the QF that they’re happy to share? Or about to make those flights and prepared to take some photos to share?

 

[Pushka]

I agree. It’s not a good flight at all. Believe it not food improved between our first flight which was awful, inedible - to our second flight last August. The only good thing about it was a nice SC earner.

don’t expect much of Jetstar either. On a JQ 12 hour business flight from Hawaii to Sydney they ran out of J food - not choices but actual food for breakfast and for lunch. And it wasnt even a full cabin.

 

[Philjbod101]

Oh dear, one of the big disappointments of the QF flight was that they ran out of “choices”, they still had ‘something’ to offer, just not the first six things we asked for.

 

[DC3]

Philjbod101. Interesting post. I've flown MEL-DPS-MEL in J class on a QF B737. I would expect the DPS-SYD QF A330 to be far superior. Were you on the QF A330 DPS-SYD with fully lie-flat seats or was it subbed?

You would be aware that JQ won't have lie-flat seats and that it's not really J class.

Were you provided with a meal on the flight or received no dinner, just other food? With DPS-SYD was it a red-eye, so more of a supper rather than a meal?

Edit: I kept my expectations rather low for the B737 and would have loved an A330.

 

[jase05]

Have you tried GA?
Best service and comfort between Australia and Bali by a fair bit IMO.

 

[Matt_01]

I never planed to go to Bali, it is not a place that I am interested in, however in Aug this year I needed to get to KUL and via DPS was a feasible option. To the OP and with all due respect to your travel planning MEL-DPS is on a standard QF 737 for 6+ hours, not all J is the same and xSYD you could have travelled on the a330. The food and wine is just as bad but the seating is better. Also as advance warning the J seating on a JQ 787 is about the same as a QF 373 and my very limited experience on JQ J flights, a return to Japan 4 years ago, JQ J is not that flash.

As the QF and JQ from SYD to DPS leave within 10-20 minutes of each other I know which one I would travel on and it would not be JQ.

 

[Deleted member]

Food returning from DPS on QF J was rubbish (thanks NP) but seats are good and frankly I wouldn’t choose Jet* over QF , but that’s just me

 

[DC3]

I haven't flown QF DPS-SYD, but my red-eye QF DPS-MEL, departing just before 10.30pm earlier this year was definitely not a main meal offering, more of a supper from memory. But that's all that I'd be expecting for that time of the night anyway, seeing as it's about midnight before the meal is over. Regardless of the food, I would prefer to have lie-flat seats any time.

I'm pretty sure that QF and JQ all depart DPS for MEL/SYD at around the same time each night.

 

[jpp42]

I never planed to go to Bali, it is not a place that I am interested in, however in Aug this year I needed to get to KUL and via DPS was a feasible option

Just curious about this. I'm SYD based and travel to KUL reasonbly often but usually go through SIN with SIN-KUL on Jetstar Asia. I've been avoiding the nonstop flight on MH due to awful SC earn. I assume your DPS-KUL flight is on MH. How do you actually book that, is it possible on one PNR? And is there a lounge at DPS?

 

[LadyC]

I have travelled with QF MEL-DPS on the 737, QF SYD-DPS on the A330 and JQ DPS-MEL on the 787 (all business/star class). My ranking would be the A330 as the best, then the 787 with the 737 way behind. JQ StarClass is good for the day time flight from DPS-MEL but I wouldnt want to travel overnight on it.

 

[Matt_01]

Just curious about this. I'm SYD based and travel to KUL reasonbly often but usually go through SIN with SIN-KUL on Jetstar Asia. I've been avoiding the nonstop flight on MH due to awful SC earn. I assume your DPS-KUL flight is on MH. How do you actually book that, is it possible on one PNR? And is there a lounge at DPS?

From ADL there is a direct MH flight but I will use this only and if no other option in available for the same reason, poor SC earn.

Yes DPS-KUL was on MH. You can book SYD-DPS-KUL via the QF multi city booking functionality in the same PNR but you may be in for some serious sticker shock $8.5k-$9k return. Prior to making the booking I had asked if there was international transfer airside at DPS and the answer was “not sure” so I booked as 2 seperate PNRs. Booking 2 seperate PNR’s more than halved the cost. I was more concerned with the out bound sectors and although there was approximately 3 hours between QF arrival in DPS and MH departure I was advised that I may need to go landside and then back to airside. The return is easy as there are 2-3 direct flights from KUL that can connect to QF44.

MH uses the same Premier Lounge as QF uses but I did not worry about this at the time of booking as I have PP so I knew there were a couple of lounge options. In summary, there were no delays, I did not look for a transfer desk just got out, back upstairs and back in again as quick as possible, I also travel with HLO. I only took this route due to a short notice trip and conflicting family commitments. Would I do it again - most likely not.

 

[Austman]

I've done dozens of J-class flights AUS-DPS and DPS-AUS over many years.

It's pretty much treated as a domestic route by the Australian based full service airlines and seems to have always been treated that way. So expect domestic J with perhaps a couple of small extras because that's about all you'll get.

You'd need to perhaps try Garuda for a true international J-class experience.

JQi on the other hand operate it as per any other JQi flight. Their "J" class product doesn't change much regardless of the route. Their afternoon departure from DPS to certain AUS destinations is the best option!

 

[Qantas747]

Now that Qantas has upgraded to A330s from SYD, it is by far the superior option (especially in Economy). But be sure to double-check the aircraft type - Qantas put some 737s back on the SYD-DPS route for a few days in early/mid-November - would have been a shock for those expecting the A330!