Qantas 787 reviews J - Y+ and Y

[DavidFlynn]

Reviews (and I am quoting Ausbt now) that state things like 'the QF 789 J suite is the best J 787 seat in the world' (with no additional qualifications), which is unlikely and directly reflected a QF advertisement which was appearing at the same time (their wording was 'best in the sky').

In the first instance, that call reflected my opinion as I happen to prefer the QF Business Suite over the Etihad Business Studio and even Qatar's B787/ A350 business class – that's just opinion, albeit informed opinion, and I'm as entitled to have that as others are to disagree with it.

In the second instance, we have never had a Qantas Boeing 787 advertising campaign on AusBT, so I don't know what you're smoking there. We actually don't see a lot of Qantas advertising, I think the last batch was a HKG campaign, but I can tell you for a fact – although I doubt you'll believe it – that Qantas advertising has absolutely zero impact on what I write. If it did have, why would we have panned the premium economy seat?

 

[offshore171]

One of AusBT's best reviews in my opinion. Saying what needed to be said.

 

[Pleb Status]

In the second instance, we have never had a Qantas Boeing 787 advertising campaign on AusBT, so I don't know what you're smoking there.

Where did I say that the advertising I referred to appeared on your site?

Avoiding the Qantas 787

I also apologise that my quote provided previously was incorrect. it should have read ' Our take: Qantas can confidently boast the world's best Boeing 787 business class seat'.

 

[Denali]

It should be noted that any review which states that the reviewer 'travelled as a guest of xx_' is effectively an advertisement paid for by xx_.

I agree with what someone else said, if the review was a paid for positive comment from the writer, QF should ask for their money back.

As a self funded pleb, the review makes me choose not to fly QF PE.

 

[VHOEJ]

On W - QF have a habit of over hyping something and the W cabin will be no different.

I travelled in Y to LAX so here are a few quick points:
* It is the best Y product QF have produced. Is it the best in the market? No.
* The seat pitch increase is noticeable and does help but as with every single economy seat all over the world, as soon as someone puts thier seat back, it is impossible to get out of your seat without pulling the seat in front. The seat itself is comfortable but it is Y and will never be anything more than that.
* The IFE system is much better - not the selection of EK for example but enough to keep you entertained.
* Beware if you think picking rows 55 to 59 in the middle - the crew rest is above those seats so none of those seats have an overhead locker. So basically 12 people have to put thier bags further to the front (if there is space) or under thier seat. And don't try the window overhead bins as the crew seem to use them for thier own bags.
* I didn't see huge lines for the toilets - there are always plenty of queues for the loos on the A380 but even in the busy periods, I think the small number of Y seats will help that problem slightly.
* The aircraft interior is already showing wear - plenty of scrapes, dust (for example around the IFE screen) and crumbs on the floors. They are certainly not doing a good job cleaning it between flights.

We have to remember, the aircraft itself can do great things but airlines ultimately decide what seats / config they put in it, so it is their own fault if they don't deliver. Keep your expectations low - it is better than what QF has previously but I think people will soon realise it is not as good as the marketing people tried to make it out.

 

[Mattg]

On W - QF have a habit of over hyping something and the W cabin will be no different.

I travelled in Y to LAX so here are a few quick points:
* It is the best Y product QF have produced. Is it the best in the market? No.
* The seat pitch increase is noticeable and does help but as with every single economy seat all over the world, as soon as someone puts thier seat back, it is impossible to get out of your seat without pulling the seat in front. The seat itself is comfortable but it is Y and will never be anything more than that.

How did you find the width of the Y seats?

 

[levelnine]

I travelled in Y to LAX so here are a few quick points:

Thanks for the real, first-hand, unsponsored review.

 

[ellen10]

Thanks for the reviews and opinions. It will help with my cabin selection.

 

[mviy]

levelnine, as the 'sponsored' review of PE is scathing then one would expect paying passenger reviews to be even more so.

Ultimately QF is a business looking to make money. If they can get away with squeezing in an extra row of PE they will.

However if they find sales quickly drop to undesirable levels for PE they'll be forced to consider making changes.

 

[RichardMEL]

I flew on the inaugural QF95 MEL-LAX last Friday in J*.

First of all, I found the airport activity to be somewhat understated given all the hype and advertising from QF. Perhaps they will do more for PER-LHR(but I will not go near that flight). While the F lounge had these *amazing* special canapees and a tequila/blood orange coughtail (I swear that thing was 90% tequila - it packed a punch.. or 3 ) and I received a special "Dreaminer" boarding pass jacket thing from the F check in(both of which of course not open to all pax bar WP and above) the only real activity at the gate was caps with mickey mouse ears being handed out(which I did not partake in) and a photo of people in them on board being taken. Captain Lisa was on hand (but did not fly on or with -ZNA to LAX) and greeted a few pax which was a nice touch. Water canon salue from MEL fireys as is usual. but that was pretty much it.

So to the flight itself.. It was reasonably quick (about 13.5h) despite a fairly southern route (I flew the 94 back on Sunday and it also went way south, and was over 15h in the air - thank goodness I was in F !! ).

The windows dimmed far better than they have on any other 787 I have flown on (UA AC NZ JQ) - and this could be due to the system being tweaked a bit since early rollout. The sun was still noticible but it really was no where near as annoying as I have experienced on other flights which was a bonus.

The J suite is still, more or less, the 330 J suite with just a few tweaks, written about elsewhere. It was pretty comfy. I got maybe 5-6 hours of sleep overall. The blanket/covers they gave were so so.... but having the "close to window" more private suite was a real advantage I thought.

Not having used the lavs on the domestic sectors I was a bit disappointed that QF had gone with the new standard small lavs (UA has same in their 789's) which are not easy to change into. Oh, I think the sivery roo limited edition PJ's are ghastly looking. Comfy though a lil short in the arm for me. I find the Martin Grant blue F PJ's superior. QF did not have any kind of facial or moisturising mist in the lav which was disappointing and I have found those rather nice on other long haul flights (heck, even UA has this?!!)

Crew were a mix of experienced and somewhat new so service was a little mixed. They were all very keen though (oh, they had special dreamliner coasters they used for the first drink service, but usual napkins after that).

The food was usual QFi J nothing extra special (but I did absolutely max out in the F lounge pre-flight so only had a couple of options on board!!).

I did like the mid flight snack offerings which seemed to be new to me (but probably isn't) with things like beef brisket sandwiches, fruit, chocolates etc.

In the morning they made little piccolo lattes which really hit the spot I must say and actually tasted pretty good to me (the usual QF coffee is not the greatest to my taste) so that was good.

All in all it was a good flight. Not great.. not horrible.. Good. Would I fly the 787 to the US again? I think so, specially if it made sense to do so. I wouldn't do that J product to London though.. I find it a little cramped but it is far superior to the skybeds and great for flying solo due to aisle access and the privacy.


* RichardMEL flew courtesy of his own budget.

 

[mviy]

Did anyone try out the high speed USB ports? The ability to charge an iPad without needing to use the power plug would certainly be a significant improvement over the experience on e.g. the A380

 

[RichardMEL]

Did anyone try out the high speed USB ports? The ability to charge an iPad without needing to use the power plug would certainly be a significant improvement over the experience on e.g. the A380

I dunno about high speed but charging worked great for my phone. no complaints.

 

[mviy]

I dunno about high speed but charging worked great for my phone. no complaints.

Oops. Meant high power.

Tablets such as iPads draw more power than phones though so one can’t use phone charging to assess the effectiveness of a high power port. There may be a high power port (for phones/tablets) and a standard speed port (for phones). At least there is in PE.

Well having said that some phones may charge faster on a high power port.

 

[Pleb Status]

I flew on the inaugural QF95 MEL-LAX last Friday in J*.

First of all, I found the airport activity to be somewhat understated given all the hype and advertising from QF. Perhaps they will do more for PER-LHR(but I will not go near that flight). While the F lounge had these *amazing* special canapees and a tequila/blood orange coughtail (I swear that thing was 90% tequila - it packed a punch.. or 3 ) and I received a special "Dreaminer" boarding pass jacket thing from the F check in(both of which of course not open to all pax bar WP and above) the only real activity at the gate was caps with mickey mouse ears being handed out(which I did not partake in) and a photo of people in them on board being taken. Captain Lisa was on hand (but did not fly on or with -ZNA to LAX) and greeted a few pax which was a nice touch. Water canon salue from MEL fireys as is usual. but that was pretty much it.

So to the flight itself.. It was reasonably quick (about 13.5h) despite a fairly southern route (I flew the 94 back on Sunday and it also went way south, and was over 15h in the air - thank goodness I was in F !! ).

The windows dimmed far better than they have on any other 787 I have flown on (UA AC NZ JQ) - and this could be due to the system being tweaked a bit since early rollout. The sun was still noticible but it really was no where near as annoying as I have experienced on other flights which was a bonus.

The J suite is still, more or less, the 330 J suite with just a few tweaks, written about elsewhere. It was pretty comfy. I got maybe 5-6 hours of sleep overall. The blanket/covers they gave were so so.... but having the "close to window" more private suite was a real advantage I thought.

Not having used the lavs on the domestic sectors I was a bit disappointed that QF had gone with the new standard small lavs (UA has same in their 789's) which are not easy to change into. Oh, I think the sivery roo limited edition PJ's are ghastly looking. Comfy though a lil short in the arm for me. I find the Martin Grant blue F PJ's superior. QF did not have any kind of facial or moisturising mist in the lav which was disappointing and I have found those rather nice on other long haul flights (heck, even UA has this?!!)

Crew were a mix of experienced and somewhat new so service was a little mixed. They were all very keen though (oh, they had special dreamliner coasters they used for the first drink service, but usual napkins after that).

The food was usual QFi J nothing extra special (but I did absolutely max out in the F lounge pre-flight so only had a couple of options on board!!).

I did like the mid flight snack offerings which seemed to be new to me (but probably isn't) with things like beef brisket sandwiches, fruit, chocolates etc.

In the morning they made little piccolo lattes which really hit the spot I must say and actually tasted pretty good to me (the usual QF coffee is not the greatest to my taste) so that was good.

All in all it was a good flight. Not great.. not horrible.. Good. Would I fly the 787 to the US again? I think so, specially if it made sense to do so. I wouldn't do that J product to London though.. I find it a little cramped but it is far superior to the skybeds and great for flying solo due to aisle access and the privacy.

* RichardMEL flew courtesy of his own budget.

A more useful review to the FF than most of the reviews (for the same flight) published by the various media outlets.

Interesting to see how quickly the little extras get 'rationalised'.

With over 600+ 787 flying today (and even some within the QF group) and MEL-LAX being an existing route, it is hard to get too excited about about number 601+ entering service without looking foolish...

 

[VHOEJ]

It was still the first service for an aircraft type - if you have a huge junket to Seattle and even a TV show, surely a banner and some souvenirs wouldnt have hone astray

Seat width in Y - I didnt notice that it was narrower. I have wide hips and didnt feel it was too narrow. I think if you were a larger size you would notice

 

[mviy]

Did they have proper hand towels still in the small lavs?

 

[RichardMEL]

Did they have proper hand towels still in the small lavs?

Not entirely sure what you mean by "proper" but yes they had paper hand towels IIRC (but also appeared to run out in at least the forward lav as I found tissues in that slot near the end of the flight.

 

[mviy]

Paper? Doesn't J have thin cloth hand towels?

 

[thevas]

I just travelled on QF96 LAX-MEL in Y. Problems all around, but sounded like teething problems for the aircraft - we had an approx 2.5 hour delay leaving LAX and problems with the power system when we were up in the air. This knocked out the IFE for a few hours (most people were asleep so this in itself wasn't a huge problem), and also the fridges/freezers. Breakfast as a result consisted of a small muffin (the only non perishable), but they gave us some terminal vouchers if we wanted on arrival.

The seat itself was fairly comfortable, although in terms of pitch and width I'd probably still slightly prefer an A380. However there were some positives that I noticed throughout the flight:

1. The little drop down tray below the IFE is excellent if you have a phone/tablet - I downloaded some Netflix shows for the flight and it was very handy to put my phone there and a lot more comfortable than holding it by hand. There is also a USB port within that little nook.

2. The IFE system itself was very fast and responsive, and looked to have a large selection. This included box sets of several TV shows, which included every season (rather than individual seasons like I've seen on other aircraft).

3. It was much faster to board/collect my bags than with an A380, I've never really enjoyed competing with 400+ people at baggage claim.

Overall it won't really change your trip if you choose one over the other, and there's only so much you can expect from a Y seat.

 

[kermatu]

I flew on the inaugural QF95 MEL-LAX last Friday in J*.

PaulST posted one of his excellent video reviews of this flight. Hope he and no-one else minds me linking it here: