Qantas eyes 'tip to tail' seat upgrade for Airbus A380

[Pleb Status]

I'll have to disagree. The QF seat is uncomfortable to sit in and the legrest is unusable. For me there's no decent lounging position. The VA seat is much more comfortable.

I completely agree with this comment and have experienced the same issues.

 

[JohnK]

The trick for an airline like Qantas that keeps its seats for 10 years or so, is to come up with something that won't be way behind in 10 years time. Maybe not industry leading, but it does have to be up there somewhere (IMHO and all that)

I don't understand some of the complaints. In my opinion the Qantas economy product on the A380's and 747's is quite good even though it's getting on in years. It's a shame that those aircraft are limited to flying to LHR and LAX. Personally I'd love to have the A380 or 787 flying to SIN/BKK.

And I do fly quite a lot in economy and I am not that impressed with what the opposition is offering. If that's supposed to be state of the art then it needs to leave a lasting impression but it hasn't.

 

[Isochronous]

QF should install a bar on its A380. That would be epic.

 

[NZflygirl]

I don't understand some of the complaints. In my opinion the Qantas economy product on the A380's and 747's is quite good even though it's getting on in years. It's a shame that those aircraft are limited to flying to LHR and LAX. Personally I'd love to have the A380 or 787 flying to SIN/BKK.

And I do fly quite a lot in economy and I am not that impressed with what the opposition is offering. If that's supposed to be state of the art then it needs to leave a lasting impression but it hasn't.

Who gets your top couple of votes for Y? Including upper deck A380? Just curious

 

[serfty]

I don't understand some of the complaints. In my opinion the Qantas economy product on the A380's and 747's is quite good even though it's getting on in years. It's a shame that those aircraft are limited to flying to LHR and LAX. Personally I'd love to have the A380 or 787 flying to SIN/BKK.

And I do fly quite a lot in economy and I am not that impressed with what the opposition is offering. If that's supposed to be state of the art then it needs to leave a lasting impression but it hasn't.

Most the comments you "don't understand" are in relation to premium cabins ...

The QF economy product is fine ... If you have status ... other than that it's the same tin of sardines.

Flew LHR-MEL in economy this week and was OK for me as WP in an upper deck window seat.

Plane was chockers but try to say "it's fine" to an NB in 86F.

 

[JohnK]

Who gets your top couple of votes for Y? Including upper deck A380? Just curious

Qantas and Emirates for me.

 

[DavidFlynn]

If they refit the aircraft nose to tail, then I wonder if there's possibility of lower forward become J and upper forward becoming F?

Not that my comment here should be taken to mean anything apart from being a comment: but Airbus has been encouraging A380 operators to position F at the front of the upper deck and make the lower deck all Y (or Y+ and Y).

 

[docjames]

Not that my comment here should be taken to mean anything apart from being a comment: but Airbus has been encouraging A380 operators to position F at the front of the upper deck and make the lower deck all Y (or Y+ and Y).

Indeed, although I do think QF might baulk at the cost of fitting toilets in the forward part of the upper deck. But it seems the best use of the windowless and non-pax seating space.

 

[mviy]

It would seem more likely that they put new seats in and perhaps renovate the toilets, galleys, lounge etc. but leaving them all in the same position.

Provisioning for Access Points for QStreaming and/or internet even if not used for a while would make a lot of sense too.

If they ditch selling F, but keep F seats the F cabin area would become the new Emerald City.

 

[moa999]

If they ditch selling F, but keep F seats the F cabin area would become the new Emerald City.

That much you can guarantee won't happen

 

[kpro]

It's clear to me that there is a variety of different opinions on J class seats between the members here. I've stated on this forum in the past that all direct aisle access J seating has some sort of compromise in it, essentially due to the way they are engineered to keep a certain density in the cabin.

Personally - I haven't had a problem with recline or bed positions in any of these recent J products. However, I prefer a select number of QF business suites (EG 2A/K and 4A/K) over any reverse herringbone seat. The reasons being the proximity to window and having two proper armrests, I find the BE product on VA has a tiny area for one armrest. The cirrus variant on CX is not flat, but has an annoying angle which contorts your arm. Also not a fan of having no armrest on one side during take off/landing in these types of seats.

 

[JohnK]

Most the comments you "don't understand" are in relation to premium cabins ...

I was discussing premium cabins earlier with boomy. Maybe I am easy to please but I don't see anything wrong with the Qantas product. Sure it's not 1-2-1 in business but I'd rather the current Qantas business product than say the RJ business product or the UL business product.

I don't think Qantas needs to be a market leader but they are still ahead of many carriers. I'd love to see more 747's and A380's rather than 787's and A330's but the push is away from the bigger aircraft and economy on the smaller aircraft is not the same.

But that's just me. And I can sleep fine in economy.

 

[ajw373]

They may be doing that for some domestic aircraft but for the A380 I think there's no chance. For long haul international they're going to want to provide seat back screens for those who cannot be bothered/find it too difficult to bring their own device.

They haven't removed fixed screen IFE from any domestic a/c. The A330's that had fixed screen IFE kept it, those that didn't had only WiFi installed (fixed seat screen in J of course).

That said the A330's without fixed screen did receive the Y seats off the A330-300's which were refurbished and had the screens removed and the space covered.

 

[ajw373]

The trick for an airline like Qantas that keeps its seats for 10 years or so, is to come up with something that won't be way behind in 10 years time. Maybe not industry leading, but it does have to be up there somewhere (IMHO and all that)

What airline DOESN'T keep their product for around 10 years. Struggling to think of many if any.

And oh how short memories are because Skybed was a market leading product when introduced and still has fans (going by this thread) and still attracts bums on seat.

 

[moa999]

I tend to agree that IFE will still be installed long haul, despite the cost, although with more and more customers having their own device (which will often be far newer at the 5+yr point) I can understand why airlines are thinking about it.

AA is reportedly dropping IFE from all new narrow bodies and will go for a Wifi/Streaming solution

 

[DavidFlynn]

And oh how short memories are because Skybed was a market leading product when introduced and still has fans (going by this thread) and still attracts bums on seat.

The pace of change in business class has noticeably accelerated, but it's generally held to be at most a seven year cycle (some say it's now more like five years). Skybed II launched with the first QF A380 in 2008, which means it was designed in 2006, so it's already well past the seven year mark. Of course, now we're facing a zenith of core features in business class when it comes to fully-flat beds, direct aisle access, ample room and stowage space around the seat, large IFE screens etc, so the pace of development is slowing in terms of the big leap forward.

I'd also suggest that it's not the Skybed II which is attracting bums on seats, it's 'Qantas' – a broader umbrella which covers notions of loyalty, corporate travel policy, status, lounges, personal preferences, connectivity and much more. For the majority of passengers the Skybed II is good enough not to be a disincentive, but I'd argue it's not an incentive as such – not a driving factor in the decision.

 

[straitman]

What airline DOESN'T keep their product for around 10 years. Struggling to think of many if any.

And oh how short memories are because Skybed was a market leading product when introduced and still has fans (going by this thread) and still attracts bums on seat.

I like The Skybed but don't like how hard they become over time.
Maybe I'm just a softie.

I tend to agree that IFE will still be installed long haul, despite the cost, although with more and more customers having their own device (which will often be far newer at the 5+yr point) I can understand why airlines are thinking about it.

AA is reportedly dropping IFE from all new narrow bodies and will go for a Wifi/Streaming solution

Anyone with any real understanding of aviation economics understands why the airlines are happy to get rid of individual IFE.
The weight saving alone is enormous.

 

[Deleted member]

My wife was also cranky after 8 hours of not being able to communicate.[/QUOTE]

Mrs GPH loves this (lack of communication) feature.

 

[DavidFlynn]

I tend to agree that IFE will still be installed long haul, despite the cost, although with more and more customers having their own device (which will often be far newer at the 5+yr point) I can understand why airlines are thinking about it.

Yep, the tech ages at an incredible pace these days - it's not long before the latest and greatest IFE screen is out of date compared to a tablet in the pax's lap – and of course there are substantial savings in weight when you don't have all those screens and control boxes and cables.

 

[OATEK]

Mrs Oatek says she has given up on trying to communicate with me on long-haul J flights. The reckoning is by the time I have mucked around with all the features, settled down to eat and watch a movie, then sleep, the opportunity for constructive speach has passed. MrsO tells everyone that the best she hopes for is the occasional tap on her arm while I give her a big grin.

Personally, I find sleep on the CX, AY and QF comparable given my size and weight. Once I get in a good position, then I can get a good 6-7hrs on most long flights (again much to the frustration of MrsO).

And I always take an aisle seat even in 2-2-2, and MrsO fins the window seat fine on QF. So really, much of a muchness from over here.