There are just two airlines flying direct from Australia to South America – Qantas and LATAM Airlines.

On a trip to South America last year, I was pleased to find that there was both Premium Economy reward availability with Qantas and Business availability with LATAM Airlines. Both options were available to book using Qantas points, but I ended up booking Qantas Premium Economy as there was availability on the exact date that I wanted.

I had previously flown with Qantas in Premium Economy on the Boeing 747 and was impressed. But this was my first time flying Qantas Premium Economy on the Boeing 787-9.

Is Qantas Premium Economy worth the price premium over Economy on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner? Find out in this review of the Premium Economy experience on QF27 from Sydney to Santiago…

Flight Details

Flight number	QF27
Route	Sydney (SYD) to Santiago (SCL)
Aircraft type	Boeing 787-9
Class of travel	Premium Economy
Seat number	21K
On-time performance	We arrived 25 minutes late
Star rating

The route

This flight crosses the International Date Line, and there’s a 13-hour time difference between Sydney and Santiago. Yes – the flight really did arrive 30 minutes before it left Sydney!

Flight Cost

I booked this flight using Qantas Frequent Flyer points. My full Classic Reward itinerary was from Sydney to Asuncion via Santiago, with the second flight in LATAM Airlines Economy. For the whole ticket I paid 95,300 Qantas points + $279 in taxes & carrier charges.

A one-way Premium Economy ticket just from Sydney to Santiago would cost 81,300 Qantas points + $258.

Qantas sells round-trip Premium Economy airfares from Sydney to Santiago starting from around $4,489 return.

Airport Experience

Qantas offers a dedicated Premium Economy check-in queue at Sydney Airport, which had only a small line.

Lounge access is not a standard inclusion with a Qantas Premium Economy ticket. I was able to use the Qantas First Lounge thanks to my Qantas Platinum status, which is always a great way to start a trip. However, I won’t factor that into my rating for this flight.

On the particular day that I visited, Qantas had a special menu to celebrate 50 years of airport lounges which included a Tequila Sunrise cocktail. From the lounge, I could also see our Qantas Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner parked at gate 9 (to the left of the Cathay Pacific plane).

I arrived at the boarding gate just as priority boarding was being called. Premium Economy passengers were invited to board before Economy. However, there were so many people crowding around the gate area that it wasn’t actually possible to access the priority boarding lane without pushing past a lot of people. I decided not to act like a jerk in front of 200+ people that I’d be spending the next 13 hours with, and just queued up with everyone else.

The Hard Product

Qantas offers four rows of Premium Economy seating on its Boeing 787-9 in a 2-3-2 layout. That’s two fewer seats per row than Economy, meaning the seats are a bit wider.

There’s also a bit more legroom than Economy, with 38 inches of seat pitch in Premium Economy.

The seat itself was very comfortable, with lots of padding and an adjustable headrest.

There was a place to store your phone underneath the in-flight entertainment screen, and you could fold out a “personal electronic device ledge” to rest your own iPad or tablet on. There was a USB charging outlet and a power socket shared between two seats.

Under the centre console, which also had a small cocktail table, you could store a bottle of water.

The seat had a decent amount of recline and I also liked the footrest, which could make it easier for some people to sleep.

However, I couldn’t help thinking that the seat pitch let down the excellent seat design. When the passenger in front of me reclined, it didn’t feel like I had a lot of personal space. To be truly comfortable, especially for tall people when trying to sleep, the seat needs a couple more inches of legroom.

I was sitting by the window in the second row of Premium Economy, and was fortunate to have one of the few empty seats on the plane beside me. This meant I could easily get in and out of my seat. But if I had a neighbour, I would not have been able to leave my seat without disturbing them.

The cabin itself felt modern and clean. I liked the colour scheme and the wooden panelling.

There was a large, high-definition in-flight entertainment screen on the back of the seat in front. This had an average selection of movies and TV shows, and I was very pleased to also find music. On most of my recent Qantas flights, music has not been available. That said, most of the music seemed to be at least a few years old, so the library could probably use an update.

Although I took this flight in September 2023, the Qantas Magazine in my seat pocket was from June 2023. The magazine in the seat next to mine was from August 2023. This was the second Qantas international flight in two months that I’d taken where the magazine at my seat was at least two months out-of-date. That’s not a big deal – just a bit strange. I’m not sure what’s going on there?

None of the Qantas Boeing 787s have Wi-Fi available.

There are curtains at the front and back of the four-row Qantas 787 Premium Economy cabin, but no toilets. You need to either go back into Economy or forward into Business Class to use the toilets there. (I checked with a flight attendant, who told me it was fine for Premium Economy passengers to use the Business toilets.)

I did feel slightly sorry for the passengers sitting in rows 10-12 of Business Class. They would have had to put up with a constant stream of Premium Economy passengers walking past them throughout the flight to get to the bathrooms.

One final comment about Premium Economy on the Qantas 787. If you like to look out the window, beware that this cabin is right over the wings. This obstructs the view a little bit.

The Soft Product

As soon as I sat down, one of the flight attendants Shaye warmly welcomed me on board and offered me a pre-departure still water, sparkling water or sparkling wine. I couldn’t resist a sparkling wine, which was the same type that Qantas serves on longer domestic flights in Business Class.

Waiting at my seat were a pillow, blanket, premium headphones and a basic amenity kit. The kit contained socks, an eye shade, a toothbrush/paste, earplugs, lip balm and a voucher for 20% off Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics products.

There was also a printed menu:

On the back of the menu was a drinks list:

After take-off, the pilots kept the seatbelt sign on for an extended period as we passed through some turbulence.

Fortunately, after that it was smooth sailing (well, flying) across the South Pacific Ocean and the service got underway with a welcome drink and some smoked almonds. Although the menu listed Qantas Sky Spritz as the welcome drink, this wasn’t available and I was instead offered a Margarita cocktail from a can. This hit the spot – it was really refreshing and tasted great!

Lunch was served on a single tray with proper crockery, glassware and metal cutlery. I opted for the chicken salad as the main course, which was fresh and delicious. The rest of the accompaniments were also very good.

Basically, the food was a significant step up from Economy but not quite as good as Business Class – which is exactly what you would expect!

I enjoyed lunch as we overflew the South Island of New Zealand. It was a crystal clear day and we could see the snow-capped Southern Alps.

After I’d finished eating, the crew offered dessert wine.

This was followed by tea or coffee, including a selection of herbal teas.

After the lunch service, all passengers in both Economy and Premium Economy were offered Splice ice creams.

We were racing towards the sunset and got some great views of this shortly after lunch.

The sun came up just a few hours later. In the meantime, throughout the middle of the flight, snacks including hot toasted sandwiches were available on request.

There was also a self-service snack bar towards the back of the Business cabin with drinks and snacks available including fresh fruit.

A fairly substantial and tasty hot breakfast was served around two and a half hours before landing. This would have been at around 10.30pm Sydney time, so it felt like a strange time to be eating breakfast. The flight attendant agreed, but also noted that it would have now been 9.30am in Santiago.

The cabin crew on this flight were excellent, with a couple in particular even remembering and using my name at each interaction. A special shout-out goes to Shaye, who was enthusiastic and loved working the Sydney-Santiago route so she could practice her Spanish language skills.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.