Quick take: With friendly service, great food and a sleek cabin, premium economy on Qantas is a step up from economy — but the seat has one major design flaw.
Pros
Delicious Australian-inspired dining options
Genuinely friendly service
Streamlined cabin and sharp seat finishes
Cons
Limited legroom for most seats
Subpar ground experience departing Melbourne
No inflight Wi-Fi available
As an Australian living in the U.S. for the past decade, I try to fly an Australian airline in one direction and a U.S. carrier in the other for my annual visit Down Under.
In January, I flew Delta One Suites from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Sydney Airport (SYD) and returned in Qantas’s A380 premium economy from Melbourne Airport (MEL) to Los Angeles.
Here is what the full experience was like flying Qantas premium economy aboard my favorite aircraft, the Airbus A380 superjumbo.
MATT MOFFITT/THE POINTS GUYHow much does premium economy cost to book on Qantas?
Qantas offers premium economy tickets on its Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 flights from:
Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW)
Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) (via Auckland)
San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
Vancouver International Airport (YVR)
To:
Sydney Airport (SYD)
Melbourne Airport (MEL)
Brisbane Airport (BNE)
This cabin is not offered on the airline’s A330 flights from Los Angeles to Brisbane and Honolulu to Sydney (which switches seasonally between the 787 and A330).
The product is almost identical on the 787 and A380, except the 787 seat is one inch wider.
A tip: if you are connecting to another flight in Australia, Melbourne is the easiest of the three airports to connect; Brisbane is next and Sydney is the most stressful and time-consuming given the time and effort it takes to transfer between terminals.
Here is a sample of round-trip cash and award rates on Qantas flights from the U.S. mainland to Australia in the coming months:
Class
Economy
Premium economy
Business class
First class
Airfare
From $950
From $3,000
From $7,000
From $15,500
American Airlines AAdvantage miles
From 80,000 miles plus $108 in taxes
From 130,000 miles plus $108 in taxes
From 160,000 miles plus $108 in taxes
From 220,000 miles plus $108 in taxes
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles (for bookings made from March)
From 85,000 miles plus $108
From 110,000 miles plus $108
From 170,000 miles plus $108
From 260,000 miles plus $108
Qantas points
From 83,800 points plus $225
From 162,600 points plus $332
From 216,800 points plus $391
From 325,600 points plus $391
As you can see, AAdvantage offers the most attractive redemption rates for most cabins (except for Alaska being cheaper for premium economy).
AMERICAN AIRLINES
Versus Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, which you can see below.
ALASKA AIRLINES
The taxes payable when you use Qantas points rather than American Airlines or Alaska miles more than double when flying economy and more than triple for premium cabins. For one-way redemptions, taxes are higher departing Australia rather than departing the U.S.
I used 81,300 Qantas points plus 292 Australian dollars ($190) for my one-way ticket from Melbourne to Los Angeles in January. I booked this ticket six months before departure.
Qantas releases award availability 353 days before departure and reserves a chunk of its premium cabin seats for its own elite members. By the time American Airlines’ and Alaska’s calendars open at 331 and 330 days, respectively, a lot of the premium award availability has already been snapped up.
Qantas then releases award seats in batches periodically (the timing is hard to predict) as well as sometimes in the week before departure — these are the best times to snag a ticket.
Related: How far in advance can you book a flight?
I used my Chase Sapphire Reserve to pay the taxes, earning 3 points per dollar spent. I could’ve used The Platinum Card® from American Express, which earns 5 Amex Membership Rewards points per dollar spent on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel, on up to $500,000 of these purchases per calendar year (then 1 point per dollar). However, the Chase Sapphire Reserve has better travel protections than the Amex Platinum.
Both cash fares and points-and-miles redemptions for Qantas premium economy include free seat selection, two checked bags up to 70 pounds each and two carry-ons up to 22 pounds each (must not exceed 30 pounds total).
Checking in to and boarding premium economy on Qantas
Qantas premium economy passengers do not receive many priority services at their departing airport:
Lounge available
No
Fast Track access
No
Boarding group
After first- and business-class passengers and Oneworld Emerald and Sapphire elite-status members, before general economy
When departing the U.S., you can also take advantage of TSA PreCheck if you’re a member.
At 48 hours before departure, Qantas opens up any blocked seats not taken by elite-status members or families traveling with infants in the cabin’s first row, meaning I could select one of the bulkhead seats.
MATT MOFFITT/THE POINTS GUY
Twenty-four hours before departure, I received an email and text from Qantas to check in online, which was easy. I received my boarding pass instantaneously and added it to my Apple Wallet.
Then, I arrived at the airport 90 minutes before departure to check my luggage.
Qantas international flights operate from Terminal 2 at Melbourne Airport, as do international flights operated by all carriers. The departures hall was under refurbishment at the time of my travel, which made for a cramped check-in area for all four cabins on an Airbus A380 departure to Los Angeles, not to mention an Airbus A330 flight to Singapore.
The Qantas employee checking tickets at the beginning of the premium economy line verified that I was indeed flying in the cabin. They then asked me a few security questions — as is customary for U.S.-bound flights — such as how long I’d been in Australia, where I lived in the U.S. and if I’d packed my own bag. After affixing a sticker to my passport, one of them directed me to a bag drop line for passengers who had already checked in online.
When I saw how long the line was — I estimated at least 30 people deep — I walked back and said I would rather go through the premium economy lane. It was illogical to me that someone who was diligent in checking in online to drop their self-tagged bags would be made to wait longer than someone who had just turned up to the airport to check into their flight. After a bit of to and fro, they allowed me into the premium economy line, which had no one waiting in it.
My frustration was amplified when I waited 10 minutes at the front of the line when the agents working the two premium economy counters invited four groups of economy-class passengers to check in before me. This did not indicate a premium experience. That said, the counter agent was friendly and efficient in checking my bags when it was finally my turn.
Security and immigration were a breeze. Premium economy passengers on most airlines don’t get lounge access (Japan Airlines is a notable exception). However, I stopped by the Centurion Lounge for a quick bite to eat, thanks to my Amex Platinum card.
Then came the most frustrating part of my travel experience: the boarding process.
Ahead of a 12:30 p.m. scheduled departure, the screens said the gate would open at 11:30 a.m. When I arrived, I encountered a cordoned-off area with third-party Menzies Aviation security personnel sitting down. There was no signage indicating to passengers that there would be a security check nor that they should wait, nor were there any announcements over the intercom.
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Other passengers were visibly confused and some distressed at the lack of communication.
A long, snaking line through the middle of the airport walkway formed and 15 minutes later, the security personnel started their secondary security questioning of passengers. Then, cleared passengers were crammed into a small area that did not have enough seats for all passengers to sit down.
We were stuck in this area for another 30 minutes with no announcements over the intercom nor from the security personnel before passengers jostled with each other to head downstairs to the actual boarding area.
Eventually, I made my way onto the upper-deck jet bridge, where business and premium economy passengers board, and where there was another five-minute wait to actually step onto the plane.
MATT MOFFITT/THE POINTS GUY
The airport experience seemed to be an unnecessarily stressful hurry-up-then-wait experience and reflected poorly on the airline. We departed 40 minutes late but arrived on time to Los Angeles.
How comfortable was premium economy on Qantas?
The Qantas A380 premium economy cabin has 60 seats set up in a mostly 2-3-2 configuration at the back of the jet’s upper deck. The last two rows have fewer seats to accommodate a larger galley on the left-hand side of the plane.
The cabin on the 787 is less than half the size, with just 28 seats set up in a 2-3-2 configuration in four rows.
The cabin and seats are slick and aesthetically pleasing with black, metallic-gray, ochre-red and brown tones.
As mentioned earlier, I selected 31K, a bulkhead window seat. The cabin was only 30% full, so no one except those traveling with a companion had anyone sitting next to them, including me.
Here’s the basic layout of the cabin and seats:
Cabin layout
2-3-2
Recline
9 1/2 inches
Seat pitch
38 inches for most seats; 42 inches for bulkhead seats
Seat width
19 1/2 inches on the A380; 20 1/2 inches on the 787
Screen size
13.3 inches
There are a few seats to avoid, especially those toward the back of the cabin.
Best seats for couples
Any pair of A and B seats in rows 31-36* or J and K seats in rows 31-39
*Just be aware that if you are seated in 31B or 31J, the curtain separating the business and premium economy cabins may drape on your legs.
Seats to avoid
37A, 37B, 39E, 39F, 40J and 40K due to limited recline and proximity to the lavatory
38D due to proximity to the lavatory
My seat was directly behind one of the lavatories, so I was worried that passengers might gather in the aisle near me to wait to use the facilities. But it turns out there was a wall separating it from the premium economy cabin, so crowding wasn’t an issue.
MATT MOFFITT/THE POINTS GUY
On long-haul flights between the U.S. mainland and Australia, getting a reasonable amount of sleep is a major factor. Unfortunately, Qantas premium economy does not shine in this regard.
On my 14-hour flight, I was able to sleep on and off, but only for about six hours. Admittedly, there was a lot of turbulence. However, I found it difficult to get into a comfortable position to snooze. With the pillow attached to the headrest, there is very little head support to prevent your head from moving from side to side.
And while this aircraft has individual air nozzles, which I put on full blast before dozing off, I woke up sweating and realized that the cabin crew had shut off all of the air nozzles after our meal service when they dimmed the lights.
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The major seat design flaw is that if you aren’t lucky enough to be in a bulkhead seat with no one in front of you (like I was) and the passenger in front of you reclines, you’ll feel cramped. If you’re in a window seat, leaving your seat to go to the restroom will be difficult without performing some calisthenics.
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Contrast this to the most common and new A350-1000 offerings from Japan Airlines, which are shell-style seats that do not encroach on fellow passengers’ space.
Air New Zealand offers the most legroom if you’re flying to the South Pacific, with a generous seat pitch of 41 inches. American Airlines, Delta, Qantas and United Airlines all conform to the industry standard of 38 inches. Of the five airlines mentioned in this paragraph, Qantas does tend to offer the widest seats, though.
Air New Zealand premium economy. KATIE GENTER/THE POINTS GUY
Despite the recent refurbishment of Qantas’s A380 fleet, the non-electric recline button means you’ll need to manually push your seat into recline mode — and use some force to pull it back up its upright position.
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Most seats have an adjustable legrest with a kind of mesh net for your feet, which does provide some ergonomic relief.
Bulkhead seats have a different style of footrest, which folds up from the wall in front of you. I’m 5 feet, 11 inches, and could not stretch my legs out completely.
Moving onto storage, you’ll have limited options if you’re not in a window seat. The aisle and middle seats only have a small storage compartment attached to the seatback in front for a phone, charger or earplugs.
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Window passengers get a ton of space with the storage bins next to the wall, which easily fit laptops, tablets, toiletries bags and books.
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In the center console, there is a small groove to place earbuds.
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Despite the A380 being the largest commercial aircraft in the sky, the overhead compartments are shallow, meaning full-size carry-ons need to be placed on their side rather than upright, contrary to the direction new aircraft are going.
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Each seat has two USB-A charging ports, one in the armrest along with a headphone jack, and one in the entertainment screen. The columns between seats have a universal power plug, so you might have to share with a neighbor.
The 21-inch-wide fold-out table deploys manually from the armrest, and I found it sturdy when eating and watching shows on my iPad.
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Each seat has a soft-yellow mood light, elevating the cabin’s ambience upon boarding. However, they shine quite brightly when the cabin lights are turned off.