We boarded through the forward left door, where I quickly took a glance into the business class section in the nose, before heading towards the stairs leading to the upper deck. Nowadays Qantas' 747s are three class, meaning they have just business class, premium economy, and economy. This plane has three business class cabins --…
Continue reading: Review: Qantas Business Class 747 Los Angeles To New York
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How do you search/book LAX-JFK availability using AA miles? I tried searching for/booking JFK-LAX on QF when connecting to my LAX-MEL flight in F on the A380 without any luck. Eventually I had to settle on AA F for the JFK-LAX portion.
While a wide body is nice to try once on that route, that's disappointingly spartan service for a sector of that length.
I'll choose AA on that route for a connection from Australia.
I flew Brisbane to LAX in 5J... great seat. It was like a personal throne in the air! Lots of storage due to the extra cubby... tons of leg room due to the exit and no one climbing over you. Great for the solo traveler.
Happy Australia Day!
There is always something special seeing the Red Roo at JFK nearly 16,000km from home. Those Business class seats were always good for sleeping as it's really the only thing to do when flying from Australia to, well, anywhere! Pain if you're sitting at the window and don't know your seat partner who is trying to sleep when you want to explore! Will be interested to see how the new A330 seats go internationally.
If I'm connecting from Hong Kong to Los Angeles, can I book this as a way to get to NY?
Would you still pick the upper deck seats over the ones in the nose even with the dirty lavatory ?
@ julie -- Yes, I would assume the lavatory on the main deck wasn't any cleaner.
@ James K. -- Legally yes, but if redeeming American miles my understanding is that they'll only let you book it in conjunction with another Qantas flight.
I have the app plane finder on my phone, and on thanksgiving I actually saw your plane, it flew right over me, but there were a lot of clouds, so I didn't actually see the plane. I thought it was really cool though.
Though few bloggers cover this, this QF 107/108 (soon to be re-numbered) is the best way to fly transcon in the US.
It can be used with any international routing, even with a stopover. So, you could fly LAX-JFK-[stopover]-YYZ or JFK-LAX-[stopover]-MEX or something like that and be lawful. Even LAX-JFK-LHR would work. I don't know anyone who has tried this with throw-away ticketing for the last segment, but in theory that could be an option.
Sadly, however, these QF J seats are eventually going away from QF's fleet. These seats, like KE's, are pretty much the last paired lie-flat seats in J in the sky where you don't put your feet in a little cubbyhole. (BA J has no cubby-hole, either.) So much more room for your body and feet with these seats.
And, get a window seat on the upper deck at the exit row and you get plenty of side-locker storage and easy up and down without bothering your neighbor...best of all worlds. The new seats coming to QF are just another "fancied" version of staggered J. 🙁
@lucky
I love this product
Especially for the lax to jfk route
It's one of the best products out there
Why doesn't Qantas have a First class cabin ? Is that a special seating plan just for the LAX-JFK route?
@ Andrew -- Qantas has reconfigured all of their 747s without a first class cabin. They improved the business class cabin, added premium economy, and eliminated first class.
@andrew QF eliminated F on the 744s, they're only available on the A388s, though the j seats are now fully flat.
These seats are pretty similar to the Virgin Australia 777 product. Very comfortable for sleeping and loads of legroom. There is really something to be said about side by side seats when traveling as a pair.
Great report and pics! I am confused as where the TV is? Does that cover on the back of the seat come off? Also, do you think they FAs prob told the gate agents to put all the people in upper J to keep it clean/free? or maybe a common practice?
ps..not to be picky...well in a way yes, you have arrival at 5:50P AM at the beginning 🙂
@ c -- The TV is in the console between seats. The nose was also fairly full, I think that most people simply chose the nose or upper deck since those are the most desirable places to sit.
Ben you know you want to buy some of those Qantas coffee cups 😉
I don't like how Airlines assume that passenger rather wanna sleep. Some people just wanna eat and if they paid thousands dollars for a ticket, they should serve them food. What if someone end up sleep the whole flight from SYD-LAX, then jump on this one wishing to eat... and they only have this sad salmon to offer....
Ben, how can i book this QF flight fm LAX to JFK as a BA avios award instead of booking an AA flight ?
Once again, your post and comments have misinformation.
F has not been eliminated from all 744s in QF's fleet. There are a number that still have the old F product that are sold as J which QF Platinum and OW Emeralds can preselect. These primarily do flights to and from Asia SIN until the A330s get the new Business Suite.
Also, QF have a menu you can order small plates from at anytime in Y+, J and F.
"The upper deck lavatories were in permanently disgusting condition. They looked like they hadn’t been cleaned in a decade… Soon enough we were already on our descent into New York." Sounds about right.
OEB and OJM both have a first cabin. To say first class has been eliminated from Qantas's B744s is incorrect.
@ mark — "Locker" is the nautical term for a stowage compartment, and its use seems appropriate here since shipbuilding and aircraft-building share much of the same jargon (e.g., hull, port, starboard, forward, aft, etc.).
@NYBanker: I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that these are among the last paired seats without foot wells. Just off the top of my head, I can think of LAN, LOT, Turkish, and Air China. I'm sure there are others.
Lucky -- I booked a business class award ticket on Qantas from DFW to SYD for November 2016. I went on QF's website to assign a seat and the first ~6 rows are blocked (I'm trying to secure the forward mini-cabin). Any suggestions on how to get one of these seats? Thanks!
Dear Ben,
How can you book LAX-JFK on qantas? I don't think it's possible right? Or were you onboard sydney to los angeles?
@ Chris -- I flew from Sydney to Los Angeles as well. It can only be booked in conjunction with an international flight.
Now you cannot go on QF 109 just from LAX to NYC; You have to get on from Sydney.
Sorry to dig up an old thread -- but I agree that the Qantas coffee cups are useless. They are tiny, hard to hold and spill. I actually don't drink coffee (I drink tea) so I actually asked for two or three cups at a time. The same goes for the Qantas domestic lounges in Australia -- they use the same cups.... and I take two or three cups of tea at a time.