At the forward left door we were welcomed by one of the first class crew members and pointed to our seats, 2A and 3A. Qantas' first class cabin is rather unconventional, as it's the only A380 first class product with three seats per row (in fairness, Etihad has two seats per row, though). 😉 There…
Continue reading: Review: Qantas First Class A380 Sydney To Los Angeles
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Another excellent report. Sorry it was disappointing though, even from the pictures the food looks underwhelming.
I didn't see it mentioned in the post, which champagne of the 3 were they serving?
Ben, how come you are not fat? Haha not to be rude, but you guys do eat a lot in those travels, ae?
Besides that, loved this trip with your father!
I've flown QF premium cabins many times, and I never fail to be disappointed. I don't know why it's so highly rated in some of the 'top 10' lists. Flight attendants couldn't give a damn about service. I'd rate QR, CX, SQ and EK above QF any day.
@ Front office -- Still have to give the nod to Qantas for more personal space and better bedding, all else being equal.
@ Bernando -- Haven't been gone about it lately (too much flying!), but when I'm on the ground and in one timezone I try to work out every day. Could lose a few pounds at this point from way too much travel. 😀
Do the various privacy shields raise automatically or is it up to each passenger? (I could imagine, for example, that a center passenger might prefer to have their shield down to feel less claustrophobic and/or be better able to see out the windows, but then that makes it a less private experience for the people on the left aisle.)
Also, I assume you already know this but it isn't clear from your review -- when an airline uses three-prong headphones, the third prong is smaller than the other two and simply provides power to the noise-cancelling feature on the headphone. You can use your own noise-cancelling headphones with a standard two-prong airplane adapter in the two larger prongs, and it will be just the same as any other use of your own headphones in an IFE system.
" It always pisses me off " - really? that intense?
also, did you look at the seat map the day before? was F full because of upgrades? or do they really sell out their F cabin?
@ Lantean -- Nothing "intense" about it. I like when airlines have good headphones.
Was, cabin was mostly full a couple of days out, though Qantas is also one of the few airlines which seems to allow employees into first class with some regularity.
Ben,
I love the steak sandwich and you didn't comment on whether it tasted good. If it was great, like I remember, than the soft product goes up in my estimation.
I also loved all the starters and ordered two of them so my experience differed from you greatly.
I also thought the service was superb -- extremely friendly and happy-to-be-there FA's.
Ben, did you use a different camera for these pictures? The pic quality is rather poor compared to previous posts, particularly the menu pictures.
What is your general opinion of QANTAS business class between SYD or MEL and LAX, and then on to NYC on the 747? Thanks.
@ Mike -- I've heard good things about Qantas in business class, and really enjoyed my flight between Los Angeles and New York. Stay tuned for more on that.
I'm bored now. Always the same airlines, same hotels and geek pictures galore (10+ on board camera photo's, 5+ photo's of the IFE).
What I'm really waiting for are reviews of Garuda's F and other less known but potentially great products, more business class instead of first, more non-suite reviews....
@ ralf -- It has been about five years since I've reviewed Qantas first class. Sorry you're bored.
Couldn't agree more with Ralf. Give us them Garuda F, Kuwait F, EgyptAir J, LCCs, Economy Class in general and more.. are really missed here.
Why don't you make one trip where you use them all? Perhaps LCC domestic US, MS JFK-CAI, Kuwait CAI-KWI-(KUL)-CGK, Garuda whatever you like.
At the end of the day we are all probably far more familar with many airlines Economy class products! I read these posts to give me aspirations of a more luxury travel experience! That said, I would like to see reviews of Turkish, Sri Lanka, Garuda, and any other not so mainstream airlines business class. Or links if they have already been done please.
@ Abdel / @ Ralf -- Lucky doesn't usually review Y flights (at least, domestic US). Periodically he solicits feedback on what products to review and I think in the past year he has done some new flights (just not everything has been posted on the blog yet).
I didn't mean to be negative. But rather sooner than later, I guess most readers will become uninterested by yet another Emirates F, LH F,..., report.
And reviews of a new aircraft with the same hard product do not add much value either, although I probably underestimate the number of airline freaks here.
Perhaps not by you, but Qantas First was again reviewed this or last week on boardingarea.
@Ivan. I know Lucky focuses on luxury travel. But a great C class is that too.
I'm not interested in Y reviews. There is hardly any differentiation between Y products, they are all terrible, and plain torture with Lucky's travel patterns.
It seems a little odd that Quantas would serve lunch and breakfast, but not dinner.
Ben, you only flew QF F in the SYD-LAX direction. I find that the food is much better in the LAX-SYD direction. I usually get fish and it is much better LAX-SYD. I find that to be the case on other airlines as well - better out of LAX.
And I do miss the DOM that QF used to fly in F.
Now Ben - with all that food - how do you stay so slim? I guess it is called youth.
Qantas F always seems to be full. They offer points upgrades for 45,000 Qantas points for SYD-LAX for passengers traveling on business class fares, and enough people take it. After all, it is a much better bed in F than in business.
Apparently there are always plenty of staff around entitled to sit in F when it is empty, but we have no first hand experience of that happening.
I enjoy Ben's reviews of luxury products and I love lot's of pictures. Gives me realistic expectations of the product. Keep up the good work Ben!
I can assure you that fish dish cannot be worse than the one I had on my SQ SIN LHR flight last year, though it was in coach. It sorta smelled of something like it wasn't fresh and it was tasteless.
@ Randy -- Hah, hardly slim, but I do watch all my reality TV on the treadmill. 😀
@ Christian -- In practice there's not really a difference between "lunch" and "dinner." It would be the same thing. But agree for a 3PM departure you'd think they would call it dinner.
Australians have a "thing" about fish being cooked until it's a brick bat that requires a knife to cut... Even if one pleads with a restaurant to undercook the fish, it still tends to come out one way. Contrasting this is the Etihad flight from SFO-AUH on Jet Airways in F in which the fish was perfectly done, and fell into flakes with a touch of the fork. How they did this in an airplane galley is beyond me. The food (mainly Indian-themed as one might expect) on Jet Airways was even better than that on Etihad metal from LAX-AUH in F.
The Qantas hard product looks plain and a little tacky compared to EY or EK.
I flew QF First last month on an AA award ticket. Having only experienced BA and AA First previously (also on award tickets), I'm probably not as jaded as someone who travels like this for a living. I still marvel at being able to partake in the miracle of flight in a First Class space, and the soft product on any of them is light years more extravagant compared to daily life. I suspect it will be a while before I can say things in international First Class "piss me off" or are "disappointing", or quibble with the soft product because of "a lack of attentiveness".
A while back I asked you which two F seats you would recommend on this flight and you suggested 2A & 3A. I was able to get both of these seats and have to say that they were perfect! Loved having aisle access with only a couple other people on that side of plane. Thanks for promptly answering my question and for providing quality tips, tricks, and information that has allowed my husband and I to travel first class while spending the money that we used to spend on coach. Actually, many times our trips are less expensive than economy flights and hotels!
It would be telling to read what corrective action the crew offered if told the fish was hockey puck material. On the other hand, serving a protein so obviously overcooked does not show attention to details. The only way to rescue that fish is to toss it in a salad and drown it in dressing. The fact the FA did not pick on the body language clues showing lack of enthusiasm for the meal leaves a lot to be desired about training and promotion screenings. I'll spare you my thoughts about the ice cream on a stick.
You really didn't know that QF use Marc Newson tableware who designed the First lounge and the First Suite? It's all over the QF website....
http://www.qantasshop.com.au/subcategory-58-Tableware
I have flown MEL-LAX in F two years ago. I had an excellent experience on QF First Class. Not quite Etihad, but a very good product indeed. I loved the toast, eggs and salmon for breakfast; and I thought the tasting menu was pretty cool.
Ben,
how did you manage to get 2 QF F class tickets on the same flight using AA miles. From your earlier posts I understand that getting 1 is very difficult.
Can you explain your planning for this leg
@ Sarit -- I used the strategy explained in this post:
https://onemileatatime.com/great-deals/award-sweet-spots/
Your trout, even if it was rainbow trout, sure looks a lot like salmon.....just sayin'.
Great review, how do you rate Qantas first compared to British Airways first? I recently flew in first with BA to JFK and wasn't impressed one bit with their so called first class product. The only good part was the Concorde lounge in LHR.
@ Rich -- Qantas is still quite a bit better, in my opinion. The seat is significantly more spacious.
Great Review, Was just looking at the breakfast menu....smoked ocean trout...I mean it looks nice but...isn't trout meant to be a freshwater fish... "ocean" doesn't quite make sense haha
Keep up these fantastic reports Ben!! I'm a loyal follower, here and on instagram.. And I'm always comparing notes with you. Good stuff 🙂
Thanks!
For an LHR-DXB routing would you go QF in F or QR in J or F? I don't mind the connection in DOH and I guess the new Al-Safwa lounge should be worth checking out later this year.
@ Dan @ Brad -- I'd probably go with Qantas first class, assuming it only costs marginally more miles. It's a direct flight, so seems worth it for the convenience.
@ Dan -- Well if price were equal as well, I'd still take first over business class.
Were you pretty happy with your seat selection for this flight? I keep seeing some prefer 2A and some prefer 3A for a solo traveler. Would you have rather had 3A for this flight?
@ Dan -- Not sure there's really a difference. 2A & 3A are basically the same, in my opinion.
Hi Lucky,
Just wondering for the route from Sydney to London would you prefer QF(A380), BA(B777) or EK(A380) in First Class?
No bueno- looked liked an american carriers business class product-wretched. No way quantas. Improve or go under.
Hi, loved your review. Soon to fly F class Qantas with my wife. Are there any seats you could recommend where we could at least see each other in flight. I kw we can dine together but I was hoping that the config would enable us to see each other. Thanks.
I've always heard great things about QF but the F cabin looks quite plain - all beige and molded plastic - certainly nowhere near as "First Class" as say, Qatar's A380 cabin. As for the food, I'm surprised. Again, one hears great things about the QF tasting menus but from your description, I might do better to chow down at the excellent restaurant in the First Class lounge at SYD. Thanks for the update though. I'm thinking I'll probably not fly Qantas First but instead go with its Business Class.
Interesting review. Can't agree with the music comment. I guess they mostly play old stuff because its mostly oldies in the cabin. If I had to listen to more than a couple of minutes of that Imogen Heap stuff, I'd be ripping my hair out. Dreadful. But I want to know where you get all these points from. I've been a travel consultant for over 40 years and certainly don't have points to fly 400,000 miles a year. I guess you actually don't do much consulting otherwise you wouldn't have time to do all those miles. Lucky is definitely a good moniker.
Not being funny, but animals gave up their lives and you both have the temerity to complain about the quality of them.
I'm looking at either booking Qantas First Class, or Emirates First class from Singapore to Australia (now that the Qantas a380 is visiting Singapore again) . How would you rate QF F over EK F? i've flown EK F in the past and loved it, but i was thinking of trying out QF as its a product i've never tried in F before.
If English is your first language, your primary school teachers are on suicide watch.
Your site is having serious issues - bouncing to the bottom of the article over and over.