QF Premium Economy

[mattyflyer]

Im going to london at the end of the year and I loahte Y but cant afford j. Is the PE product on QF any good??? What extras do you get in PE that you dont get in Y??? Any experiences???

 

[samh004]

http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/international-premium-economy-class/global/en

Ots often not worth the price. Have you considered Y to SIN/BKK/HKG and then PE/J from there onwards, could drive the cost down a little and still leave you in a better position. Or even perhaps BA/CX?

 

[docjames]

Well I think it's worth it - especially if you can get it on sale.

Please do a search as there's a heap of threads on this topic.

A few tips though:

1. Dont end up on a QF codeshare on a BA flight (the BA Y+ is rubbish).
2. Sam has made a good recommendation if you are trying to save money.
3. Finnair offer a great mixed class airfare where you fly Y to either HKG or SIN (on QF or CX usually), then J on Finnair to HEL and wherever your final destination is in Europe. For the OP, Finnair is part of Oneworld so you'll earn FF points and SCs, and it ends up a similar price to Qantas non-sale Y+ all the way. Note also HEL is a very easy airport to transit with short connection times.
4. There's not a huge difference between the Y+ product on the 744 or 380 (some will have preferences) so dont let that be the deciding factor if there's other facotrs at play (schedule, price etc).


Unless massively constrained budget-wise, i'd definately go Y+ if travelling to EU over Y.

 

[pauly7]

http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/international-premium-economy-class/global/en


Ots often not worth the price.

How many times have you flown PE on Qantas Sam? And which generation - the 744 or 380 version??

 

[Mal]

PE is definitely better than Economy, But, as commented - it is overpriced at full rate usually.

IMHO, the catering has gone downhill over the last couple of years. Used to be much better and a Business - , now I feel it's more Economy food with some extras from Business added.

The seats are spacious, but don't solve the issue of having to jump over people to get out of some seats.

Also included is Business blanket and Noise Cancelling headphones.

 

[TonyHancock]

Well I think it's worth it - especially if you can get it on sale.

Please do a search as there's a heap of threads on this topic.

A few tips though:

1. Dont end up on a QF codeshare on a BA flight (the BA Y+ is rubbish).
2. Sam has made a good recommendation if you are trying to save money.
3. Finnair offer a great mixed class airfare where you fly Y to either HKG or SIN (on QF or CX usually), then J on Finnair to HEL and wherever your final destination is in Europe. For the OP, Finnair is part of Oneworld so you'll earn FF points and SCs, and it ends up a similar price to Qantas non-sale Y+ all the way. Note also HEL is a very easy airport to transit with short connection times.
4. There's not a huge difference between the Y+ product on the 744 or 380 (some will have preferences) so dont let that be the deciding factor if there's other facotrs at play (schedule, price etc).


Unless massively constrained budget-wise, i'd definately go Y+ if travelling to EU over Y.

Wot docjames said! (Haven't tried Finnair yet, but I'm looking at their J offering.)

I have a preference for the A380, in Y+, with QF, if I can get 38J or K

 

[samh004]

How many times have you flown PE on Qantas Sam? And which generation - the 744 or 380 version??

Neither as I'm not made of money, but a lack of actually trying it doesn't mean I can't collate the vast majority of views here over the years into a recommendation.

The view that if you haven't tried something, you can't comment on it, is useless on a forum with so many viewpoints and TR's where you virtually can try things, without trying them

 

[pauly7]

Neither as I'm not made of money, but a lack of actually trying it doesn't mean I can't collate the vast majority of views here over the years into a recommendation.

The view that if you haven't tried something, you can't comment on it, is useless on a forum with so many viewpoints and TR's where you virtually can try things, without trying them

I didn't put any view out there or hold any view that you shouldn't be commenting on it even though you have never set foot in the QF PE cabin.... No need to be defensive

I was actually just interested on what I thought was your experience because you were quite flat out that you didn't think it was worth it so wanted to know why - and you didn't mention in your post you were simply posting an opinion based on the opinion of others!

Having flown both generations through work and personal I definitely think it is worth a significant premium over Y, probably not the rack rate though - but who in this forum ever pays the rack rate on anything

 

[samh004]

I didn't put any view out there or hold any view that you shouldn't be commenting on it even though you have never set foot in the QF PE cabin.... No need to be defensive

I was actually just interested on what I thought was your experience because you were quite flat out that you didn't think it was worth it so wanted to know why - and you didn't mention in your post you were simply posting an opinion based on the opinion of others!

Having flown both generations through work and personal I definitely think it is worth a significant premium over Y, probably not the rack rate though - but who in this forum ever pays the rack rate on anything

Oh sorry, sometimes hard to gauge what the tone of a post is.

It does appear that service is slipping for the product though, and I do think saving money to a halfway point and then splashing out is the way to go. especially considering the ridiculous Australian prices

 

[Maca44]

About 2 years ago my brother flew JAL in Y+ for around $1900, which involved arriving from Sydney into Narita about 5pm, overnight in hotel, and then a midday departure to LHR the next day. I have never flown Y+ and this was my brother's first time, but he was very happy with the cost and service. I don't know if they are still available.

 

[Dalescott]

We looked at PE as against J at the end of last year and beginning of this year. Finally when we went to the FC travel show in Melbourne early this year, we sat in PE seats. We where both very disappointed. We had previously checked Skytrek, and also looked at You tube of videos of the cheaper end of the market. I think it comes down to how you look at it. If you normally fly Y then PE will be OK. But if you normally fly J, then you will be disappointed. We normally fly J, and decided to look at the cheaper end of the market. We were flying EK mixed, but it is now $5999, and the cheaper mixed is around $5500. For around $5800 we can get J to UK or Paris with China Southern, to name but a few. I have just checked the costs on Jet abroad. I also believe that the Middle Eastern airlines and in particular EK have dropped their service levels, and I could not fault China Southern when we went with them, China Eastern was another matter.

 

[ellen10]

Two years ago we flew home from London in Premium Economy QF on the A380. We were in a set of 2, which looked better than the 4 across the middle. After only previously experiencing Y we were impressed. The plane was only 2 months old, we liked the bigger seats and side lockers. The service was excellent and food v good, and nice being in a small cabin. The only negative we found was with the extra incline in front, it was a little harder getting out of my window seat. But we did sleep better.

After the experience we vowed to always travel Y+. However when booking our flights to Europe this year we found the price too expensive. Our better option was to pay and book for seat selection (choosing a set of 2 at the back of plane). Our return flight is on the A380 in seat 80A/B. Our fares were less than half what it would have cost in PE so we felt the money would be better spent on our 6 weeks in Europe.

 

[lukaboy]

I recently flew JAL Y+ and was really happy with it. I have flown QF Y+ alot and it isn't quite the same (and economy meals) but at about 1500 bucks cheaper at the time it gave me space, lounge access, attentive and really pleasant FA's, good free flowing champagne and a good IFE experience. And there are plenty of worse cities to stay in that Tokyo for a day or two (btw the new Capital Hotel in Tokyo is terrific!).

So JAL might be worth considering...

 

[winfred]

I have flown QF Y+ many times and would compare them with QF domestic J. I would not paid $5.5k for Y+ to go to LHR. I normally fly HKG-MEL-HKG and pay HK$9500 (A$1200) instead of A$4k if I fly MEL-HKG-MEL.

I agree that Finnair is a very good alternative but be mindful that the HEL-LHR leg will be Y seats with J service in a 3-3 config with middle seat blocked off.

I would also consider Asiana.

 

[Katie]

I've fot a trip report in the teip repoprt thread with some photos of QF Y+ food and details of the menus. I've only flown in a proper Y+ seat once (was very lucky with Y+ in J seats to LAX for a while), and I'd say they're better than Y, but not as comfy as J. Worth it for this 6' tall traveller.

 

[juddles]

Each to their own. It really depends what your desires are. I fly a lot of long haul sectors, (nowadays almost always with QF) which have mainly been Y class, but do bit of PE and occaisionally J. My personal views are:

1.- PE is MUCH better than Y due to superior service and better seats.
2.- BUT, the price difference is substantial. Unless someone else is paying or you are a suffering frequent business traveller, most people on holidays or whatever would probably be much happier having a couple of extra grand spending money. For eg $2000 could pay for a VERY nice weekend away from home for the family, at the mere cost of just bearing with a cough seat on a couple of long flights.
3.- Every time I fly Y long haul, at the actual time I am in the air I wish I had of spent the extra for PE or J, but after I have arrived I am glad I saved the money. But I do truly dread each time I am about to fly Y long haul.
4.- If you know you are going to do a lot of flying over a long period, start out in Y and eventually work your way forward. After doing a trans-pacific in J on a QF A380, it is VERY hard to go back to Y!!
5.- Last thing, and again this is personal taste, but I would prefer a Y seat with a spare seat next to me than a PE seat between two other people, any day of the year.

Just my thoughts....

 

[Andyzx]

There are a few trip reports in PE so check those out.

Ocassionally they fly a 3 class SYD PER and return this might give you a cheap experiance in PE if you want to try but it would be difficult to anticipate the flights but others may have some opinions

Dont fly BA Y+ it is not worth it as said before.

i think that it would be nice in the A380s as an experiance but like others a stop over or extra time over there may be better value. Try looking at PE or J fares from BKK, SIN, HKG and Y from Oz to there may be worth the smaller amount of extra for the long legs