premium economy

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maz1

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what are the latest opinions about qantas premium economy? worth it or not? and is it worth using qff for premium economy seats long haul (to LAX)?

thanks in advance
 
My son did Premium economy to Lax in November. I asked him what he thought of it a couple of days ago and he thought it was worth it (mind you I paid not him, so he might have had a different view if he had paid for it).
 
I think it is worth it over whY, when you can get a decent fare. I'm not sure about the value obtained when using QFF points for a reward seat. What is the point cost compared to J?
 
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I was looking at a trip stateside later this year, and considered the option of Y+ and then trying for a points upgrade to J, my thinking being that if unsuccessful, I was at least NOT flying in whY.
So I think it's worth the extra regardless, and that's before I have flown in Y+
 
GPH said:
I was looking at a trip stateside later this year, and considered the option of Y+ and then trying for a points upgrade to J
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+1

I recently did exactly that, booked Y+ for a midweek flights there and back and received points upgrade to J both ways. I am only SG, you are WP so would have even better chance of upgrade than me.
 
From memory, premium economy using QF points costs 1.5x that of Y. J costs 2x a Y award. So, I think I would personally book a J ticket if one was available. But failing that, I think premium economy is a pretty good back-up and worth the extra over Y.
 
My company pays for Y+, never J, so I've become quite used to it over the last few years.

My last 747 Y+ trip was to Japan, and was very good. The service was consistent, food decent and wine as always with Qantas was very good. I would not say the legroom was quite as good as Air NZ's Y+ as the Qantas recline is quite high so I did feel a bit stuck in the window seat. However for the mid-length flight to Tokyo and back it was totally fine and I got a decent sleep. The Y+ cabin on the 747 is quite small but certainly you're in a much better place then Y! Bring your own headphones as the ones they give are fairly cough in my opinion.

For LAX I always use points to upgrade to J from Y+, and so far have a 100%success rate with points upgrades, even though im only SG. So to date i've never actually ended up in the A380 Y+ and cannot comment on how it compares to the 747. But I'd say its even better and likely to be even more worth the money as those flights are so incredibly long!
 
I'm in the same boat as Shamrock. I've always booked Y+ to LAX but so far have always used points to upgrade to J. I'm sure my luck is going to run out somewhere along the line though! I've always figured the smaller cabin and 2-3-2 is far, far better than being stuck in Y, so even though I've never actually flown in Y+ I still see it as worth it.
 
maz1 said:
what are the latest opinions about qantas premium economy? worth it or not?

thanks in advance
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I've flown QF Y+ and VA Y+ to north america - the QF option is actually pretty good.

we had the QF Y+ to YVR on the 747 - small cabin, better service, and for the hard product, it was great!

How much extra $ are you looking at between Y and Y+?
 
Having flown QF Y; Y+; J and F to the US in both the 747 (Y and J) and A380 (Y+, J and F) - I would have no hesitation booking a premium economy flight in future if it was the most cost-effective.

It is a decent step up from Y, particularly in the more exclusive upstairs cabin of the A380.

Seeking a points upgrade to J is also a good strategy as others suggest. To me, the main differences from J are the guaranteed extra legroom of J (no-one reclining back into you) and the flat bed. As I rarely use the bed anyway that's not a big deal for me, and if you can secure an aisle and/or bulkhead row the recline / legroom issue is somewhat lesser as well. Food and drink marginally better in J and F but not worth the cost.
 
thank you for all of your replies- in answer to a few of those replies:

i have decided I am not going to pay for the flight - i am going to use my QFF-
one way back from LAX is 72,000 points per seat - 2 seats - and here's the bug - the taxes are over US$700.
I have not managed to find Premium Economy for the outward flights yet-

i'm assuming that because i'm booking the flight one way from LAX homeward, i will have to pay the taxes is US$ making is expensive because of the exchange rate.

also- a couple of the replies spoke about upgrading to J with points- but, i'm assuming that's not a possibility in this case (if already using points to book the flights)

of course, I'm well aware that the chances of getting J seats return Melbourne to LAX are extremely slim- i've been searching for months. this would of course be my preference but i'm fast losing hope.
 
I booked some award flights for a friend mel-lax return in J/F and spent some months monitoring them so I knew what I was doing. You really need to book pretty much as soon as they are released and mid week is easier to get than weekends. I think it is 355 days and 10 am - I just used the calendar and whatever was the last day that wasn't greyed out I knew that was the day. If you are not booking the day they are released then you have to be quite lucky to get them. Sometimes they don't release on the "normal" day so you have to keep checking until they do and sometimes someone might cancel an award. Y+ is a bit easier I think although haven't looked at them much for awards.
 
maz1 said:
also- a couple of the replies spoke about upgrading to J with points- but, i'm assuming that's not a possibility in this case (if already using points to book the flights)
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Correct. That's only possible if you have a paid/revenue ticket, and not an award.
 
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Recently flew MEL-LAX-MEL. Company pays for Y so I always request points upgrade both ways. Got Y+ on the way over, J on the way back. Upgrade cost 45k points to Y+, 72k to J. First time in Y+ for a long time - usually Y or J. Wasn't particularly impressed with Y+. Extra legroom was good but food and general service not much better than Y. OK value using points but I personally wouldn't pay almost double $ for Y+ (I remember when the upgrade cost $200!).
 
I'd echo the above sentiments. I've flown QF PE in their 747s on SYD-JNB-SYD and SYD-NRT and found them as a cost effective way to getting into a pseudo-J cabin. The service was great, food and wine good and the extra space is a real plus (as I love the view, but also have a bladder the size of a walnut therefore am always needing to visit the mens...).
I've also had a decent amount of luck upgrading to J too (as a NB and a PS the second time).
 
One benefit of the Y+ cabin that hasn't been mentioned is that your shoulder room is so much wider. I hate economy not because of the leg room, but because you are knocking shoulders with your neighbor for the entire flight. In this way, Qantas is far superior to Virgin. Virgin's Y+ gives you the same seat as economy, but with extra leg room. With Qantas, you get your own wide arm rest (wide enough to put a drink on).
 
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