Qantas Economy Plus Launching Feb 2026

[sevenfourtyseven]

Today's press release notes the following - "The airline will begin reconfiguration of its 737 aircraft in December." ex-SQ birds first with the new seats or has the overall timeline moved up on the refurb of the 737s?

 

[elanshin]

It's just a rebrand of something they already had, taking inspiration from their overseas partners, and charging more for it (unless you happen to have high enough status).

The change to WP is at least there. It was a bit strange on the 220 they didn't give r5-9 on the left for free to WP. R4 being reserved for P1 i can understand.

 

[DejaBrew]

I'm sorry you had to run to NZ so many times but you're now being demoted to the same as all the other platinums on the 738s ... Or maybe you'll keep row 4?

Wasn't thinking about myself when I posted, but now that you mention it......

 

[justinbrett]

It's just a rebrand of something they already had, taking inspiration from their overseas partners, and charging more for it (unless you happen to have high enough status).

Granting 4” extra pitch to 5 standard 737 rows is not something they already had.

Certainly not an original idea, and that’s the point, QF now has a legitimate Y+ product like many airlines.

 

[eastwest101]

So did we get to the bottom of how the physics inside the B738 fleet is going to work? When the refurb happens, will the B738 fleet be losing a row of Y seating, OR gaining another row of J and losing 1 or 2 rows of Y? with the forgone Y seats allowing the extra seat pitch? I'm assuming not an addition of another row of J class seats as the airline would have made a much bigger song and dance about that.

They could have just published a detailed seatmap and removed all doubt.

I understand that the A220 and A321 fleet are already set up for this, so no changes there, really just about the seat count and configuration in the B738 fleet going forwards.

Agree with others that removing a row of Y might just make the difference in delays flowing from the running out of overhead bin volume issue that the Qantas B738 fleet currently has (along with a lot of B738 operators). Just takes a 5-10 minute baggage/gate delay at SYD or MEL over the fleet over an average day to blow up any marginal revenue that could have been earned from the 6 Y seats that may or may not be filled. A lot of the golden triangle flights I have been on in QF B738s have been 95-100% load factors lately so the airline isn't having any problems filling seats lately.

 

[elanshin]

Granting 8” extra pitch to 5 standard 737 rows is not something they already had.

Certainly not an original idea, and that’s the point, QF now has a legitimate Y+ product like many airlines.

I think what we mean here is that this isn't a change for at least 3 years before its a reasonably common thing.

 

[moa999]

I'm assuming not an addition of another row of J class seats as the airline would have made a much bigger song and dance about that.

You should know by now that QF has at least four song and dances for every change.

 

[justinbrett]

So did we get to the bottom of how the physics inside the B738 fleet is going to work? When the refurb happens, will the B738 fleet be losing a row of Y seating, OR gaining another row of J and losing 1 or 2 rows of Y? with the forgone Y seats allowing the extra seat pitch? I'm assuming not an addition of another row of J class seats as the airline would have made a much bigger song and dance about that.

They could have just published a detailed seatmap and removed all doubt.

I understand that the A220 and A321 fleet are already set up for this, so no changes there, really just about the seat count and configuration in the B738 fleet going forwards.

Agree with others that removing a row of Y might just make the difference in delays flowing from the running out of overhead bin volume issue that the Qantas B738 fleet currently has (along with a lot of B738 operators). Just takes a 5-10 minute baggage/gate delay at SYD or MEL over the fleet over an average day to blow up any marginal revenue that could have been earned from the 6 Y seats that may or may not be filled. A lot of the golden triangle flights I have been on in QF B738s have been 95-100% load factors lately so the airline isn't having any problems filling seats lately.

I think we can rule out adding a row of J and removing one row of Y. It will have to be 2.

This makes the most sense to me, QF has needed more 737 J seats for years, and it offsets the cost of removing the Y seats.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Well I think this is great news!

Love MCE on AA. And about time we had that option domestically in AU. Especially for tall pax!

Flew on an old Thai Airways 777 a couple months ago between Bangkok and Singapore. It was configured 3-3-3 with 34 inch pitch in economy… it was like PEY! Very comfortable for short flights.

 

[DrJ]

If this means that the front part of Y will be a little less sardine class, this is a good change, though not so great for those without status. WP does seem to be the sweet spot.

 

[large]

Haven't gone through all the posts here but what about ADL QF passengers that get shafted on DRW BNE routes etc stuck on Alliance rebranded QantasLink Embrear 190's? Half the time we dont even get a QLK paint job, just a QQ plane with the QF price,

Oh, and QF club membership going up ($200 for 2 years) as of DEC 11 and no more 4 year memberships.......

 

[opusman]

Honestly I'm happy to pay a little extra for an extra legroom seat, but if there are 48 of them on a 737 it might be worth waiting until check-in for the chance of a free one as an SG.

 

[eastwest101]

I think we can rule out adding a row of J and removing one row of Y. It will have to be 2.

This makes the most sense to me, QF has needed more 737 J seats for years, and it offsets the cost of removing the Y seats.

Sorry that post is also a little cryptic, did you mean to suggest they will have to remove 2 rows of Y seating and add one row of J? Or add 2 rows of J class seating? Or remove 2 rows of Y and keep existing J seats the same number and redistribute the extra room gained from losing 2 rows of Y seating to the Economy Extra seating seat pitch?

I'm assuming the lack of "song and dance" is that J seat count will remain the same, and they will have to lose at least one but possibly 2 or more rows of Y seating to get the extra Y seat pitch, simple physics within a set floorspace in an aluminium tube.

 

[mviy]

I assume for 737, Economy Plus might just be on the refurbed 737 with new seating?

 

[Mwenenzi]

Aren’t they installing new lockers in the refurb?

May be a sticker "Economy+ only"
Looker doors do not align with seats now.

 

[justinbrett]

Sorry that post is also a little cryptic, did you mean to suggest they will have to remove 2 rows of Y seating and add one row of J? Or add 2 rows of J class seating? Or remove 2 rows of Y and keep existing J seats the same number and redistribute the extra room gained from losing 2 rows of Y seating to the Economy Extra seating seat pitch?

I'm assuming the lack of "song and dance" is that J seat count will remain the same, and they will have to lose at least one but possibly 2 or more rows of Y seating to get the extra Y seat pitch, simple physics within a set floorspace in an aluminium tube.

I thought it was clear, sorry.

+1xJ, -2x Y. Which is 2x30” - 37”, equals 23” space created. 20” needed for the 5 standard rows (5x4), with 3” remaining. Call that an allowance for rounding error.

 

[Daver6]

• So in short, WP and above get free access to paid extra legroom seats at time of booking.
• No more T-80
• SG access paid extra legroom at T-24 (check-in)
• Does this mean those extra legroom seats are blocked? What if there are more economy plus seats than people are willing to pay for and status pax?
• This would be a dilution of benefit for P1
• Priority boarding for those without status could be group 3

 

[elanshin]

• So in short, WP and above get free access to paid extra legroom seats at time of booking.

Although we won't know if say R4 will still be blocked for P1 (i suspect it might).

• No more T-80

Conjecture atm, nobody has confirmed we either way

• SG access paid extra legroom at T-24 (check-in)

SG get them free for selection is how I read it at check in.

• Does this mean those extra legroom seats are blocked? What if there are more economy plus seats than people are willing to pay for and status pax?

I'd imagine QF would have "seat selection not available" for the full planes and allocate them relatively late. Or maybe they'll fly missing seats (ha).

• This would be a dilution of benefit for P1

Perhaps row 4 with the extra extra legroom is the prize now. That said perhaps we might see then offer a bit more domestically to P1 in other ways.

• Priority boarding for those without status could be group 3

The interesting thing here for me is that one of the biggest reasons you want to board early (for overhead bin space) wouldn't be a problem with the new planes and the refurbished ones. It'd take some underdoing and everyone doing the wrong thing (2bags on top) to have it full now.

 

[Doddler]

• Does this mean those extra legroom seats are blocked? What if there are more economy plus seats than people are willing to pay for and status pax?

If the flight is full, there will be some lucky Y passengers who get seated there. If the flight isn't full, a number of seats at the front will remain empty.

 

[elanshin]

If the flight is full, there will be some lucky Y passengers who get seated there. If the flight isn't full, a number of seats at the front will remain empty.

Or maybe they'll assign people last minute "so they can try it out" kind of thing.