Qantas Economy Plus Launching Feb 2026

Report on YSSY that VH-VYK which has been under maintenance in BNE for 3 months will shortly return with a new pride livery (similar to VH-EBL) but also the new Y+ 12J/ 156Y config.

Not clear if this will just be reconfiguration of existing seats, or the first of the fully refurbed 737. VYK is 31st oldest 737 of 75 (+4 with ex-SQ), so arguably just outside the 42 that Qantas said would be refurbed, but possibly ownership considerations may have jumped it into the list.

And more posts that VYH was the first on 5-Dec with changes taking under 24hrs, presumably just removing a row of seats then shifting a few others around.
From a quick look at FlightAware VYA, VYB and VXO have also had a small BNE break.
 
Last edited:
wenglock.mok said:
The ones that now have the new Economy Plus configuration:
- VXD, VXE, VXF, VXG, VXH, VXI, VXT, VXU
- VYA, VYB, VYC, VYD, VYG, VYK, VYL
- VZA
Click to expand...
Where do you see that?
 
Score 10,000 Bonus PayRewards Points on your business spend!*
Elevate your business spending to first-class rewards! Sign up today with code AFF10 and process over $10,000 in business expenses within your first 30 days to unlock 10,000 Bonus PayRewards Points.
Join 30,000+ savvy business owners who:

✅ Pay suppliers who don’t accept Amex
✅ Max out credit card rewards—even on government payments
✅ Earn & transfer PayRewards Points to 10+ airline & hotel partners

Start earning today!
- Pay suppliers who don’t take Amex
- Max out credit card rewards—even on government payments
- Earn & Transfer PayRewards Points to 8+ top airline & hotel partners

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

wenglock.mok said:
The ones that now have the new Economy Plus configuration:
Click to expand...
So that's 16 of the 38 older (no Seatback IFE aircraft).
At this rate will they just complete all 75 737s, before going back to the newer ones from 2027 for the new interior refurbs including new seats without seatback screens.
 
moa999 said:
So can you run a search across all 75, or is this manual? Assume there's no Wifi tag checking those upgrade?
Click to expand...
It's manual as FLIFO is run against a flight number, not a tail number. However, you can work out which flight an aircraft has been operating on using FR24 though so there are a few sources of information that need to be combined. :)
 
I wonder whether there is a future plan to change Row4 to J once QF gets enough new and spare old seats.

That said you do have to account for what happens if the last row of J reclines.
In this case 52" becomes 37" J pitch plus a few inches for thicker seat, and then maybe another 10" to row 5 to account for row 4 possible recline.
 
Last edited:
moa999 said:
I wonder whether there is a future plan to change Row4 to J once QF gets enough new and spare old seats.

That said you do have to account for what happens if the last row of J reclines.
Click to expand...
I guess it depends what the J loads are. The A321XLR getting more J seats than the 737 suggests that domestic J is popular.

If they think they can fill more J seats on the 737 with customers paying cash (not upgrades or staff travel) it would totally make sense to add more J seats.
 
moa999 said:
Report on YSSY that VH-VYK which has been under maintenance in BNE for 3 months will shortly return with a new pride livery (similar to VH-EBL) but also the new Y+ 12J/ 156Y config.

Not clear if this will just be reconfiguration of existing seats, or the first of the fully refurbed 737. VYK is 31st oldest 737 of 75 (+4 with ex-SQ), so arguably just outside the 42 that Qantas said would be refurbed, but possibly ownership considerations may have jumped it into the list.

And more posts that VYH was the first on 5-Dec with changes taking under 24hrs, presumably just removing a row of seats then shifting a few others around.
From a quick look at FlightAware VYA, VYB and VXO have also had a small BNE break
Click to expand...
QF seat maps on the web site has"configuration 2" with 12J 156Y (pdf file date 08-12-2025) and also a seat map with 12J 162Y


Edit
B737 12J156Y from 14-08-2008 (19.33 years from mew 12J 156Y)
 

Attachments

Last edited:
 
Mwenenzi said:
QF seat maps on the web site
Click to expand...
Yes. That's the new map that QF are quickly changing over to with 15+ aircraft already done.. it's 12J 156Y today.. but at some point in Feb will officially become 12J 48Y+ 108Y when the Y+ seats become official.

But later in 2026 Qantas will be getting delivery of a lot of new seats and other things (which will upgrade 42 (maybe 46 with ex-SQ aircraft) of the youngest aircraft which

Think the restricted views will be a little better than current, 8 slightly worse than 9.
 

Become an AFF member!

Join Australian Frequent Flyer (AFF) for free and unlock insider tips, exclusive deals, and global meetups with 65,000+ frequent flyers.

AFF members can also access our Frequent Flyer Training courses, and upgrade to Fast-track your way to expert traveller status and unlock even more exclusive discounts!

AFF forum abbreviations

Wondering about Y, J or any of the other abbreviations used on our forum?

Check out our guide to common AFF acronyms & abbreviations.

Recent Posts

Currently Active Users

Total: 842 (members: 23, guests: 819)
Back
Top