Qantas Premium Economy

[elan]

Hi all,
Having read some of threads on premium economy, I thought I should share my recent experience.
I flew out from SYD-DFW on the new 3 class 747 and returned Lax-Mel on the A380.
Working for a US organization that flies 100’s of people globally to the US, standard travel has always been cattle.
I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised with the quality and service, I had plenty of leg room, the recline was good. The food all things considered was also acceptable, it’s always nice to get wine poured out of a bottle rather than receive those plastic ones. Sleeping was also much better compared to being crammed in a Y seat. I think that these airlines are on a winner with Y+, sure it’s certainly not J, but for us that have always flown Y, it’s a nice change.

 

[MelUser]

No offence but haven't flown QF Y+ since GFC when skybeds were available for Plats and they still served Champagne - now some cheap and nasty Carrington Brut de Brut I understand!

 

[exRAAF]

Thanks for the feedback elan. Like you, I work for a large US multinational, and Y+ is the best we can get.

Last I flew Y+ was late 2010, and I was in a lie-flat bed (J seat) but Y+ service (meals, menus, etc.) on a 744 that, I think, hadn't been fitted with Y+ seats yet. Best thing was the J seats. Does Y+ have J seats or was it a one-off?

 

[travelislife]

I think people forget we are just going through a whole new cycle just with different names. Qantas' 747s are now being converted to all 3 class, they just call it Y, Y+, J where the standard of the classes is that of 10-15 years ago Y, J, F!

 

[ashleyn]

Flew SYD-LA in Y+ last year, got bulkhead seat and was super impressed with the product. To me, seemed like J minus flatbed.

 

[elbarr]

Recently flew LAX to BBN in Y+ on one of the newly configured 3 class 747's. The recline on the seat was enough to get in a decent sleeping position and actually managed to get 6 hours sleep which is the same as what I got in J on the way over. I will definitely fly Y+ again.

 

[ReLoad]

I too flew LAX-MEL in Y+ and enjoyed it, here's the thing, is it worth the price?

I would say yes when its on sale, those 2 for 1 tickets were great, but otherwise IMHO I do not think it is good value.
Even more so when there are some cracker Y seats available 80K etc.

I used to work for a company that was internationally J, but if you flew economy you were given $1000 in each direction to help you "get over" the pain. sure it was taxed etc but was a winner for both the staff and the company. A few of us used to J class on the way over and Y on the way back and spend the money on the wife etc.

 

[alto25]

Hi all,
I flew out from SYD-DFW on the new 3 class 747 and returned Lax-Mel on the A380.

Thanks for the post elan. Do you have any comments on the Y+ seats / experience on the 747 vs A380?

Al

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I probably wouldn't pay for PE as such for an airfare outright but would be happy to do an any seat award eg SYD/LAX in whY 48,000 plus cash one way, PE 72,000 points plus cash ow & J 96,000 points plus cash ow.

PE is a good fallback if you can't find any J award seats in "U" class & good to get on the A380 as PE is on the upper deck behind the J cabin.

If I had to buy a ticket (ie not flying on an award ticket/points etc) I would buy a ticket in whY then go for the 80A or 80K option on the A380 if I could get it or if on the 744 go for the whY seating down the back where it's in pairs eg row 69-73 or thereabouts.

Some people have had luck on the QF7/8 with getting Y+ seating for Y price, J seating for Y+ price & F seating for J price however assume you will travel in the cabin for which you have paid. I was able to select seats 39JK (zoned PE) on an any seat award of 48,000 pp plus cash BNE/xSYD/LAX however on checking my booking I noticed the seat allocation had vanished next to the flight.

On ringing QF I discovered there had been a config change & had been reassigned new seats however those numbers did not show on the web. I changed from what we'd been reassigned in row 48 to row 70 where there's only 2 seats on the side.

I'll keep looking regularly just in case the aircraft changes again.

 

[elan]

Thanks for the post elan. Do you have any comments on the Y+ seats / experience on the 747 vs A380?

Al

Al,
On the 747 they have no exit row seats, so I sat behind the bulkhead which was fine.
On the A380, I had an exit row seat which gave me an incredible amount of room. Perhaps it depends on the crew, but was personally thanked for flying QF on the A380.
Quality of seat, food, drink etc was the same.

 

[ozmille]

two weeks ago ago I upgraded my BKK SYD YASA to PE and purposely chose the last row of PE because I had noticed on a previous trip that it is really annoying when people pull your chair. I must say I really like PE if you can't or don't want to pay for / or don't have enough points for J. It is still not my preferred seat but at least you can sit comfortably.

 

[cdp88]

Hi all,
Having read some of threads on premium economy, I thought I should share my recent experience.
I flew out from SYD-DFW on the new 3 class 747 and returned Lax-Mel on the A380.
Working for a US organization that flies 100’s of people globally to the US, standard travel has always been cattle.
I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised with the quality and service, I had plenty of leg room, the recline was good. The food all things considered was also acceptable, it’s always nice to get wine poured out of a bottle rather than receive those plastic ones. Sleeping was also much better compared to being crammed in a Y seat. I think that these airlines are on a winner with Y+, sure it’s certainly not J, but for us that have always flown Y, it’s a nice change.

I'm thinking of buying a WASA for December this year BNE-SIN as it looked like Y+ was reasonably good. I understand this is likely to be a 747 but should be fitted out to the new PE standard as in the A380.

I had a question though for those that have flown Y+. I can't find out if the Y+ cabin is actually a separate cabin with its own toilets. On the seat maps it looks like this is the case but I thought I'd ask to see if anyone has flown it on the 747. I think a separate cabin increases the value of Y+.

If I had the points I would have gone a JASA but I can always try to upgrade as I get closer to the day. At this stage I'm thinking I would probably be happy to fly Y+.

 

[ashleyn]

Yes, separate cabin on the 747 I flew on (well curtains anyway) and own toilet.

 

[Boyfromthebeach]

With 13 PE & 5 J class SYD LAX In the past 18 months I would gladly book a PE flight again tomorrow to do the same.
With deep discount prices of $4500 PE vs $9500 J return it is really hard to justify the extra $5000 for J.
I know I don't feel that much better after a J flight to justify the extra $
My preferred PE seat selected with Status would be a window bulkhead wheras without it would be an aisle seat in front of the exit aisle on an A380 (single seat ie not coupled & no seat pulling)
The Qantas service I have had on all those flights was absolutely fantastic
Have to say though that it takes a long time to rack up SC & status with PE flights

 

[alto25]

It seems that the "seat pulling" from behind may be viewed as more of a problem in Y+ due to the greater seat recline? If so, this is one thing that really frustrates me!

Consequently I am thinking I should change my seat selections to row 37 at the rear of the PE section (on 747 4 class V1 config). Is there a bulkhead or a curtain behind this row to separate from Y? Is my thinking on this on the right track??

cheers,

 

[tt7]

With 13 PE & 5 J class SYD LAX In the past 18 months I would gladly book a PE flight again tomorrow to do the same.
With deep discount prices of $4500 PE vs $9500 J return it is really hard to justify the extra $5000 for J.

I assume this means you've done 9 roundtrips SYD-LAX-SYD in the last 18 months (or is it 18 roundtrips)? Either way, if you think $4,500 is "deep discount" for a PE ticket, you're overpaying - you should be buying your tickets LAX-SYD-LAX, which is likely to be a lot cheaper.

 

[under the radar]

i can confirm that there is a solid partition/bulkhead behind row 37 on the 4class V1 a/c...and there are NO y/c bassinets there either!!! ++++ in my opinion row 37 is the pick of the crop!!!

 

[ozmille]

It seems that the "seat pulling" from behind may be viewed as more of a problem in Y+ due to the greater seat recline? If so, this is one thing that really frustrates me!

Consequently I am thinking I should change my seat selections to row 37 at the rear of the PE section (on 747 4 class V1 config). Is there a bulkhead or a curtain behind this row to separate from Y? Is my thinking on this on the right track??

cheers,

I was really happy with 37JK, the seats at the other side of the bulkhead are the crew rest seats so pretty quiet.

 

[Boyfromthebeach]

We (or rather the client) has paid 7.5k for PE tickets at times so yes 4.5k is pretty good IMHO

I agree that they are lower ex US than ex Aus but unpredictability means that is awkward to arrange

Given they are disbursements the cost is not a huge factor, they are thankful they are PE rather than J

The seat pulling isn't that big a problem if you can figure out which seat to get, travelling by yourself bulkhead window seats are great, very little occurs, it happens to your neighbour, I would avoid the row of 4 in a 747 at all costs unless it was a front row in front of a bulkhead ie the bassinet row without babies - seems all the 747 are slightly different configurations on the A380 the row in front of the exit row is protected by a half height bulkhead, there is no seat pulling there..

 

[Paddy55]

Upgraded from deep in Y to PE SYD-LAX and JFK-SYD over a year ago and really enjoyed PE. More space, better food, etc, etc.

Would I pay $$$ for it? Probably not.
Would I use points to upgrade from Y to PE (when I don't have enough for J)? Absolutely!