Qantas Boeing 787-9 Business Class Review

The trans-Pacific market has long been one of Qantas’ most important… and most profitable. In fact, Qantas operates more than 50 return flights each week from Australia to the USA and Canada.

Most of these flights are on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, which offer 42 lie-flat Business Class seats.

Qantas’ trans-Pacific Business Class airfares are not cheap. And these days, there’s a lot of competition between Australia and North America – both from American and Canadian carriers, and indirect operators like Air New Zealand.

In this review, we ask the question: How competitive is Qantas’ long-haul Business Class product in 2025? Is it worth the high price that Qantas charges?

Flight Details

Flight number	QF76
Origin	Vancouver (YVR)
Destination	Sydney (SYD)
Aircraft type	Boeing 787-9
Class of travel	Business
Seat number	5K
On-time performance	We arrived an hour late
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

I was very fortunate to be able to use my Qantas Frequent Flyer points to book this flight. I say that I was fortunate because finding Classic Reward availability was not easy. Luckily, I was able to get a reward seat released by calling Qantas as a Platinum member.

To be clear, I didn’t ask for any special favours from the media team and I used my own points to book this flight. Any other Qantas Platinum member would be able to do the same thing. But I would be lying if I said that finding Classic Reward availability in Business Class on the Sydney-Vancouver route is straightforward.

As I booked this flight before the recent Qantas Frequent Flyer devaluation, it cost me 108,400 Qantas Points + CAD307 (~AU$342) for a one-way Business class reward seat. The number of points required has since increased to 130,100, and the carrier charges have gone up as well.

If you were to buy a Qantas Business Class ticket on this route outside of sale periods, you could expect to pay around $9,800 one-way or $12,200 return.

Airport Experience

There was no line to check in at Vancouver International Airport, with both self-service kiosks and staffed counters available. I went to a counter and was taken aback when the agent thanked me for being a Qantas Platinum member while checking me in – an unexpected but nice touch. For a moment, I almost felt like I was checking into a hotel!

The Business Class lounge in Vancouver

Qantas now sends its Business Class passengers departing Vancouver to the Cathay Pacific lounge. As you would expect, it’s great!

Cathay Pacific’s lounge in Vancouver is comfortable, with a nice ambience and lots of natural light. There’s even a great view of the runway right outside the windows.

Clean showers and toilets are available, as well as a small business centre in the corner of the lounge.

For me, though, the highlight of this lounge is the excellent food. Cathay Pacific offers a la carte dining in the noodle bar, with Hong Kong classics such as dumplings, Dan Dan Mian and wonton noodle soup on the menu – all made to order. There are also some Western options including burgers and Canadian poutine, but I stuck with the delicious Asian options.

There are lots of staff keeping everything stocked and clean. And in case you needed any more food, the lounge also has a self-service buffet.

There’s a good selection of self-service drinks, including spirits. The only thing missing is proper champagne!

All in all, this is a great lounge that’s even better than the Qantas international Business Lounge in Sydney! (That may change after the upcoming Sydney lounge refurbishment. One can hope, anyway.)

Boarding

Boarding for QF76 was orderly, with Qantas using its usual six boarding groups. It began with pre-boarding for families with infants, followed by Group 1 which included Business passengers.

There were lots of staff at the gate to manage the boarding process, including one who stood at the entrance to the gate area holding a sign showing the group number that had just been called.

The Hard Product

Many Australian frequent flyers are probably already familiar with Qantas’ Boeing 787-9 Business Class seat. It’s currently Qantas’ flagship Business Class product and has been flying since 2017.

For the uninitiated, Business Class on the Qantas Boeing 787 is configured in a 1-2-1 layout, meaning every passenger gets direct access to the aisle. It’s a popular product that’s designed for long-haul flying.

The Qantas 787-9 Business Class seat

I find Qantas’ Boeing 787-9 Business Class seat to be very comfortable. On this flight, I’ve chosen a window seat that’s directly beside a window (you’ll find these in every second row) and I find it semi-private even without a sliding door.

This seat can recline to become a fully lie-flat bed. You also have the option to recline the seat a little bit during take-off and landing in a preset position that you can select on the panel to the side of the seat.

Although some people might find the footwell a bit narrow, I’m able to sleep soundly during this long overnight flight. That’s a huge win in my books.

There’s a power outlet, a reading light and a little bit of storage space to the side of the seat. For any larger items such as backpacks, you’ll need to use the overhead lockers for storage.

In-flight entertainment and (no) Wi-Fi

The in-flight entertainment selection is better than it was the last time I flew Qantas trans-Pacific Business Class, which was not long after the COVID-19 pandemic. That said, it still doesn’t really compete with the entertainment options on the likes of Emirates, Qatar Airways or Singapore Airlines.

The TV screen is large and high-definition, and there’s a moderate selection of movies, TV shows and games. The Boeing 787 also has music in the in-flight entertainment – something you won’t necessarily find on other Qantas aircraft. And I do like the “watch with a friend” feature.

Another interesting feature of the in-flight entertainment system that I hadn’t noticed before was the wine tasting notes.

Unfortunately, one area where Qantas is seriously lagging behind its international competitors is the complete lack of Wi-Fi. I was talking about this recently with a Canadian friend who flies a lot, and he was shocked that Qantas doesn’t offer Wi-Fi on the Vancouver-Sydney route. It’s 2025, and pretty much every other airline flying between Australia and North America has already had Wi-Fi available for years.

The good news is that Qantas is now starting to roll out Wi-Fi onto some international flights. This will eventually include retrofitting Wi-Fi onto the Boeing 787 fleet, and that couldn’t come soon enough!

The Soft Product

I find that Qantas does long-haul travel well. The service is good and it offers plenty of useful amenities in Business Class.

When I arrived at my seat, a pillow, blanket, mattress cover, amenity kit, headphones, bottle of water and a menu were already waiting for me.

A flight attendant came around during boarding to offer a choice of pre-departure still water, sparkling water or champagne.

This was followed by pyjamas (there were two sizes available – M/L or L/XL) and pens to fill out the breakfast card inside the menu.

I like the design of the amenity kit, and the contents tick all the boxes – but aren’t terribly imaginative.

Food & drinks

This was the Business Class menu on my Qantas flight from Vancouver to Sydney (click on the image to view a larger version):

I like the idea of the breakfast card which Qantas gets you to fill out before take-off. This gives you the chance to completely personalise your breakfast, gives the cabin crew ample time to prepare it, and also gives clear instructions to the crew if you don’t want to be woken up to eat.

Qantas doesn’t offer dine-on-demand in Business Class, but it does have a small menu of snacks that you can order mid-flight if you wake up feeling peckish. It also has a self-service snack and drink station in the Business Class galley, stocked with things like chips, biscuits, chocolates and fruit:

On this flight, the dinner service began after take-off with a drink served with nuts.

This was shortly followed by the main course, which came on a tray with sourdough bread and Neil Perry’s infamous salad. I chose the Kung pao chicken, which was quite tasty.

I finished dinner with a dessert, which also came with the offer of more drinks as well as tea or coffee.

Finally, the crew handed out chocolates just as they were turning off the cabin lights for the night.

I was a bit surprised that Qantas didn’t offer a starter course with the dinner service. That said, I’d already eaten in the lounge and I think most passengers were more interested in getting to sleep than a drawn-out meal service. To Qantas’ credit, the crew did finish the entire dinner service less than two hours after take-off.

The cabin crew were absolutely lovely and constantly available if you would need anything. I didn’t need much though as I managed to sleep through until breakfast – a true credit to the comfort of Qantas’ 787 Business Class seat!

Breakfast came around two hours and 15 minutes before landing. I enjoyed the bagel and muesli, and the cold pressed juice was a welcome pick-me-up to start the day.

Arrival Experience

We landed in Sydney on a very windy morning just a little bit behind schedule. Unfortunately, we didn’t actually park at a gate until an hour after our scheduled arrival time because another Qantas aircraft was blocking our gate.

The captain kept us regularly updated throughout the delay, but apparently couldn’t get the airport to assign a different gate to us. It was the busiest time of the day for Sydney’s international terminal, so I can somewhat understand that.

Luckily, I didn’t have a connecting flight so this was just a minor inconvenience. But a lot of the passengers around me missed their connections.

Once I was finally off the plane, there was a bit of a wait to use a smart gate in the arrivals hall. Given the time of day, the airport was absolutely packed.