Qantas Airbus A321XLR Economy Class Review

Qantas’ brand new Airbus A321XLRs have only been flying for a few months, but they’re already proving a hit with passengers on short domestic routes. They’re more modern than the Boeing 737-800s that have been the backbone of Qantas’ short-haul fleet for well over a decade. The seats are wider and the overhead lockers are larger, too.

Australia’s largest airline launched its Airbus A321XLR with much fanfare, including a scenic flight over the Great Ocean Road. But I was keen to find out what the experience is really like as a passenger, flying in Economy. So, I booked a ticket from Sydney to Melbourne, the world’s second-busiest air route, to bring you this Qantas Airbus A321XLR Economy Class review.

Flight Details

Flight number	QF443
Origin	Sydney (SYD)
Destination	Melbourne (MEL)
Aircraft type	Airbus A321XLR
Class of travel	Economy
Seat number	34D
On-time performance	We arrived 10 minutes late
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

My one-way Economy ticket from Sydney to Melbourne cost $185. Australian Frequent Flyer paid for the ticket.

If you have Qantas Points, you could alternatively redeem a Classic Reward seat on this route for 9,200 Qantas Points + $57 in taxes & carrier charges.

Airport Experience

I arrived at Sydney Airport around 11am for my 12.30pm flight to Melbourne. Although it was a busy day for flying, you wouldn’t have known it when walking into Terminal 3, the Qantas domestic terminal in Sydney. There were plenty of kiosks available where you could print your own bag tag and lots of self-service bag drop machines available. The queue for security was less than a minute.

If you have Qantas or Oneworld status, a Qantas Club membership or a Qantas lounge invitation, you can access either the Qantas Club or domestic Business Lounge while waiting for your flight. As I have Qantas Platinum status, I was able to enjoy a burger in the Business Lounge.

Even if you don’t have lounge access using one of the above methods, Qantas sometimes sells day passes to its Club lounge.

Shortly before boarding started, a Qantas employee was roaming the gate area tagging some passengers’ carry-on bags. Luckily, the Airbus A321XLR has fairly large overhead lockers – so this wasn’t quite as necessary as it might be on a full Boeing 737 service!

Boarding began around 20 minutes before the scheduled departure time, and was done in groups. Group 1 was called first for boarding, and the gate staff were enforcing the boarding groups correctly.

The Hard Product

Qantas’ Airbus A321XLR looks shiny on the outside and smells new on the inside. The interior is clean, modern and pleasantly bright, with nice mood lighting that changes colour during different stages of the flight.

The plane is noticeably quieter than the Boeing 737, and the larger overhead lockers assisted with a speedy boarding. There seemed to be enough space for everyone’s carry-on bags, even though the flight was 100% full.

The Economy Class seats on Qantas’ A321XLR are very similar to those on the QantasLink Airbus A220. The grey cloth-covered seats have a reasonable amount of padding and an adjustable headrest.

Although the seat pitch is “only” 30 inches, I feel like there’s a reasonable amount of space for my legs – aided by the seat design which places the literature pocket at the top of the seat-back.

The Qantas A321XLR also has six rows of extra-legroom seats. From February 2026, Qantas will sell these as Economy Plus seats (but they’ll be free for selected frequent flyers).

There are USB-A and USB-C charging outlets on the back of every seat. There’s also a handy device holder that folds down, where you can place your smartphone if you want to watch a movie.

As Airbus A320 family aircraft have a wider fuselage than the Boeing 737, the Qantas A321XLR Economy Class seats are about an inch wider than on Qantas’ Boeing 737-800. This made a noticeable difference, which the passenger seated beside me also commented on.

The toilets on the A321XLR are also a bit more spacious than on the Boeing 737. Unfortunately, Qantas has chosen to install only two toilets to cater to 180 Economy passengers.

This didn’t seem to be a huge problem on this short flight, but I can just picture the long queues to use the toilets on a longer flight to or from Perth. Qantas realises this and will install a third Economy toilet down the track. Unfortunately, the third toilet will also be right down the back, so accessing it could still be an issue if you’re sitting towards the front and there are trolleys blocking the aisle.

Qantas A321XLR in-flight entertainment & Wi-Fi

I’m personally a bit disappointed that Qantas chose not to install seat-back TV screens at each seat. I find that this makes a big difference, especially on a longer flight.

Instead, you can stream movies, TV shows or view a moving map on your own electronic device through the Qantas Entertainment app. The selection of content available to watch is reasonably comprehensive.

Qantas offers free Wi-Fi for all passengers on its Airbus A321XLR. This is great in theory, but I unfortunately found the connection on this particular flight to be very slow. It also dropped out completely a few times. Maybe it was because I was sitting towards the back of the plane, or perhaps the connection was just a bit poor on this particular day. A colleague who recently flew on another Qantas A321XLR said their internet connection was much faster.

As there are no TV screens at all on the aircraft – not even drop-down screens from the overhead panels – the safety demonstration is done with an automated voice recording. You won’t see Nestor living it up in Hollywood on Qantas’ A321XLR!

The Soft Product

With three flight attendants looking after 180 Economy passengers, I thought the crew might find it a bit of a challenge to complete a full lunch service between Sydney and Melbourne. I was wrong. The friendly and hard-working cabin crew managed to serve everyone efficiently and with a smile. A special shout-out to Candida, who was up for a chat and went out of her way to help several passengers.

This flight departed within the “lunch” service window, and the complimentary snack in Economy Class was a roast beef, cheese and tomato relish sandwich on brown bread. Rice crackers were also available.

This came with a choice of free drinks including Stone & Wood beer, wine and soft drinks. Although tea & coffee weren’t loaded onto the trolley on this flight, Candida happily made a cup of tea anyway for the passenger behind me who asked for one.

I thought the food & drinks available were totally appropriate for the time of day and length of the flight.

During his opening announcement, the captain joked that there were strong winds forecast for our arrival into Melbourne, so it might be a “bumpy landing at the back of the bus”. I was sitting in the second-last row, so this prompted me to check for a sick bag in the seat pocket – just in case. It was missing, but the cabin crew quickly found me one when I alerted them.