Is Qantas Premium Economy the sweet spot between the back of the bus, and a very pricey Business Class seat? With a shake up in Qantas routes bringing the A380 onto more services, Lux-traveller has once again been flying. This time to bring you a Qantas Premium Economy trip report.
Premium Economy on the Qantas A380 has long been heralded as the seat that gives you 'old' style business class seats, at an economy price tag. In reality it's neither - Premium Economy on Qantas regularly retails a about twice the price of economy, and while the seat looks like it is the old Business Class seat from an early 747-200 series, a basic recliner, it is actually not a bad option with OK if limited recline, and a wider seat than Business Class.
On the new layout A380, there are 35 of these seats in the back of the plane's upper deck in a 2 - 3 - 2 configuration. Each has between 38 inches of pitch and is 19.5 inches wide, except for the front row which has an almost infinite pitch.
Flying in one of these seats is a tough job, but someone had to do it, and I was determined that that someone would be me.
Qantas occasionally flies its Airbus A380 on the Sydney to Hong Kong route, with the flagship superjumbo offering premium economy. I had an expensive, refundable economy ticket, but a quick call to the Qantas call centre negotiated me an upgrade to Premium Economy on the A380 for only $400, one way. Alas, the upgrade was the cheapest of the possible PE tickets, and so compared to my original route via Brisbane to Sydney, actually gave less Status Credits, but then this trip was all about the seat.
In Hong Kong check in was fast, and I was into the Qantas Club in about five minutes.
Premium Economy doesn't normally grant access to lounges, but as a Gold Frequent Flyer I was welcomed to the Hong Kong Qantas Club, which lux-traveller has already extensively reviewed.
The Qantas Hong Kong Lounge is vast and long, located just across from Gate 15, which would be great if my Qantas flights left from that end of the terminal, but alas I was right up the other end of the airport, a good 30 minutes walk away.
The Qantas Hong Kong Lounge is subtly divided into a dozen different spaces or 'zones', but I spent most of the time at the Spice Temple BBQ Bar.
There is now a separate oriental dining menu, with pork sliced for you at your wobbly bar stool.
I also tried the lounge's signature cocktail called Chi Chi. It is a rum-based drink with pineapple and lime juice, vanilla syrup and kafir lime leaves.
With three hours to wait I then took a beer up to the are behind the planters which add a natural element to soften the space, and time for a quick recharge of my trust Nokia at the combo AC/USB sockets which are liberally dotted around the lounge.
With plenty of time and a long walk to the aircraft, I then walked all the way to the far end of Terminal 1, past where the spine of the terminal splits into a Y shape, and popped into the Emirates Lounge, which hasn't been updated for many years. It's pleasant enough, with decent food, but not really worthy of a detour.
However, even further on around Gate 65 is the Cathay Pacific Pier Business Class lounge, which again lux-traveller has extensively reviewed.
This huge lounge, with space for 550 passengers, has of course a food hall, Noodle Bar, cocktail bar and at the far end a Tea House.
But in this case I went to the secondary zone off the reception area, with a long sitting room with views over the apron, and enjoyed a Betsy beer, Cathay Pacific's own brew.
Soon boarding was called, and it was a real scrum, not only before the gate, but also beyond it where there were the usual Australian security checks on all hand baggage.
After walking through the upper deck business class cabin - more details in the video, below - there was my Qantas premium economy seat, right at the front of the PE cabin. I'd had to check, and then move, my seating 48 hours before departure to snag the converted front seat. Thankfully Qantas allow you to do this numerous times before checkin, and I'd already moved three times.
On the Qantas A380 24A 24B, as well as 24J 24K are best for legroom, since they're right behind the emergency exits. However, I did find that passengers used this area as a stretching zone, and if you're sensitive to the cold you'll want to wrap up warmly in case there's a cold breeze from the door.
Note that there is no ingress into your seat area by the door slide. However, it is also right opposite the toilet, which is shared with Business Class. The constant swishing of the curtain is a real problem at night, as are passengers leaving the toilet door open filling the cabin with light.
Qantas Premium Economy on the A380 has footrests and some extra room with wider centre and side consoles as well as 10.6inch personal touchscreen IFE systems.
There was a mini amenity kit with eyes shades, toothbrush and toothpaste on my seat (socks on request) and larger-than-economy cotton pillows and blankets.
There was also a very good noise reducing headset.
Menus came around pretty quickly, as did a welcome drink.
Once into the cruise, and oddly for a night time flight it was an hour before the crew came around offering drinks, and another half hour before food was served.
Considering the flight is only 9 hours, this didn't give a lot of sleeping time.
There is special premium economy menu from Neil Perry's Rockpool restaurant group, and have access to self-serve refreshment bars on the A380.
I went for the fairly pedestrian Chicken with rice and veggies.
There was good flavour, and it was a nice meal, but the side dishes were pretty poor.
There is a side salad that was just lettuce leaves, an unmemorable desert, and Strong and Bitey cheese with two biscuits.
Only one glass of wine was initially served, but after I asked for another my glass was quickly topped up to make up for the previous lack of service.
The IFE is good, with plenty of current releases to watch, but alas it's also pretty slow, with a pretty laggy interface which takes ages to scroll between the choices. There is no inflight wifi either.
Sleeping in the front row of Premium Economy is a problem. You can wedge your legs against the seat in front every other row, but I found I kept on slipping out of the seat.
Two and a half hours before landing the light snapped on, but we were left in limbo for another 45 minutes before breakfast was served.
Again I felt, the crew really don't like you to sleep much on the plane.
Breakfast was pretty disappointing compared to the menu. The crew were insistent that I could only have one item off the breakfast menu, and there were only four hot items loaded on the aircraft, so only the front row of Premium Economy was offered this option.
The aircraft landed on time, and in general the flight was OK, but I was left with a feeling the flight could have been handled better. The crew made little effort, and I did wonder if they were just very tired.
However, the seat was very good; if only it was possible to sleep in it without sliding out: I might be inclined in future to book a seat that isn't the front row on night flights. But then, I wouldn't have received a hot breakfast if I had!
Equally Qantas Premium Economy remains dubious value for money. At the price of the one way upgrade I got, it's OK, but to London or LAX PE is several thousand dollars more, and it's not clear it offers much extra in terms of value.
See the full Qantas A380 Premium Economy trip report video:
However, with the announcement this week that all Los Angeles to Sydney Qantas services will become Airbus A380s, including the seasonal three times a week Sydney-Los Angeles flights (QF17/QF18) in the southern summer peak, it is now available on more flights, more often.
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Qantas 787 London to Perth menu revealed
Qantas London Heathrow Lounge opens