Qantas A380 premium economy class flight review: Is it worth it?

At 48 hours before departure, Qantas opens up any blocked seats not taken by elite-status members or families traveling with infants in the cabin’s first row, meaning I could select one of the bulkhead seats.

Twenty-four hours before departure, I received an email and text from Qantas to check in online, which was easy. I received my boarding pass instantaneously and added it to my Apple Wallet.

Then, I arrived at the airport 90 minutes before departure to check my luggage.

Qantas international flights operate from Terminal 2 at Melbourne Airport, as do international flights operated by all carriers. The departures hall was under refurbishment at the time of my travel, which made for a cramped check-in area for all four cabins on an Airbus A380 departure to Los Angeles, not to mention an Airbus A330 flight to Singapore.

The Qantas employee checking tickets at the beginning of the premium economy line verified that I was indeed flying in the cabin. They then asked me a few security questions — as is customary for U.S.-bound flights — such as how long I’d been in Australia, where I lived in the U.S. and if I’d packed my own bag. After affixing a sticker to my passport, one of them directed me to a bag drop line for passengers who had already checked in online.

When I saw how long the line was — I estimated at least 30 people deep — I walked back and said I would rather go through the premium economy lane. It was illogical to me that someone who was diligent in checking in online to drop their self-tagged bags would be made to wait longer than someone who had just turned up to the airport to check into their flight. After a bit of to and fro, they allowed me into the premium economy line, which had no one waiting in it.

My frustration was amplified when I waited 10 minutes at the front of the line when the agents working the two premium economy counters invited four groups of economy-class passengers to check in before me. This did not indicate a premium experience. That said, the counter agent was friendly and efficient in checking my bags when it was finally my turn.

Security and immigration were a breeze. Premium economy passengers on most airlines don’t get lounge access (Japan Airlines is a notable exception). However, I stopped by the Centurion Lounge for a quick bite to eat, thanks to my Amex Platinum card.

Then came the most frustrating part of my travel experience: the boarding process.

Ahead of a 12:30 p.m. scheduled departure, the screens said the gate would open at 11:30 a.m. When I arrived, I encountered a cordoned-off area with third-party Menzies Aviation security personnel sitting down. There was no signage indicating to passengers that there would be a security check nor that they should wait, nor were there any announcements over the intercom.

Other passengers were visibly confused and some distressed at the lack of communication.

A long, snaking line through the middle of the airport walkway formed and 15 minutes later, the security personnel started their secondary security questioning of passengers. Then, cleared passengers were crammed into a small area that did not have enough seats for all passengers to sit down.

We were stuck in this area for another 30 minutes with no announcements over the intercom nor from the security personnel before passengers jostled with each other to head downstairs to the actual boarding area.

Eventually, I made my way onto the upper-deck jet bridge, where business and premium economy passengers board, and where there was another five-minute wait to actually step onto the plane.

The airport experience seemed to be an unnecessarily stressful hurry-up-then-wait experience and reflected poorly on the airline. We departed 40 minutes late but arrived on time to Los Angeles.

How comfortable was premium economy on Qantas?

The Qantas A380 premium economy cabin has 60 seats set up in a mostly 2-3-2 configuration at the back of the jet’s upper deck. The last two rows have fewer seats to accommodate a larger galley on the left-hand side of the plane.

The cabin on the 787 is less than half the size, with just 28 seats set up in a 2-3-2 configuration in four rows.

The cabin and seats are slick and aesthetically pleasing with black, metallic-gray, ochre-red and brown tones.

As mentioned earlier, I selected 31K, a bulkhead window seat. The cabin was only 30% full, so no one except those traveling with a companion had anyone sitting next to them, including me.

Here’s the basic layout of the cabin and seats:

There are a few seats to avoid, especially those toward the back of the cabin.

My seat was directly behind one of the lavatories, so I was worried that passengers might gather in the aisle near me to wait to use the facilities. But it turns out there was a wall separating it from the premium economy cabin, so crowding wasn’t an issue.

On long-haul flights between the U.S. mainland and Australia, getting a reasonable amount of sleep is a major factor. Unfortunately, Qantas premium economy does not shine in this regard.

On my 14-hour flight, I was able to sleep on and off, but only for about six hours. Admittedly, there was a lot of turbulence. However, I found it difficult to get into a comfortable position to snooze. With the pillow attached to the headrest, there is very little head support to prevent your head from moving from side to side.

And while this aircraft has individual air nozzles, which I put on full blast before dozing off, I woke up sweating and realized that the cabin crew had shut off all of the air nozzles after our meal service when they dimmed the lights.

The major seat design flaw is that if you aren’t lucky enough to be in a bulkhead seat with no one in front of you (like I was) and the passenger in front of you reclines, you’ll feel cramped. If you’re in a window seat, leaving your seat to go to the restroom will be difficult without performing some calisthenics.

Air New Zealand offers the most legroom if you’re flying to the South Pacific, with a generous seat pitch of 41 inches. American Airlines, Delta, Qantas and United Airlines all conform to the industry standard of 38 inches. Of the five airlines mentioned in this paragraph, Qantas does tend to offer the widest seats, though.

Despite the recent refurbishment of Qantas’s A380 fleet, the non-electric recline button means you’ll need to manually push your seat into recline mode — and use some force to pull it back up its upright position.

Most seats have an adjustable legrest with a kind of mesh net for your feet, which does provide some ergonomic relief.

Bulkhead seats have a different style of footrest, which folds up from the wall in front of you. I’m 5 feet, 11 inches, and could not stretch my legs out completely.

Moving onto storage, you’ll have limited options if you’re not in a window seat. The aisle and middle seats only have a small storage compartment attached to the seatback in front for a phone, charger or earplugs.

Window passengers get a ton of space with the storage bins next to the wall, which easily fit laptops, tablets, toiletries bags and books.

In the center console, there is a small groove to place earbuds.

Despite the A380 being the largest commercial aircraft in the sky, the overhead compartments are shallow, meaning full-size carry-ons need to be placed on their side rather than upright, contrary to the direction new aircraft are going.

Each seat has two USB-A charging ports, one in the armrest along with a headphone jack, and one in the entertainment screen. The columns between seats have a universal power plug, so you might have to share with a neighbor.

The 21-inch-wide fold-out table deploys manually from the armrest, and I found it sturdy when eating and watching shows on my iPad.

Each seat has a soft-yellow mood light, elevating the cabin’s ambience upon boarding. However, they shine quite brightly when the cabin lights are turned off.

Two dedicated lavatories for premium economy passengers are at the back of the cabin. They are both a standard size and do not offer any special amenities. Given my flight was quite empty, there was never a wait for the restroom.

Amenities in Qantas premium economy

Waiting at my seat was a long, rectangular pillow, a blanket, an amenity kit, basic noise-canceling headphones and a bottle of water.

The Qantas-branded noise-canceling headphones are mostly effective and are the quality I’d expect in premium economy; however, they’re the same ones given to business-class passengers, who often complain that they are flimsy.

The amenity kit is a welcome touch, with a Qantas-branded felt case and eye mask as well as cheap, thin socks, a miniature toothbrush and toothpaste, lip balm and earplugs.

The blanket is made of half-recycled material and is the thickest blanket I’ve encountered in the skies. I found it very comfortable, but as mentioned previously, I overheated when there wasn’t enough air circulating near me.

The seatback touchscreens are affixed to the seat in front of you and measure 13.3 inches diagonally, and have crisp resolution.

Bulkhead seats have slightly larger 14-inch touchscreens that fold out from the center console. Take care when touching these as they are always on (even when stowed away) and run very hot.

The Qantas inflight entertainment system is light on new releases but strong on classics, blockbusters from the past few years and superhero movies. There were only 13 movies in the Australia section. TV series are provided by a partnership with Paramount+ and HBO, featuring well-known hits like “Game of Thrones,” “The White Lotus” and “Fellow Travelers.”

There was no flight information or maps available on my flight, so I had no idea of our updated time of arrival or flight statistics.

While most Qantas domestic flights on Boeing 737 and Airbus A330 aircraft offer free, unlimited Wi-Fi to all passengers, international flights do not offer Wi-Fi. This is a serious disadvantage of flying Qantas, with American Airlines, Delta and United all offering Wi-Fi on their Australia flights.

Another option is to fly Fiji Airways with a free stopover in Nadi using Alaska miles, but they don’t have premium economy, so you’d need to use more miles for a business-class ticket.

Overall, I hopped off the plane at LAX with a dream and my cardigan … but also weary and ready to be off the flight. I won’t be rushing to fly Qantas premium economy again soon — especially because chances are I’d be cramped into a non-bulkhead seat with the passenger in front of me reclined for more than 13 hours. As it was, though, at least I had plenty of personal space, and could appreciate the Qantas touches like those amenity kits and the Aussie-sourced menus.

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