Qantas Economy A380
Family Flight check from London to Sydney with Qantas Airways in Economy Class with 2 children and 2 Adults. Our family has recently travelled as family to the UK with Qantas from Sydney. It maybe of interest to other families wanting to fly this route to get some ideas to help with making a booking decision between Australia and England.
Checkin (8.00am)
We arrived at the terminal nice and early armed with our Qantas Club Cards 4 large bags to check-in, 4 pieces of hand luggage only to find out that Qantas don’t offer a priority checkin for Qantas Club Members from Heathrow. Lucky we were early as they only had two agents check-in in passengers for Economy, while two Business Checkin agents sat by and watched the line grow! All bags were finally checked in without a hitch, however no priority luggage tags were provided.
Security (8.40am)
Need we say more about the subject except for the security is a pain for everyone and can be little challenging for families with children’s water bottles, bags, laptops, cameras, prams and a at risk 4 year old son. Yes that’s right our son got frisked going through security the poor child was scared about the process, surely a little common sense could of been used and why single out a 4 year old. After removing clothing items we made it through. Was surprised to see that our passports were not being checked on departure, so much for real security!
The Lounge (9.20am)
Qantas share the lounge with British Airways at terminal 3, the lounge is spacious and modern and had great selction of drinks and food. Nice little Bacon Subs really hit the spot with the family for breakfast 2 hours prior to boarding the aircraft. The BA lounge had nice little kid zone available with 2 x Sony Play stations, TV, 2 x PCs and footie table for the older kids. The lounge experience was very good.
Boarding (10.45am)
Screens in the lounge presented that the aircraft was boarding, we found that when we arrived that boarding for Business and First were only boarding. Passports were checked by crew prior to boarding, and stoller was taking off us to be stored in the hold of the A380 aircraft. Boarding process was long as there is only one area for economy passengers to enter the aircraft, upon entering the aircraft the cabin appeared to be neat clean and presentable with a fresh young crew (All British, a little strange for a Australian Carrier).
The Seats
Our Family was allocated seats in the middle section of economy row 74. Plenty of space available for our hand luggage, however the bins were full by the time aircraft was ready to depart. The seats were comfortable, however it was a disappoint that the arm rests on the Qantas A380 do not fully flush with the seat when folded up, making it annoying that you can’t lift the arms rests to create a bench seat feel for the family. Recline of the seats was fine, however when sitting upright and the seat in front reclines there is very limited room to move.
Moving around the economy cabin all seats seem to be much same with the bulk head seats in the middle ection looking like they have more room then other aircraft, the exit rows are the pick for any travellers that don’t have children. There is one row in economy which is the “daddy” refer to seat guru for advice. Located in the middle section of economy row 71 there is 1 seat which does not have seat in front meaning this provides 1 lucky passenger with a stack of leg room and personal space.
The in-flight entertainment is good with a large selection of movies, TV shows, games, music and audio books to choose from to keep a family entertained for over 20 hours of flying time! However some of the screens had to be reset during the flight.
The Meals
I would have to say that I was little disappointed with the quality of the meals, and felt that maybe cost cutting in the industry maybe having an effect on the economy class meals that are being served. We phoned Qantas prior to departure (3 days ahead) to double check our meal orders for the children were ordered and confirmed. Once flying one of our child’s meal had not been allocated presenting a little bit of difficulty and frustration. However was please to see that Qantas was serving James Squire as a beer option a refreshing change for those that enjoy a beer or two while flying. The help yourself snake bar was fine with Byron Bay cookies and crackers, soft drinks and water available.
Flight
The flight pushed away almost on scheduled which was very good considering that the UK was going through a deep freeze, and would have been presenting a few challenges to Airports. The first thing you notice when flying in economy on the A380 is the quietness of the cabin, you can still here the engines and air con vents however its not as noisy as the 747 aircraft. The noise increases as you move towards the rear of the aircraft, so best position for minimual noise is in the front section of economy, with a pair of quality headphones! Our two children manged to share and stretch out on their two allocated seats and sleep for 7 hours on the second leg. The British Crew was helpful and friendly on the first leg, with the Australian crew fulfilling their roles on the final leg into Sydney after our quick stopover in Singapore. Overall flight was as comfortable as could be for a long haul flight with 2 children from London to Sydney. I did manage a look in on the premium economy product which looks great, and provides that extra personal space with out the Business and First class extras.
Overall Verdict
There is always room for improvement when sitting in economy as a family with 2 children under 4 years of age, however Qantas presented a product that was fine for a family travelling on one of the longest flights avaialble.
The fact file:
Aircraft: Airbus A380
Economy Configuration: 332 seats that slide forward when reclined, with foot nets
Economy Seat Width 18.1″, Recline/Pitch 31.0″
Travel Period: January 2010
Price: Qantas Travel Prices, from $8,000 AUD for family of four, plus change fees of £500 for chaging flights for family.
Best Booking Options: www.expedia.com
