Qantas Premium Economy

[ashnmar]

Will be booking a long haul flight on QF.. any feedback on Premium Economy. Is it worth the extra $$$ compared to Y class?
In regards to seats, meals, generally the in flight service
Which are the better seats in this area?
Any advice appreciated
Thanks

 

[oztripper]

We recently travelled Syd/Lax `Premium` Economy with QF and economy on the return leg. It was nowhere close to being worth the extra money.
Cabin service was almost non existant. The food was appauling; chicken with rice, a couple of slices of carrot, and ice cream on a stick for dinner.
And to top it off, the entertainment system did not work in my seat, due to `overloading` we were explained by the stewardess. This meant I had to move to another seat a few rows back to watch a movie.
However, on the return leg, we found the experience OK, with better service and reasonable seats.
Never again will I travel `Premium` at more than twice the price.

 

[BlueAU]

We recently travelled Syd/Lax `Premium` Economy with QF and economy on the return leg. It was nowhere close to being worth the extra money.
Cabin service was almost non existant. The food was appauling; chicken with rice, a couple of slices of carrot, and ice cream on a stick for dinner.
And to top it off, the entertainment system did not work in my seat, due to `overloading` we were explained by the stewardess. This meant I had to move to another seat a few rows back to watch a movie.
However, on the return leg, we found the experience OK, with better service and reasonable seats.
Never again will I travel `Premium` at more than twice the price.

oztripper, I hope you contacted Qantas regarding your experience. It is sad to hear you didn't have a good one. I have done that leg on PE and found it much better than economy. I would not upgrade from Y to Y+ using points ( I think points are better from Y to J), but I would pay the money for it.

I like the extra room, and the fact it is semi seperated from the main Y cabin. If you don't hold status or QP, you also get priority check in which can save you alot of time.

I think there is a mix - some people will have good experiences, some bad, but that's the same for everything. ...

 

[oztripper]

Agreed that no two trips are the same, and we did enjoy the check in and faster baggage collection. But after hearing so much about `Premium` we felt let down. Next trip to USA will be business class, where the extra bucks are really worth it, it my opinion. Now that we looking forward to!

 

[RB]

My Y+ Qantas experience relates to LHR-SYD on 380 in June 2009. I have had some trips in J (pay for all my own travel ) & can say that I thought the experience was fantastic. I posted earlier this yr re 3 babies being onboard & swine flu scare but at 195cm it was just so much more comfortable. Note also that we purchased tickets when there was a 2 for 1 sale so approx $3,100 pp return all up & we were successful in using points to go J over to LHR.
Given the more normal gap between Y & Y+ pricing with Qantas my "fantastic" rating would be wound back

 

[BlueAU]

Funny we are talking about this, just got an email from Qantas about PE sale.. :shock:

Hong Kong, for departures between 1 November and 18 November 2009,
- San Francisco, for departures between 1 November and 9 December 2009, and
- Buenos Aires, for departures between 15 October and 30 November 2009.

Maybe they are watching us :shock:

 

[david870mdg]

I've flown Y+ on QF a few times now.
Would do it again just for the bigger seat and legroom.
On a 744 to HKG, the cabin was almost empty. This was a great flight.
A380 is at the rear on the upper deck, usually full.
Mixed experiences.
Points upgrade agreed - upgrade to J if possible.
If you're lucky enough you might get a skybed in Y+, this has been discussed in previous threads.
David.

 

[JohnK]

I recently travelled SYD-LAX on a 747 in premium economy although it only included economy service.

No way I would not be spending the extra money needed to sit in premium economy. Service was poor, seats are not that great although more leg room and I cannot imagine that food alone is enough to justify the difference between economy and premium economy.

I would rather pay extra to sit in an exit row in economy if I am silly enough to willingly travel QF long haul economy again in the foreseeable future....

 

[chrizzz14]

I have never paid for a Y+ flight but have been upgraded a fair few times.
Although it is somewhat nicer than Y, i don't think it worth the money!

The only time i would pay for it was if the flight was on a 2 class 747 (where Y+ is seated in business seats)

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Have done PE a few times and service has definately been better than Y. Noise cancel headphones, better food, more legroom and a few other tiny things makes it a step up from Y. Don't be fooled though - it's no J class!

My rule of thumb is go PE if the cheapest Y is half the price.

 

[Travel Guru]

While it's not QF Y+, I have flown V Australia in Y+ and would definately pay the extra to fly it over Y again in the future.

TG

 

[serfty]

I have flown PE MEL-HKG and MEL-SIN, both op-ups.

On these routes food/beverage were certainly better than that for WHY, service was similar.

Personally, I would not pay more than a 50% premium on WHY to travel in this class. Even than I would be looking for Full SC's and a discounted points cost to upgrade to J.

 

[Va Bene]

I recently flew MEL/LHR (On 747) and LHR/SYD (On A380). All PE (Y+) except for MEL/SIN (lucky enough to get an upgrade to J).
Ticket was paid by employer.
If it was my money I would rather go in Y and spend the premium $ between Y and Y+ on a good hotel, meals and a massage at the other end.
I prefer the A380 PE cabin as PE has its own toilets (747 shared with Y), is a more 'airy' cabin and has some good seating location choices. Only drawback is that I felt like being strapped to the tail of a blue whale with sideways movement (flying over Bay of Bengal is always bumpy) as the PE cabin is upstairs and down the back.
Maybe there is the same effect at the back of 747, but fortunately I don't end up there.

 

[NM]

I travelled QF premium Economy earlier in the week, SYD-HKG. The only issue with the "service" was that they ran out of meal choice by the time I was served lunch. Otherwise the food was good, especially with the option for on-demand toasted sandwiches etc through the flight. Beverages are basically from the J cabin.

Premium Economy service is certainly a significant step ahead of Economy, and the seat provides significantly more leg room, recline angle and width. Noise cancelling headphones (same as J and F cabin) are an added bonus.

Given that T fares can be lower than some B and Y fares, it can be great value. I would certainly give it serious consideration if using my money for a long-haul trip.

 

[Mal]

Have been in PE about 4 or 5 times now.

I don't see it as value for 3 or 4 times the discount economy fare, but do see it as value around the 2x mark.

Generally I like the cabin, the smaller number of pax, the food, ambiance, seat and general service.

However, on the planes where you share the lav with Y pax, that does detract from the appeal.

Note that a recliner in PE can do just about as much damage to your personal space as in Y.

 

[dajop]

My partner flew QF Y+ last week on award MEL-SIN, and suggested it wasn't worth the extra 17,500 pts over Y (had to be requested as WP). Probably part of the problem is that we flew NZ Y+ HKG-LHR-HKG in Aug/Sep, which despite having narrower seats than QF, does have slightly more legroom and has excellent service - it came with a lot of the J class frills (J meals & wine, use of J toilets, J self serve snack bar, and J standard service) that QF y+ doesn't. The comment that I got was "wouldn't do that again, NZ's was much better". YMMV.

 

[serfty]

The only substantial difference between AirNZ PE and AirNZ J is the seating.

The only other difference is the J PAX get first preference in the food.

i.e. The F&B catering is identical.

 

[dajop]

i.e. The F&B catering is identical.

Not quite identical. I was upgraded one way ( HKG-LHR )to Business and whilst my partner "slummed" it in Y+ and the only difference we noticed was a different dessert (cake style dessert with ice cream in J vs just (a different) ice cream in Y+. Of course, such a minimal difference I guess you could say for all intensive purposes it was identical.

 

[RB]

Maybe even intents and purposes

 

[serfty]

Fair enough, I was going by hearsay from a reliable source.

When NZ first introduced PE, the catering was apparently Y+ - it did not take, so soon enough, NZ changed the catering to J and have not looked back.

Interestingly, QF introduced PE somewhat later than AirNZ and began with J- catering.

It appears that on Qantas these days, PE catering is also virtually the same as that for J.