Due to the late arrival of our flight from New York to Los Angeles, our next flight which we boarded immediately was already nearly full.  Finding room in the overhead compartments was a bit of a challenge which is a good enough reason to board early when possible.  It was late and we had a long 16 hour flight in front of us to Melbourne, Australia.

Airline and Flight #

Qantas QF94

Aircraft

Airbus A380-800

Airport and Terminal

LAX, Los Angeles | Terminal B

Scheduled Departure Date and Time

Friday 22nd September 2017 |10:10pm

Flying Time

15 hours 45 minutes

Luggage Allowance

Carry-on: 1 x 185cm (45in) bag or 1 x 185cm (73in) non rigid garment bag up to 7kg

Checked baggage: 2 pieces up to 23kg (50lbs) each

If you are a Qantas club member or have silver or gold frequent flyer membership you are allowed an extra piece of checked baggage.  Business and First Class passengers are also allowed 3 to 4 pieces.

Fun Facts

• Qantas is the third oldest airline in the world and Australia’s largest airline
• Qantas is an acronym for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services
• Qantas is the founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance
• Qantas’ main hub is in Sydney, Australia

Website

The Qantas website is easy to use and provides plenty of details when booking flights including type of aircraft, flight duration, any meals and snacks, stopovers and even how many frequent flyer points and status credits you will accrue on your chosen flight.  If you pay by BPAY there are no extra costs incurred.  Unfortunately for international flights, you can’t book seats without incurring a fee of $35 if you’re travelling on a sale fare unless you wait up to 48 hours before departure.  Extra legroom seats cost an extra $20 per person on top of the $35.

Check-in and Security

As we had checked in at JFK there was no need to check in at LAX also.  And as long as we didn’t leave the terminal security again either.

Seating

• We were in row 71 of 88 behind the wing.  The Qantas A380-800 is a wide bodied jet with a 3-4-3 configuration in Economy.  The aircraft has 484 seats divided into 14 first class seats, 64 business class seats, 35 premium economy seats and 371 economy seats.
• Each seat had foot rest nets under the seat in front of them and winged head rests that you could adjust to support your neck better whilst sleeping.
• On our seats were a blanket sealed in plastic, a set of headphones also sealed in plastic and a pillow.
• Seat pitch 31 inches (78.7 cm), seat width 17.5 inches (44.5 cm), seat recline 6 inches (15.2 cm)

Cabin Comfort

• The A380-800 is very quiet inside the cabin whilst the ambient LED lighting can reduce the effects of jet lag by simulating sunrise and sunset with it’s range of colours.
• The slightly wider seats provide a more comfortable flight as do the foot nets.

 In-flight Entertainment

Electronic Devices

• Electronic devices can be used whilst boarding using the aerobridge but not if you’re using the tarmac to board.
• Once doors on the plane have closed you need to then switch your device to flight mode
• The in-flight telecommunication service will allow you to send and receive texts and calls.  Prices are $1.90 USD for texts up to 160 characters and $5 USD per minute for calls.  Texts and calls are made from the plane’s own inflight entertainment phone handset.

Power

• Shared PC power is available in Economy class
• Power is provided at a maximum of 75 watts which if exceeded needs to be reset on the ground.

Reading Material

• Qantas Spirit of Australia is the inflight magazine found in the pocket of your seat
• Also in the seat pocket is a duty free magazine, safety card and air sickness bag

WiFi

• WiFi was not available on this flight.  Qantas has decided not to offer inflight internet as a result of a trial it conducted back in 2012 where less than five percent of passengers took up the service.  The demand for internet on international flights is a lot lower than domestic flights given the majority of international flights are overnight and most passengers prefer to sleep.

Entertainment System

• Each seat has a Panasonic eX2 inflight entertainment system with a large personal touch screen.  There are over 100 on demand movies to watch and over 500 TV shows.  There is up 1500 audio CD’s as well as a selection of audio books, language tutorials, destination information, business education and radio channels.
• The screen also has a Flight Path allowing you to see details including where you are, the time and distance to your destination, air temperature and speed you are travelling at.  A camera situated outside the aircraft enables live views from outside the plane.

Catering

Menus

Not long after being seated cabin crew started handing out menus.  It’s always exciting seeing what food is on offer and deciding what you’re going to have.  Qantas now offers three meal choices for lunch or dinner with one of them being a vegetarian option.  The menu contained three choices for dinner, followed by a snack later on and then breakfast about two hours before we landed.  There was also a list of complimentary beverages including alcohol.  The menus were a one sided A5 sheet of card with food down one side and drinks down the other.  Not the most attractive I’ve seen but not the worst either.  There was a red and white geometric pattern across the top with the route listed below – in this case it was North America to Australia.

Food/Drinks

At the start of the flight we were offered the tasty Orange and Hibiscus juice we had come accustomed to and quite enjoyed as well as a bottle of water.  Menus were also distributed early on.  Dinner was served soon into the flight as it was late and no doubt the cabin crew were eager to turn the cabin lights out so people could sleep.  I chose the seared salmon with roasted potatoes, zucchini, carrots, beans and red capsicum cream.  Apart from the salmon being a bit dry, the meal was fine.  Hubby had the penne pasta dish.  Both came with herb bread and white chocolate and lemon cheesecake which were both nice.  Later on in the flight beef epanadas came around.  Available from the snack bar were a few snacks including Kit Kats, fruit and crackers as well as a selection of soft drinks and juice.  Prior to landing we were served breakfast which was a choice of a seasonal fruit platter or a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs with bacon, chicken sausage, mushrooms, hash brown and bell pepper relish.  We both had the hot breakfast which was very satisfying and came served with an orange and cranberry muffin and a yoghurt with blueberries which were also good.

Toilets

The toilets on board the Qantas A380 are quite large as far as plane toilets go.  They were kept clean throughout the long flight thanks to regular and thorough cleaning by the cabin crew.

Service

This was another enjoyable flight with Qantas staff polite and professional.  I would however have liked to see drinks come around more often.

Pros

• The A380-800 is a very quiet plane making the long flight more comfortable
• The self-service snack bar is a great idea for when you are hungry between meals
• Nice clean toilets for most of the flight
• The food was tasty
• I liked the idea of the camera outside the aircraft so you had a good view of the runway when taking off and landing

Cons 

• The meals don’t contain as many items on the trays compared with some other airlines
• The drinks trolley could have come around more regularly

Conclusion

The Qantas A380-800 flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne was an enjoyable flight.  The service was decent, the food tasty and the toilets were cleaned regularly.  I would happily fly Qantas on the A380-800 again.