Although not keen on overnight flights in Economy, I was looking forward to flying this leg with Qantas on the A380 for our flight back to Australia from Singapore.  My plan of selecting a window and aisle seat paid off as we had no one sitting in the middle and more room for us to spread out whilst trying to catch a bit of sleep.

Airline and Flight #

Qantas QF 0036

Aircraft

Airbus Industrie A380-800 Jet

Departure Date and Time

Scheduled: Sunday 18th August 2019  20:15 pm | Actual: 8:20 pm

Arrival Date and Time

Scheduled: Monday 19th August 2019  05:35 pm | Actual: 05:06 pm

Flying Time

Scheduled: 7 hours 20 minutes  | Actual: 6 hours 46 minutes

Airport and Terminal

Departure: Changi Airport, Singapore | Terminal 1

Arrival: Tullamarine Airport, Melbourne. Victoria, Australia |Terminal 2

Luggage Allowance

Qantas being a full service carrier does not charge for checked luggage or carry-on as long as you stay within their restrictions which are pretty generous.  Luggage allowances vary depending on your destination, what class you’re flying and any Qantas frequent flyer status you may have.

International to Australia

Carry-on: Adults and children travelling in Economy are allowed the following carry on luggage up to 7kg :

1. 1x115cm bag at 56cm + 36cm + 23cm or
2. 1x185cm non-rigid garment bag at 60cm + 114cm + 11cm

In addition to this passengers can carry on board one personal item such as a handbag, laptop or jacket.

Infants are not allowed any carry-on bags but food and nappies can be carried on board.

Checked baggage: This is included in the fare as long as you stay within the limits set by Qantas. These are:

• Baggage up to 30 kilograms (66 pounds) with total dimensions not exceeding 158 centimetres (62 inches) and no limit to the number of bags.
• Children are allowed the same checked baggage allowance as adults in addition to two child items up to 32 kilograms each such as a stroller or car-seat.
• Infants can have one piece up to 10 kilograms (22 pounds) with a total dimension of up to 115 centimetres (45 inches) plus three infant items such as a car seat, collapsible stroller or baby capsule.
• More generous allowances are made for Qantas frequent flyers of Silver status and above

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
• This aircraft did its first revenue service on 17 January 2011 from Singapore to London
• Registered VH-OQI, this plane was named David Warren after the Australian scientist who invented the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder (black box)

Website

The Qantas website is easy to use and provides plenty of useful information to prospective passengers.  If you pay by BPay there are no extra costs incurred.  Once booked you can use Qantas’ Manage Booking to retrieve flight details and select any special dietary requirements, check luggage allowances and purchase additional luggage, select seats and check in and print off your boarding passes.  There is no charge to select Business class seats for domestic or international flights.

Check-in 

Check-in for Qantas flights opens from 24 hours up until 45 minutes prior to departure.  This can be done on-line or at the airport using the self-service kiosk or at the check-in counter.  You can check-in three ways:

1. Mobile check-in – by downloading the Qantas app you can check-in and access your digital boarding pass without the need to print it out.  Other benefits of this method include being alerted to when check-in first opens, access to real time flight data in case of delays and the ability to view any entertainment options prior to your flight.  You can also choose your seats.
2. Desktop check-in – by logging on to the Qantas website http://Qantas.com and clicking on Manage Booking.  Enter your booking reference and last name to bring up your booking.  Select the Checkin/Print Boarding Pass button and remember to take your boarding pass with you to the airport.
3. At the airport – via the self-service kiosks or at the desk in the Departures area prior to passing through security.  Here you can also select your seat, enter your frequent flyer number, upgrade your flight using Qantas points and print out your boarding pass and bag tags so you can drop off any bags at the bag drop.

Seating

Seat layout of Qantas’ A380-800

Layout – The Qantas A380 is a wide bodied jet with a whopping 484 seats.  These are made up of 14 First class seats, 64 Business class seats, 35 Premium Economy class seats and 371 Economy class seats.  Economy is set out in a 3-4-3 configuration   We were seated in row 58.  The cabin interiors are designed by Australian born and bred Marc Newson.

Features – The seats are made from maroon cloth with with a light grey antimacassar draped over the  headrests.  Each seat has netted foot rests and winged head rests that you can adjust to support your neck better whilst sleeping.  Armrests don’t fully retract on this aircraft.

On each seat – On our seats was a good quality maroon blanket sealed in plastic, a set of headphones also sealed in plastic and one of Qantas’ new plush pillows.

Specs – Seat pitch 31 inches (78.7 cm), seat width 17.5 inches (44.5 cm), seat recline 6 inches (15.2 cm)

Tray tables – The black tray tables aren’t folding but are adjustable, quite solid and a good size.  They fold down from the seat back in front and have a circular indent for placing your drink so its a bit more stable. Unfortunately on this flight my tray table was dirty, something I’m coming across more often these days.

Storage – The overhead luggage compartments are a good size in the A380’s and with no one else seated in our row, we had plenty of room for our bags.  Otherwise there is a seat pocket in the back of the seat in front and some room on the floor beside your feet.

Amenity Kit – There were no amenity kits handed out on this flight but when I asked for one later in the flight a very nice crew member brought me one of the ones for Economy as well as one for Premium Economy passengers.  The Economy amenity kit contains a dental kit, eyemask and earplugs. Designed with the environment in mind, the felt pouch is made from recycled PET bottles and branded with the Qantas iconic roo logo.

Cabin Comfort

• The A380-800 is very quiet inside the cabin
• The slightly wider seats provide a more comfortable flight as do the foot nets
• Leg room was good on this flight
• The high ceilings make the aircraft appear larger and feel more spacious
• Meals are timed in such a way as to reduce jet lag whilst the ambient LED lighting can reduce the effects of jet lag by simulating sunrise and sunset with its range of colours.
• Big overhead bins make finding room to store your luggage easier

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.

Communication

• No phone calls can be made on board this Qantas flight
• Seat chat allows you to communicate with other passengers on board your flight from your seat.

Power

• Shared PC power is available in Economy class at 110V AC (60Hz) and is located under the seat in front.  Most household power plugs are accepted and power is provided at a maximum of 75 watts which if exceeded on your own device, needs to be reset on the ground.  There is a charger and headphone socket at the end of the armrest.

In the Seat Pocket

• As well as the air sickness bag and safety card, Qantas has its own magazine “Spirit of Australia” filled with information about their aircraft and routes.  There are also articles on travel destinations, interviews and of course plenty of advertising.

WiFi

• WiFi is 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 or use the in-flight entertainment system.

Entertainment System

• Each seat has a Panasonic eX2 inflight entertainment system with a large personal touch screen and a remote in the inside arm rest.
• There is up 1500 audio CD’s as well as a selection of audio books, language tutorials, destination information, business education and radio channels.
• There are over 100 on demand movies to watch and over 500 TV shows. Unfortunately there are at least three ads prior to each movie and the same ones play for every movie.
• The moving map has the option of displaying in full screen and in 3D.
• 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.

Safety Demonstration

The safety demo is done by cabin crew whilst the safety video plays on your screen in front of you.  The video is quite long at seven minutes but I think they have done a really good job with it.  Some can be quite tacky and over the top but this isn’t one of them.  The video jumps to some of the various locations which Qantas flies to and someone there will relate something in that location to one of the safety do’s or don’ts on the aircraft .  For example a man in Kruger National park puts out his campfire before talking about smoking in the aircraft and a woman on safari drops her phone out of the jeep beside an elephant and the tour guide tells her not to  retrieve it as he will.  She then talks about not retrieving mobile phones if they fall between the seats in the aircraft and to call a crew member to retrieve it as there’s less chance of it getting damaged.  The video is quite clever and there’s even some humour too.  Throughout the video they sing parts of the song “I still call Australia Home” which would bring out the patriotism in any Aussie.

Catering

Menus

• Qantas’ menus contain new lighter and healthier options designed by Neil Perry.  This is to allow you to have a more comfortable flight and sleep better.
• Qantas allows passengers in all classes on select flights such as this to preselect their meal in order to ensure you get your first choice.  This service called Menu Select is open seven days to 12 hours prior to departure.
• The menus are quite thin with the front showcasing Australia’s beautiful and diverse environment through stunning aerial photographs. This one was of Tasmania’s Bridestowe Lavender Estate in Nabowla.
• As you open the menu you’ll see the food options inside with the beverages on the back.
• Dinner was a choice of three meals; a prawn and rice noodle salad, a vegetarian linguine and roast chicken.  All came served with herb bread and a passionfruit and mango mousse.
• Fresh fruit was available mid flight from the self-service bar
• Breakfast consisted of a lemon muffin, fruit salad with juice, tea or coffee

Food/Drinks

• 20:50 (Singapore time) – Bottle of water
• 21:40 (Singapore time) – Dinner served – despite the roast chicken smelling absolutely delicious, I went for linguine and it tasted very good.  Hubby thought there were too many potatoes in his dinner.
• 03:53 (Melbourne time) – Breakfast served – I think because of the early arrival time there was no hot breakfast on this flight.

Restroom

The restrooms on board the Qantas A380-800 are large compared to some aircraft but still not that big.  There is hand wash and hand cream by the wash basin.  There are about 15 restrooms located between the two levels of the plane with at least one being a wheelchair accessible one.  The cleanliness varied throughout the flight.

Service

The service on board Qantas started with a warm welcome from the cabin crew.  The captain then let us know it would be a short flight due to a good tail wind and gave us some details on the A380 and that this was one of Qantas’ first routes.  It’s always good when you get a friendly pilot who goes a little bit out of his way to make others’ experiences more enjoyable.  I would like to see Qantas hand out hot towels or refresher towelettes prior to meals and pay a bit more attention to cleaning the tray tables from the previous flight/s.  And I was surprised no amenity kits were handed out either although crew were more than happy in chasing a couple up for us.   Otherwise the crew appeared friendly and helpful.

Pros

• Friendly cabin crew
• There was plenty of leg room
• Tasty food
• Good sized entertainment screens

Cons

• Dirty tray tables
• No hot towels
• No hot breakfast
• Had to ask for amenity kit

Conclusion

Friendly cabin crew, tasty food and comfortable seats made for an enjoyable flight as far as overnight flights go.  I would have expected to have received an amenity kit on an overnight flight and a hot breakfast would have been nice too but maybe the early arrival time was the reason for that.  I would happily recommend this flight.