Qantas Airways

Flew on QF2 from Dubai to Sydney in Economy class. I had the option to get on Emirates EK417 too for the same price (departs after an hour QF2 departs) but took QF2 to reduce the transit time at Dubai and in the end regretted my decision. After making the booking Qantas changed the flight time which reduces the gap between the two flights just to 30 minutes. This was not a big issue however simply put the seat pitch and width made it one of the most uncomfortable long haul journey with my wife and two kids. EK417 seat pitch is 32-34 in with 18in width whereas QF2 seats were 17.5in wide with only 31in pitch hard to move in and out very painful with the front seats reclined. Besides that the service was better than Emirates (flew on Emirates Sydney-Dubai on the same trip). Emirates served meals thrice whereas on QF2 it was twice. Emirates had also an edge with onboard wifi. But in the end the seat pitch mattered the most.

Flew Melbourne to Alice Springs on 737-800. Seat comfort and pitch were fine for a 2 hour flight. Meal was a meat pie which was tasty but crew seemed rather slow with the distribution. Film shown on overhead screens.

Qantas really needs to lift their game if they want to compete with the other airlines who are miles ahead in almost every way! The trouble started when they tried to charge me around $150 to book our seat numbers - have never heard of international airlines doing that? I regularly travel to USA and have never encountered that. Travelled to Phuket with the kids and shunned Jetstar (who fly direct) and paid extra to fly Qantas via Bangkok. The kids really had their hearts set on in-seat entertainment and games so we decided the extra money wasn't too much and the extra 4 hours it added to the trip wasn't a big deal if it kept them quiet. Well what a mistake that was! Qantas in-flight entertainment was poor on the way over and non-existent on the way home. Said there was a "Technical Fault" on the return and apologised at the end but really? The planes are just too old. I tried to watch a movie but the "buffering" and jumping made that impossible - I gave up after the 2nd attempt and just went to sleep. Ordered Duty free when the hostess came around approx 40 mins into the trip (6.25pm departure from BKK) and tried my best to stay awake but was woken at 3.30am when she finally arrived with it (but had the order wrong anyway). My daughter opted for the pork for dinner - the hostess had run out and only had chicken and said she'd be straight back with it but forgot - so she was never fed.

I flew on QF1 Sydney to Heathrow mid July 2014 Business class. This flight was fantastic all aspects were up to Qantas's usual standard including the inflight entertainment choices. Being able to watch the Kerry O'Brien interviews with Paul Keating again was a very pleasant way to pass the time. Food and wine were fantastic and the crew personalised the service by using my name this is a nice touch and not all airlines do this. Qantas has the A380 configured as 2x2x2 which is not as good as the 1x2x1 of Singapore airlines but the mattress topper made a difference and the seat became quite comfy for sleeping. All in all a good experience.

QF 1 29 July 2014. QF 10 11 Aug 2014. Was very happy with this airline. I flew from LHR to Dubai and must say it was one of the nicer inflight experiences in quite a while. The crew were friendly and warm. The food served was quite nice and were regularly served refreshments and snacks. The leg room was great compared to a few other airlines. Inflight entertainment other than an annoying radio was good as well.

Further to my 9 August posting the saga continued. Qantas phoned us on 8th just before we left for Barcelona airport to tell us that our seats were required for a bassinet booking from Dubai to Sydney. When we boarded our flight in Dubai on Friday 8 August there was neither a baby nor a bassinet to be seen. They had simply given our front row seats to two other passengers rather than letting us have our reserved seats back. If this is how the Qantas/Emirates codeshare works I want no part of it. The Purser on the flight was bemused as he told us that they were not expecting any baby or bassinet at 43B and C. Also our flight from Dubai to Sydney was going on to Auckland and the menu for breakfast arriving in Sydney was almost identical to that for the Sydney to Auckland sector just some subtle changes. I have no idea what the Trans-Tasman passengers were actually served as our flight was diverted to Brisbane for fuel when Sydney airport closed due to fog. Our flight arrived in Sydney about 11.00 instead of 06.00. To add insult to injury Qantas could not even get our baggage onto our rebooked flight even though they had six hours to sort it out - not even on the following morning's flight across the ditch.

Flew from Cairns to Melb on a weekday flight which was completely full. The flight was 15 mins late departing but arrived in MEL on time. The crew were friendly and attentive and provided very good service throughout. This looked like a fairly new 737-800 and the quality of the in-flight entertainment and the viewing screen was excellent. As for the meal this was a really pleasant surprise consisting of a nice Moroccan lamb dish followed later by an ice cream. Qantas gets its share of knockers but this flight was certainly up there with the best of any domestic service.

Flew Melbourne to Dubai return with Qantas. Onward journey with Emirates. Return flight from Dubai delayed by 3 hours+. On all legs Qantas service was slow and disorganised. Meal service was reduced as were the drinks. No choice to pick meals either. "Snacks" on all legs were disgusting and mass-produced. Seat selection at online check-in was non-existent. IFE sensitivity was very low. Never again Qantas.

SYD-PER in business class on A330-200. First generation skybed was comfortable for 5 hour flight. Crew promptly met requests but weren't particularly warm. On entering plane CSM was fretting as crew member meant to be at door to plane wasn't there not a good look in front of passengers. Wheels were up at 5.30pm but instead of immediately offering a drink once seat belt sign was up crew did not start serving drinks until 6.30. This isn't good enough for a dinner service in business. Whilst Qantas advertise dining for east-west coast flights as international business selection of dishes a lot less than international flight and not filling which for a dinner flight was a problem and I had to order room service when I arrived in Perth hotel. Overall adequate but not really doing much to lift the bar on this competitive route under pressure from Virgin.

What a fiasco! The Emirates/Qantas partnership works for some but obviously not for my wife and me. We booked flights in January for a regular trip from Wellington to Barcelona and return and reserved our seats at that time. One day prior to our return we have found that our seat reservation for front row on Emirates economy has been cancelled and we are now halfway back in the aircraft from Dubai to Sydney. Phoned Emirates who said that Qantas had changed them and could easily change them back to the original ones. However Emirates could not change them for us. phoned Qantas from France (the callcentre is in Cape Town and Qantas does not even fly there) to be told that Emirates changed them and that Qantas could not change them back. During the conversation the Qantas service agent even changed my seat from row 61 to row 78 and left my wife in row 61 - goodness only knows why! We are both Silver grade FFs and Qantas Club members but it counts for nothing. I am due to make the fifth trip in 18 months on this route and am about to cancel the next one having only booked it three days ago and paid for my seats. Singapore Airlines has never treated us like this on the same route - Wellington to Barcelona and return.