Qantas Airways

We flew Singapore - Sydney (QF 82) in Dec. We had not flown Qantas for many years however we were unable to get a flight on our usual carrier (SIA). We felt like we were on a budget airline - the service (which started off by flogging duty-free) the food the screen. There were babies/toddlers who screamed all the way. We used to always fly Qantas about 15-20 yrs ago I was even a Qantas Club member and racked up 500000 pts. I was very loyal - I thought I was on a different airline on this last flight.

Melbourne-Canberra and return in B737s. Very smooth check-ins at the kiosks and bag drops. On both legs the planes operated on time or a little early. The cabin interiors were a bit tired and the seats a bit tight but the in- flight service was friendly and the snacks served were fine. Wine and beer were available on the late afternoon flight from Canberra. I travelled using Emirates Miles. I could not check-on online on either the Qantas or Emirates websites. The seats I had chosen when booking on the Emirates website were not honoured by Qantas.

OOL-SYD QF865 Jan 14 2014. Check in was seamless and very speedy with very good staff. Qantas Club at Coolangatta Gold Coast is not as good as Sydney but was still quite good. Boarding started 30 mins before flight and was like check in very speedy. Cabin Crew very courteous and attentive. IFE was old drop down screens with QEntertainment but the News and Double Episode of Modern Family was quite enjoyable. Also the 12 radio stations were entertaining during take off and landing. Food was a dinner of penne with cream of pumpkin sauce and chicken which was good and it came with a small chocolate and water. Soft drink or wine were also offered. However no beer. Qantas T3 in Sydney was good and arriving from Gate 8 seems to be my lucky charm. As usual my luggage was the very first bag onto the carousel. Taxi line was short and was in a Taxi in less than 5 minutes.

BNE-MEL-BNE in mixture of economy out and business back. As is often noted in these columns if you get a good Qantas cabin crew they are the world's best. The FAs in business were superb and extremely professional. Lunch service and wines excellent. Only downside on this trip was that the business lounge in Brisbane (used for business class and platinum members) was closed so one had to endure a bunch of yobs and their beer and noise in the normal Qantas Lounge. Impossible to work in the normal Qantas Lounge that day so better to sit and work outside in the boarding area. Shame Qantas don't have a dress policy for their lounges at least just to exclude the dirty singlets and flip-flops mob. However I am again pleased to recommend Qantas to others.

Flew AKL-SYD-HKG on 737 and A380. The Trans-Tasman service was the early business shuttle with a Jetconnect 737-800. Firstly the IFE itself was fantastic same provided on the A380. For a 3 hour flight it was more than satisfactory. The screen itself was large and at the perfect height for viewing. The seat itself was rather narrow and the seat pitch was rather narrow (and I have a height of 5ft 5!). However we can attribute this to the size of the aircraft. The Flight Attendants themselves were fantastic and were overall bright and cheerful for the early flight time despite one haughty young woman (no more than 20) who was leering and smile-less for the entire flight. When I merely asked her for a blanket and pillow she gave me a scowl as if it were the hardest thing for her to do. However the overall flight was great. On to the A380 service to HKG. The seat pitch was more than sufficient and the width was great. The IFE screen was large and had more than enough entertainment for the 9 hour flight. The Flight Attendants were bright and cheerful for the whole flight and the catering of lunch and pizza bread refreshment was hot and fresh - probably due to the introduction of induction ovens on the A380. Overall a great Qantas experience.

NRT-SYD on an un-refurbished B744. The flight arrived about 10 minutes early. The seats were reasonably comfortable but were quite old. The IFE system was old but still had a wide variety of quality programs. The service as usual was attentive and polite with a warm Australian charm. Though Qantas usually provides a quality food and drink service I was quite disappointed by the food on this flight.

After two days of flight cancellations and reschedules very happy to have arrived back safely in NZ after a surprise gift by my children of a return flight to Seattle for the 2013 Christmas break. I fully commend the ground staff cabin crew and every other QANTAS employee that I encountered on my journey for kind and efficient service. Demonstrated excellent customer care service from my point of view. Nothing was too small or big a deal to ask about and I felt genuine warmth from the cabin crew even after over many hours of catering to everybody else's needs both on my way to LAX and returning from LAX. The cancelled flights in L.A resulted in Qantas putting us up in a Hilton Hotel in Anaheim and we even got food vouchers! As we had missed our connecting flight in Sydney once again Qantas provided lovely overnight accommodation at the Rydges Hotel again with more than adequate food vouchers.

Final sector from Dubai to Melbourne QF 10 Jan 14. We had paid for exit row seats and the extra leg room was most appreciated. I was most unimpressed when we boarded in Dubai (after the London - Dubai leg) to find we were unable to use the overhead lockers which we were compelled to use because the crew had their luggage there. When I questioned why I was told there wasn't where else to put it. As customers who have paid extra for these seats I believe the crew should put their luggage in the hold or in another area in the plane. Crews attitude quite patchy. Breakfast very ordinary.

Last year we flew on the A380-800 from LAX-SYD on Qantas economy. The seats were comfortable and the foot rest was a bonus. On this sector dinner and breakfast was served. For an inflight meal I couldn't fault it. IFE was extremely good for a 15 hour flight and not to mention the skycam feature. On the IFE people you were able to message each other from different seats. Qantas crew was caring and attentive and kept walking around the cabin asking for refreshments and so on. A snack bar at the back of the aircraft offered soft drinks and snacks if anyone was picky. Overall it was a smooth flight and thoroughly enjoyed.

I fly regularly (4 times a month) from Perth to several regional destinations in WA. I always fly with Qantas on these sectors and have to say they have their good and bad points. The good points are planes always on time (never had a flight delay longer than 5 mins) food is quite good and IFE on the 737-800 quite good for domestic travel. The bad points; seats in economy are possibly the most cramped and un-comfortable of any airline I have ever flown with even the newer 737-800 aircraft have a very tired and old look and feel inside some of FA's seem to just go through the motions and boarding at Perth Airport is just a cattle stampede but that is not all down to Qantas. On a side note the few times I have upgraded to Business Class it has been a wonderful flying experience and one of the best regional domestic business class offerings. Far better than what the Americans call 'First Class' on their domestic routes. Overall a pass mark for Qantas just.