"impossible to use your tray table"
Stephen James (Australia)
It's incredible what airlines think people will put up with. When the seat in front is reclined you're stuffed. The video screen is too close to your face to focus on and it is impossible to use your tray table. It was a degrading experience which I hope I never have to repeat. I've flown QANTAS for years but now I think it's time to give other airlines my business when flying internationally. The staff were fantastic.
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Aircraft Type | AIRBUS A380 |
Seat Layout | 3x4x3 |
Seat Legroom | 12345 |
Seat Recline | 12345 |
Seat Width | 12345 |
Aisle Space | 12345 |
Viewing Tv Screen | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"the seats are horrible"
Matt O'Donnell (Australia)
The seats are horrible. The two main issues are this: when reclined the seat in front in basically in your lap. You can't use your tray table you can't see your screen and anything you had on your table gets smashed away. The second issue is that the arm rests can't be kept in a raised position.
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Aircraft Type | AIRBUS A380 |
Seat Layout | 2x4x2 |
Seat Legroom | 12345 |
Seat Recline | 12345 |
Seat Width | 12345 |
Aisle Space | 12345 |
Viewing Tv Screen | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"absence of overhead bin space"
G Turnley (Australia)
SYD-LAX Seat 35F and LAX-SYD Seat 35J. Both these seats are aisle and considered Exit row and come with a $180 surcharge. There are just 5 Economy rows on the Upper Deck of the A380. Heaps of legroom but 35F and the adjoining seats become a defacto walkway for other passengers going to the toilet. In the dark they trip over your feet. 35J has the same legroom and as the space leads to nowhere you don't get other passengers stumbling over you. The huge downside to these seats is the almost absence of overhead bin space for your stuff. Even worse 35JK do not have a seat pocket in front so nowhere to put small items you use during the flight. Look good on paper but not good in reality.
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Aircraft Type | AIRBUS A380 |
Seat Layout | 2x4x2 |
Seat Legroom | 12345 |
Seat Recline | 12345 |
Seat Width | 12345 |
Aisle Space | 12345 |
Viewing Tv Screen | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"very comfortable journey"
Kidson Carr (Australia)
Very comfortable journey on top deck of A380 during LHR to SYD flight. It felt like business class with no-one next to me; quiet spacious clean wide seats. This was one of the best economy class flights I've had. I booked and paid well in advance and selected my seat 4 months prior as you are able to do with certain levels of Qantas frequent flyer.
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Aircraft Type | AIRBUS A380 |
Seat Layout | 3x4x3 |
Seat Legroom | 12345 |
Seat Recline | 12345 |
Seat Width | 12345 |
Aisle Space | 12345 |
Viewing Tv Screen | 12345 |
Recommended | yes |
"found the seat to be hard uncomfortable"
R Baker (Australia)
The economy class on Qantas could only be described as cattle class. I had a window seat and had no access whatever to the aisle. I had to wait 12 hours of a 14 hour flight to use the toilet as the persons in the seats next to me were both asleep. I found the seat to be hard uncomfortable and seriously in need of further adjustment. When paying an honest fare you expect honest comfort not to be penned in like cattle and whoever designed the seats for Qantas seriously needs further education in ergonomics.
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Aircraft Type | AIRBUS A380 |
Seat Layout | 3x4x3 |
Seat Legroom | 12345 |
Seat Recline | 12345 |
Seat Width | 12345 |
Aisle Space | 12345 |
Viewing Tv Screen | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"legroom is excellent"
Tom Abbott (United States)
LAX-SYD Seat 27K SYD-LAX seat 28K. Premium Economy seat legroom is excellent and I'm 6' 3" 240lbs - the seat cushion comfort is not. It's inadequate from a comfort standpoint for a long haul flight the cushions are thin and unsupportive the fabric does not hold you in position causing you to slide forward when utilizing the generous pitch the seat back offers. I found myself shifting my weight constantly just trying to keep my backside from falling asleep. The other issue concerns the foot rest on the PE seats it's irrelevant for anyone over 5 feet tall. Basically it's useless and difficult to fully extend even if you wanted to use it. As far as ingress and egress from the window seat get to know your neighbor really fast since you will need to get up and move around many time during the flight just to keep your sanity. The A380 and the flight attendants were great.
Seat Type | Premium Economy |
Aircraft Type | AIRBUS A380 |
Seat Layout | 2x4x2 |
Seat Legroom | 12345 |
Seat Recline | 12345 |
Seat Width | 12345 |
Aisle Space | 12345 |
Viewing Tv Screen | 12345 |
Recommended | yes |
"seats extremely comfortable"
L Bateman (Australia)
Seats 26K SYD-LHR and 24K LHR-SYD. Both seats extremely comfortable with plenty of room. The storage bin alongside the window very useful. Seat 26K slightly awkward to get past 26J to the isle but not impossible. When the seat in front reclined still plenty of personal space. Seat 24K was an exit row seat with exceptional leg room but a lack of places to put things. The other problem with this seat is the window is slightly behind you so instead of looking forward and out you look directly to the side making it a bit uncomfortable to look out.
Seat Type | Premium Economy |
Aircraft Type | AIRBUS A380 |
Seat Layout | 2x3x2 |
Seat Legroom | 12345 |
Seat Recline | 12345 |
Seat Width | 12345 |
Aisle Space | 12345 |
Viewing Tv Screen | 12345 |
Recommended | yes |
"seat reclined fully"
Charles Hartwell (United Kingdom)
We travelled in the 'green' section and in seats 38 DEF which were at the back of the section with a wall behind us. My wife and I travelled with our 5 year old. The flight was QF2 from Dubai to Sydney. We liked row 38. The seat reclined fully no one kicked the back of our seats and we did not have to be concerned shout reclining into someone's lap. In addition there was some space behind the seat to put blankets etc. The aircraft had large storage bins which took our hand baggage with no issues The seat location meant that we were close to a choice of toilets and also the self serve food area The cabin staff were excellent - friendly attentive and coming round on a regular basis with drinks and goodies (m&m's etc). The quality of the food was very good as was the range of drinks available. There was plenty to eat onboard and the self service area was topped up with goodies. Also Qantas serve good coffee and hot chocolate with marshmallows. There were never any queues for the toilets and we were not bothered by any noise from the nearby galley. However the seat is no where as comfortable as Emirates and although the IFE is good it us not a patch on Emirates The legroom is ok but when the seat in front reclines it reclines right into your lap making a long journey very uncomfortable. On a 13+ hour flight! there were no goodie / activity bags given out to our 5 year old and the choice of children's movies was quite limited. On our first leg a Emirates flight my daughter thought Santa was on the plane due to the huge amount of stuff she was given. We had a lot of turbulence and no warnings etc from the captain. On the Emirates leg the captain warned us in advance and then after some heavy bumps came on and reassured everyone that all was well. If I had the choice I would chose the Emirates A380 over Quantas' A380 on a long flight purely due to the much more comfortable seat better IFE and great goodies for kiddies. Thus outweighs (for us) our experience that Qantas have more friendly and attentive cabin crew. If we were to fly on the Qantas A380 it would be in the same seats or upstairs (review of our return trip to come).
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Aircraft Type | AIRBUS A380 |
Seat Layout | 3x4x3 |
Seat Legroom | 12345 |
Seat Recline | 12345 |
Seat Width | 12345 |
Aisle Space | 12345 |
Viewing Tv Screen | 12345 |
Recommended | yes |
"legroom was a little tight"
J Tinning (Austria)
Generally comfortable but the legroom was a little tight. Handset for the screen conveniently stowed in armrest. I didn't experience any discomfort at all during the flight and enjoyed it.
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Aircraft Type | AIRBUS A380 |
Seat Layout | 3x4x3 |
Seat Legroom | 12345 |
Seat Recline | 12345 |
Seat Width | 12345 |
Aisle Space | 12345 |
Viewing Tv Screen | 12345 |
Recommended | yes |
"my shins kept hitting the seat in front"
John Bell (United Kingdom)
Melbourne to London. The seat pitch was such that my shins kept hitting the seat in front. As soon as I reclined I had a complaint from the passenger behind that her screen was too close to her face. Exiting the seat with all seats in front was awkward. Meal service minimal but adequate. The difference between Emirates and Qantas economy are significant.
Seat Type | Economy Class |
Aircraft Type | AIRBUS A380 |
Seat Layout | 3x4x3 |
Seat Legroom | 12345 |
Seat Recline | 12345 |
Seat Width | 12345 |
Aisle Space | 12345 |
Viewing Tv Screen | 12345 |
Recommended | no |