Review : Qantas B-787 Business Class, Sydney - Los Angeles

Rohit

Reviews |

03/07/2022

In recent months, there has been a lot of chatter on how revenge travel is sweeping the world. I got a first-hand experience of this phenomenon on a trip to the U.S. when I flew Qantas from Sydney to L.A.

Booking

If you are planning international travel at sometime in the second half of 2022 and are hoping to redeem points, reconsider your plans. Redemption seats have all but disappeared, particularly in First & Business Class. In pre-covid times, redeeming points only really made sense to fly at the front of the plane, that’s where you got most bang for your ~~buck~~ points.

But given that many airlines are currently selling seats in Economy nearly for the price of Business, it might actually be ok to burn some points to fly at the back of the plane. I mean, any travel is better than sitting in your office cubicle 9 hours a day😉

As always, do your numbers before you make the decision.

I booked my flight late last year when Covid was still a thing, airlines were haemorrhaging cash & the general public was too fearful to step foot on the plane. As International borders started to open, Qantas announced several points plane and made every seat in every cabin bookable with points. I needed no invitation and pounced on it.

For my flight from Sydney to LA, I redeemed 108,000 Qantas points and paid about $330 cash to cover the fees, taxes and carrier charges. This isn’t the most economical way to book this flight though, as you can also redeem 85,000 Asia Miles or just 55,000 Alaska Miles to fly this route.

Alaska Miles are very difficult to earn in Australia and the easiest way to get your hands over them is to actually buy them when they are on sale, which Alaska have done frequently in the past.

Asia Miles is a partner of American Express Membership Rewards Program, so if you have an Amex card that earns Membership Rewards points, you can transfer 170,000 points to your Asia Miles account, which at the ratio of 2:1 (2 MR points = 1 Asia Mile) will give you the required number of Miles to book this flight.

Airport Arrival & Check-in

I arrived at Sydney T1 at about 7:30 am, some 2:45 hrs before the scheduled departure of my flight. The line for check-in was already long and it took a good 30 minutes before I got to the front of the queue.

Qantas Business Class Check-in, Sydney International T1

Along with the passport, I was asked to show my international vaccination certificate which is still a requirement to travel to the U.S. Luckily, I did not need to take a pre departure covid test as that condition had been removed just a couple of weeks prior to my travel.

With the boarding pass in my hand, I waltzed through the Express Path and into the Customs Hall. For those not familiar, Sydney T1 has a separate Departure Lane called Express Path exclusively for passengers flying in First or Business Class. You will find this just past the main Departures area, and on busy travel days this can save you quite a bit of time & angst from not having to queue up for ages.

From here on, it only took a few minutes to clear customs and security, once again thanks to a separate queue for passengers flying at the front of the plane.

You see, travelling in Business Class isn’t just about sleeping on a flat bed, eating four-course meals curated by celebrity chefs and drinking expensive champagne (although that is indeed the main attraction), it also offers you privileges that elevate your overall travel experience in ways that’s hard to measure.

Anyhow, with formal business out of the way – its was time to head to the lounge for some well-earned brekkie.

Lounge Experience

Ordinarily, Business Class passengers are directed to the International Business Lounge which is a rather dated facility. If you hold Platinum or higher elite status with Qantas or hold the oneworld emerald status, you can make your way into the Qantas First Lounge, a significant step-up from the Business Lounge.

Qantas First Lounge – Sydney International T1

I will forever be grateful to Qatar Airways, who in 2020, ran a status match promotion and offered free Privilege Club Platinum status to Velocity Platinum members.

The status match was initially valid for 1 year but has been subsequently extended twice and is now good until 31st December 2022. If you are one of the lucky thousands who were successful with the status-match, you have until the end of the year to experience the Qantas First Lounge. With all the travel madness around, there is no way Qatar are going to extend this again.

As this was a morning flight, breakfast was being served at the time. To my delight, there were only a dozen or so people in the lounge and I had no trouble finding a table by the window with awesome views of the apron. A menu was presented.

Winter Breakfast Menu – Qantas First Lounge, Sydney International T1

I ordered a Bacon & Egg Brioche Roll and wolfed it down with a glass of Piper-Heidsieck.

Visiting Qantas First Lounge is always a great experience, but to be able to leave behind the maddening terminal crowd and be fed and fawned-upon by an army of staff donning spotless white blazers in an oasis of calm, is pure bliss.

Bacon & Egg Roll – Qantas First Lounge, Sydney International T1

Soon enough, there was an announcement on the lounge P.A. system telling patrons that boarding for the L.A. flight had commenced. On this day, my flight was departing from Gate 8 which is about a 5-minute walk from the lounge. As I approached the departure Gate, boarding was well underway.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Cabin

The aerobridge connecting Gate 8 to the aircraft is one of the longest, it felt like it went on for an eternity. Anyhow, after a bit of walking I boarded the plane from the second door and turned left.

Business Class on Qantas 787 is spread over 2 cabins, the forward cabin is the main cabin with 30 seats. Row 1 has just 2 seats, both by the window. Then you have Rows 2-8 with 4 seats per row configured in a 1-2-1 layout. This means that every passenger in Business Class has direct aisle access.

Qantas B-787, Forward Business Class Cabin

Then you have the smaller rear cabin with 3 rows of 4 seats each for a total of 12 seats.

Qantas B-787, Rear Business Class Cabin

All up, there are 42 seats in total. On this flight, every single one of those was taken-up. I was having a chat with one of the crew during the flight who mentioned that demand for Business Class was so strong that Qantas could have sold twice as many seats on each plane if they had them.

In terms of seating, if you are travelling solo and want a bit of privacy, the odd numbered window seats are your best bet. This is because the actual seat on these seats are flush against the window and the console is near the aisle, thus giving you a true window seat experience while the console provides you a barrier of sorts from the general aisle traffic. On this flight, I had selected Seat 6A, which was a window seat on the left.

Qantas B-787, Seat 6A

Families, couples or even singles in the mood for bit of a chit-chat might prefer the 2 middle seats.

Qantas B-787, Centre Seats

However, if you are travelling solo and find yourself in one of the middle seats next to someone annoying, there is a privacy bar you can raise to accord yourself a bit of peace n quiet. The privacy bar only covers about half of the console, so this wouldn’t provide you total separation from the person on the seat beside you.

Qantas B-787, Centre Seats Privacy Barrier

As I walked up to my seat, I noticed a pillow, seat-topper and mattress waiting for me. There were menu cards on the console.

Qantas B-787, Business Class Bedding

A separate breakfast menu was also offered where you could make your selections & hand it over to the crew. Although breakfast isn’t served until 2 hours before landing in L.A., this exercise was undertaken to minimise disturbance & maximise sleep for passengers. Sadly I forgot to take the picture of the menu before returning it to the crew🤦‍♂️

Also waiting on the seat was a bag of amenity kit & Qantas branded PJ’s.

Qantas B-787, Business Class Amenity Bag

Qantas B-787, Business Class Amenities

Qantas B-787, Business Class Sleepwear

With my seat being an even number seat, the console was towards the window and the seat closer to the aisle. The seat and entertainment controls both, were located on the left. First up, you had the universal power outlet, a USB port and a headphone jack positioned on the lower part of the console and within easy reach.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Seat

Qantas B-787 Business Class Power & Charging Outlet

Above that, there was the Qantas branded noise-cancelling headphone, a reading light which could be manoeuvred to your liking as well as a bottle of water.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Headphone & Bottled Water

A protruding console arm offers some storage space. This is also where you will find the seat control pad which allows you to swing and slide the seat in all kinds of positions.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Seat Storage Space

Qantas B-787 Business Class Seat Control Pad

There is a hand-held device to control the seat back monitor hiding in one of the compartments, just lift the flap and pull out the remote. There is also a mirror, which if you are one of those people who like to constantly check yourself out, will appreciate.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Device Storage Unit

Qantas B-787 Business Class Hand Held Device & Mirror

The tray table is located directly under the shelf, a gentle press on the control (see picture) unlocks the table which you can then pull out and extend. The tray table is sturdy and besides eating your meal, can also be used as a worktable. I had no trouble using it for a few hours to draft part of this review.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Tray Table

You can slide the table forward and back which is handy if you wanted to get out of your seat without having to stow the table.

Each of the business class seats come with an entertainment monitor attached to the back of the seat in front of them. I thought this was a fairly decent unit and made for pleasant viewing. Qantas offers a comprehensive catalogue of viewing material in business class, this includes dozens of movies – including in different languages & genre, popular TV shows, kids entertainment, games and so-on.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Inflight Entertainment

I spent some time watching The Lost City which was pretty meh, before switching to the Moving Map, my all-time favourite occupation on long-haul flights.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Movie

Qantas B-787 Business Class Moving Map

When its time to sleep, the seat reclines into a fully flat-bed. This was my first time flying Qantas’s B-787 and I found the bed to be comfortable & plenty spacious.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Seat

Qantas B-787 Business Class Seat – Bed Mode

Unlike a lot of airlines where the foot space is somewhat constricted, I had no such issues on this flight. I do not exactly sleep like the proverbial log and constantly shuffle, going from sleeping on the back to sleeping on the sides. Happy to report that it was comfortable sleeping in every position.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Seat – Bed Mode

Qantas B-787 Business Class Food & Drinks

Soon after I took my seat, a crew members came around with the pre-departure welcome drink. The choice was still or sparkling water or a glass of sparkling wine, I went with the latter. No idea what exactly that was, but it tasted ok.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Seat – Welcome drink

Lunch was served about an hour and half after take-off from Sydney. The service commenced with a round of drinks as a pair of carts were pushed up & down the aisle.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Drinks Cart

Qantas hardly offers the most comprehensive of drinks menu, but the options were acceptable.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Seat – Drinks Menu

I ordered the Aperitivo with soda which came accompanied with salted almonds. Credit to Qantas for serving the nuts in a ramekin, far too many airlines are guilty of simply tossing a small plastic bag on the tray table & think that’s a job well done.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Pre-Meal Drink

Next up was the food, there was a choice of 3 starters and 4 mains on the menu, as you can see below.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Lunch Menu

For my starter, I went with the Thai Fish Cake. It ended up being a bad choice as they were too dry & chewy for my liking.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Lunch

The starter was served on a tray with a side of bread and leafy salad. I paired the food with a glass of Jacquart Brut.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Lunch

Qantas B-787 Business Class Champagne

My Main was the Jiangxi style fillet of barramundi served with rice & bok choy. The barra was sourced from Humpty Doo in the Northern Territory which is usually a good sign about the quality of the produce, as the one’s you find in the Southern states are farmed and sub par.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Lunch

It was sumptuous and I made sure nothing went to waste 😉

Qantas B-787 Business Class Lunch

No top-up’s of the champagne or another drink was offered after the initial serve which was slightly disappointing. Anyhow, I rounded off the meal with a bowl of vanilla creme caramel which was yummy delicious and a cappuccino.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Desserts

Qantas B-787 Business Class Coffee

With all that food in my belly, I was satiated enough to recline the seat and turn-in for few hours. I was able to sleep for about 3 hours which wasn’t very long on a 13.5 hour flight, but enough to feel rested. The moving map showed we were about to cross the International Date Line.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Moving Map

Feeling refreshed, I took out the lap-top and spent the next 3 hours getting some work done. While working, I ordered a plate of croc monsieur from the mid-flight snack menu and washed it down with Coke Zero.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Snack

I wasn’t really hungry at this point but just wanted to taste them. They were alright.

The final meal on this flight was the breakfast, which was served about 2 hours before landing into L.A. For some reason, I had ordered the Bacon & Egg roll yet again, after devouring it in the lounge earlier 🙄

Qantas B-787 Business Class Breakfast

Thankfully it wasn’t nearly as nice & I only took a bite and left the rest. The rest of the breakfast items consisted of granola and nuts served in cold milk, fresh fruits topped with plane yogurt and a side of croissant, all pre-made and served together on a tray.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Breakfast

I finished it off with another cappuccino, my second for the flight.

Qantas B-787 Business Class Breakfast

Arrival into L.A.

The aircraft’s P.A. system roared back to life about 35 minutes before scheduled arrival time of 7 am. The captain came on the line and announced we were about to commence our descent into LAX and expected to touch-down right on schedule.

A flurry of activity ensued as passengers headed for the lav’s to swap their Qantas sleepwear for something more appropriate. Seat belt signs were switched on about 10 minutes prior to landing. After a few last minute manoeuvres, the plane touched down at LAX at 7:05 am.

Touch down at LAX

From here on, we made our way to the gate taxiing past a bunch of planes we don’t get to see in Australia.

Alaska & jetBlue planes at LAX

We pulled into the designated gate about 10 minutes after touch down, a jet bridge was attached and we had passengers disembarking soon after.

My Thoughts

This was a very good flight, we left Sydney on time and landed in L.A. almost on schedule. The Qantas Dreamliner’s offer one of the few direct options to cross the Pacific. The Business Class seats are comfortable, catering more than acceptable and the service polite.

If you have flown Qantas for any length of time, you would know that their strength lie in getting you from A to B safely, and for the most part on-time. As long as you are realistic about this and not expecting them to be like Singapore Airlines or Qatar Airways, you are likely to have a good flight.

Have you flown Qantas B-787 Business Class? Leave a comment below.

Amex Platinum Edge Card – 30K Bonus Points Offer + $200 Amazon Credit

6 Reasons to get the Amex Explorer Card