Review: Qantas Airbus A380 business class
Stretched along the upper deck of the A380, this really is Qantas’ best business class.
By Chris Ashton, July 22 2024
Route
Sydney to Los Angeles
Aircraft Type
Airbus A380
Airline
Qantas
Flight
QF11
Cabin Class
Business Class
Seat
17F
Notes
The Good
- Pyjamas
The Bad
- No inflight Internet access
- Sydney international business lounge
X-Factor
- Onboard lounge for first and business class
Introduction
Qantas’ A380s are the flagships of its fleet. You’ll find them regularly jetting off to Singapore, London and Los Angeles, with the four class cabin providing ample seating choices for a wider range of traveller needs.
Though first class is no doubt the preferred choice if you have the chance, business class is still a worthy runner-up with its fully flat bed, 16-inch screen and access to an onboard lounge designed for socialising, snacking and relaxation.
Business class is located on the A380’s upper deck.
So what’s Qantas A380 business class like? Is it still the best in the Red Roo’s fleet, as previously named by Executive Traveller?
Here’s our experience on a recent hop between Sydney and Los Angeles.
Lounge
Frequent and occasional travellers will be familiar with the Qantas Sydney International Business Lounge. It’s remained virtually unchanged for years.
Though a much-needed upgrade is on the way, with works slated to begin this year, the lounge is looking increasingly worse for wear in the meantime, with bathrooms and much of the seating long past its use-by date.
This wing of the lounge has long been overlooked.
The central bar area, with its lengthy white countertops, self-serve wine and barista station, remains the lounge’s hero, and it’s clear this is where most attention has been spent. If only the rest enjoyed the same.
All-day pastries and a 'plate of the day' from 1-2pm are also available at the central bar.
To their credit, staff did their best to keep the space tidy, and it was appreciated when they ferried round trays of samosas and refilled glasses of sparkling wine as my visit wore on.
Flight
QF11 to LAX sees wheels up from Sydney at 5:35pm, landing at 2:20pm local time, which gives you a chance to enjoy that famous LA sunshine as soon as you touch down.
Given the flight time of almost 14 hours, it’s fair to say you’ll be very well acquainted with your seat and the lengthy entertainment selection by touch down.
Every passenger enjoys direct aisle access.
A full three-course dinner is served an hour into the flight. This takes around 60 minutes from start to finish, after which cabin lights are dimmed and passengers looking to readjust to LA time can settle in for an early night.
Hot snacks are available on request outside meal times, with breakfast plated up roughly two hours before landing. Breakfast cards supplied on boarding give you the option of being woken or not.
If you fancy a change of scenery or perhaps feel like striking up a conversation with fellow travellers, a visit to the onboard lounge is a very good option.
Seat
Business class on the Qantas A380 comprises 70 flat bed Business Suites in a 1-2-1 layout on the upper deck. (The premium economy cabin is immediately behind.)
Based on the Thompson Vantage seat, suites are similar to those gracing Qantas’ Airbus A330 and Boeing 787s. Aside from a movable divider, unlike the A330, the most obvious difference between the three is the colour scheme.
Where the A330 and 787s are light and bright, the A380 embraces a moodier charcoal with silver metal accents and dark timber veneer, which adorns the back of the seat in front and your L-shaped storage rack.
Qantas A380 business class.
It’s all very sleek, and there are subtle variations between seats.
For example, aside from the L-shaped rack, storage in middle seats is limited to a vertical bin by your legs (a good size for shoes) or the overhead locker, whereas window seats benefit from an additional storage compartment under a fold-up lid.
The storage compartment sits between the seat and window.
Due to their placement by the bulkhead, seats 11E/F and 17E/F also have a larger footwell than others, making them a smart choice if you enjoy stretching out (always nice on these 13+ hour trans-Pacific hops).
Plenty of leg room.
11 and 17E also have the addition of a bag compartment large enough for a wheeled carry-on adjacent to the footwell, though you can’t use it for take-off and landing.
A fluffy pillow, blanket, and seat cover rolled up like a jam roll are provided for additional comfort, together with an amenity kit and the always-appreciated seat massage function.
Kits contain an eye mask, bamboo toothbrush and paste, socks, earplugs and hand cream.
Internet has yet to take flight on Qantas’ A380s. The good news is this is finally on the way, with the airline starting a rollout of WiFi on the A380 in 2025.
If you have some offline work to take care of, the swing-out table is sturdy and comfortable, while an AC power outlet and USB-A port are at hand to keep your devices juiced up.
Read more: The best business class seats on the Qantas Airbus A380
Meal
Menu cards detail the dinner and snack options inflight, with a breakfast slip allowing you to customise your morning meal.
The experience began with a pre-flight glass of champagne.
Crew walked around to collect breakfast cards and take orders for the three-course dinner service shortly after takeoff, with four dishes a piece for entree, main and dessert, plus an aperitif to kick things off.
Entree options consisted of:
- pumpkin and ginger soup with sourdough croutons
- pumpkin and ginger soup with chive crème fraîche
- salad of buffalo mozzarella with artichokes, broad beans, grapefruit and almonds
- grilled tiger prawns with chickpeas, chorizo, green olives and parsley dressing
I opted for the tiger prawns and chorizo – a colourful, flavour-packed dish. The olives slightly overpowered the dressing, so it was hard to get a sense of the parsley, but still enjoyable.
Tiger prawns with ciabatta bread and Neil Perry's green leaf salad.
Hearty mains included:
- angel hair pasta with broccoli, garlic, pine nuts and chilli
- herb crusted snapper with snow peas, slow roasted cherry tomatoes and corn purée
- Korean Jjimdak chicken with asparagus, carrots, sesame and steamed rice
- Barrington Hinterland beef fillet with roast pumpkin, snap peas and wasabi butter
The Jjimdak chicken was a standout – a bold dish packing a wonderful chilli kick. Though providing a nice element of token greenery, the asparagus didn’t marry with the rest of the dish.
That chilli was a warning, as well as a garnish.
And to finish, a dessert selection:
- cheeses: a Tarwin Blue, Woombye Ash Brie and Pyengana mature cheddar
- Valrhona chocolate cream with yoghurt ganache, toasted almonds and raspberries
- Pat and Stick's ice cream sandwich
- seasonal fruit
Valrhona chocolate cream – topped with berries – finished the meal on a high.
The mousse was rich and delicious.
Tapas of serrano ham with potato tortilla, manchego cheese, pickled radish and olives, and a baked rigatoni with eggplant and zucchini salad, were available for those peckish outside meal times, together with fruit, biscuits, chips and trail mix.
Plant-based baked rigatoni.
Add to that the list of alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks – including Champagne (Duval-Leroy Brut or Jacquart Brut Mosaique), spirits, cocktails and a selection of Australian wines and international beer – and most travellers would find something to enjoy.
A Victorian pinot noir with dinner.
Breakfast was served two hours prior to landing. I chose pancakes with caramelised apple, walnuts and a spiced nutmeg yoghurt.
Finishing the flight with pancakes, fruit and yoghurt.
However, while the pancakes on their own were fluffy and delicious, the nutmeg yoghurt was overpowering and not very enjoyable.
Entertainment & Service
Business class passengers can take advantage of a 16-inch screen loaded with an array of recent and classic release films and television, plus music, audiobooks and a selection of games.
Qantas' Paramount+ partnership also delivers some top-notch content.
The screen was fast and responsive, either controlled via the touch screen or a remote tucked away in armrest.
The remote panel also contains a convenient mirror.
Throughout the flight staff are friendly and chatty, though after lights are dimmed, sightings become less frequent and you needed to use the call button or venture out to find them.
Relax
Pyjamas are provided for business class passengers. The material is rather thin, and leaves little to the imagination, but thanks to the additional blanket you’re unlikely to feel cold.
Qantas-branded PJs.
A unique feature of Qantas’ fleet is the A380 lounge at the front of the business class cabin.
While not on the same level as Emirates’ sleek lounge and horseshoe tended bar, it’s still a comfortable mid-flight hangout.
Passengers can relax at one of the table seating areas.
Alternatively, there's a regular lounge area sans table across the way.
Self-serve snacks and soft drinks are available in a fridge alongside the lounges.
An assortment of lounge snacks.
Verdict
On reflection, the Qantas A380 business class experience was an enjoyable one – the flat bed was comfortable, entertainment options varied and plentiful, and the lounge provided a great spot to stretch my legs as the flight wore on.
The darker colour scheme of the A380 business class is my preferred one of the fleet, with it imbuing the experience with a more elegant and refined feel, versus the A330s or 787s.
The writer travelled as a guest of Qantas.
21 Jun 2022
Total posts 6
Any live TV on the entertainment system - CNN etc?
28 Apr 2021
Total posts 31
Most pleasant to see that those who traveled on the flight taken were referred to as "Passengers" a word that the top brass in HQ find it so hard to use.
03 May 2013
Total posts 680
I'd say catering deserves 3 stars at best; you've been generous with the extra 1/2 star. That horrible embarrassing 'salad' is still going strong. The mind boggles.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
26 Oct 2017
Total posts 6
The Qantas business lounges in both Sydney and Melbourne are the worst of any home contry airlines that I have flown. They are worn out, dirty and have extremmelly poor food and beverage offerings.
18 Nov 2023
Total posts 21
No experience with Seedknee, but Melbourne Qantas Business Lounge … nah, it’s nowhere near “that” good. Spouse and self used to use the 2355 (since deleted?) flight to AKL fairly regularly. At that time of night the worn out lounge was reduced to a couple of “I wanna’ go home” staff sweeping remaining food remnants on to a single tray, vacuum cleaning the carpet around our feet and hovering to whisk away coffee cups as soon as they left our lips. Terrible lounge, terrible service. If they’re charging for a Business Class lounge it should be stocked and staffed to fully operational standards until the last customers have left and the doors closed behind them.
Etihad - Etihad Guest
26 Apr 2019
Total posts 6
Asparagus should never be served on a plane. Those that know, know.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
13 Jan 2018
Total posts 48
NO!
Not the "Neil Perry leaf salad".
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 Mar 2016
Total posts 21
A380 Business SIN - SYD recently - I love flying the A380 and the seats are great, but it seems that Qantas service standards have taken a nosedive. On boarding I discovered that the overhead locker above my seat was taken up by crew luggage, and they seemed genuinely surprised that I would want to stow my bag near my seat rather than two seats down. Suggestion: perhaps the crew could wait until the passengers have stowed their bags before availing themselves of the space? Admittedly a very short flight but IF service was perfunctory at best - I had to request my meal twice before it appeared. Mid-flight, the "lounge" area was occupied by crew on their iPads who barely looked up and made no offer to help when I went to check out the non-existent "self-serve snacks and soft drinks" - the fridge was empty, so I went to the unstaffed galley where all that was on offer was large bottles of still water (the only snacks on offer were apples...). I went back to my seat and pressed the call button. The crew member who showed up seemed quite put out by my request for sparkling water. I wonder what would have happened had I requested a bag of chips let alone a "signature chicken schnitzel and Swiss cheese toasted sandwich" or the abovementioned tapas?? I have always applauded Qantas crew but on this flight the default setting was "Surly".
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
18 Jul 2017
Total posts 32
Readers need to know a little on the catering of Q, whereas commentators herein always blame Neil Perry.
Q will ask NP to prepare a special menu for the various class of flights on various occasaions. . That menu will then be given to a Catering Company to prepare a tasting session for the Q team to assess. The catering company will then prepare costings of what has been selected. In most cases the cost associated with Q's selection is beyond Q's allowance to the Catering Company, so the menu has to be altered.. So final quality of what you receive is the fault of the miserable Board and associated persons at Q.. This is an issue across most airlines and not only Q.
25 Feb 2024
Total posts 4
Perhaps he shouldn't put his name to it then. It's like Coles 'home brands', 'Neil Perry' is a Qantas home brand.
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