OK, so I’ve wanted to fly this behemoth for ages, not so much because it’s big, but mainly because I’ve heard more about the onboard experience than anything else. The A380 gets lots of press for being big, but let’s face it – there hasn’t been a brand new aircraft that’s come out for ages and so forgetting all the hype about size – what’s cool about it inside?!
So I booked myself a QF Frequent Flyer ticket in Economy, and with the economy the way it is nowadays, more and more of my flying companions in the back of the bus (well, in the A380’s case, it’s the lower deck of the bus) are business travellers whose companies have cut back on travel costs. So mingled in with the holiday makers’ bags of stuffed koalas and duty free hauls are wheelie computer bags stuffed with laptops and travel gear, so this “Sky Try” perspective is from that of the poor business traveller who’s previously enjoyed flying a bit more towards the front/top deck of the airplane.
Which brings me to the first comment about the A380 – finally, power points in Economy! It’s ridiculous that it’s taken a brand new aircraft for Qantas to put this incredibly valuable feature in on their long-haul product but hey, there it is. And to be fair to Qantas, most other airlines have missed this trick as well but given QF’s volume of biz travellers it would have been good to have a long time ago. For those business travellers who also need to work the entire trip, they’ve taken a few pages out of the Business class product and put them into Economy like serve-yourself food and drinks all throughout the flight (great for the all-night Powerpoint cram sessions) as well as pinpoint-accurate lighting for each individual seat.
Now, speaking of seats, these new Economy seats finally have a design element to them that Qantas’ much loved designer Marc Newson actually HAS done right – when you recline, the bottom slides out a bit to give you an feeling of more “flatness” in the seat. Very comfy by Economy standards. Mr. Newson has received much praise in the design press (and of course from Qantas) for his Skybed Business Class product but I’ve always thought it was way over-rated. With the A380 Economy seat, however, he seems to have gotten it right. Integrated netting-style foot rests are also quite a nice touch, mounted under the seat in front of you.
Where Mr. Newson goes wrong again quickly, however, is in the overall cabin design. In a word- boring. In two words, boring and drab. I was in the second of three economy sections and apparently he thought it was a good idea to break up the monotony of dark red seat colours by adding in a section of hideous “gecko green” seats. Yikes. Thank God most of the flight is at night because having to look at those green seats in the daylight could give you a headache.
But once we get away from the design elements the Qantas A380 really is a good aircraft and a good on-board product. Topping the list of good improvements is the new “iQ” entertainment system, which is very easy to use, has an outstanding and extensive list of movies, TV shows and music, and has a very sharp screen with good picture quality. The “A to Z” search feature was great to quickly scan all the movie choices without having to determine whether “Inglourious Basterds” is categorised as a comedy, new release or Oscar nominee. (FYI, I’m not quite sure on the first point, definitely it’s not the second, but indeed it was the third.)
But the “way coolest” feature by far is the tail-mounted camera which gives you a birds-eye view looking down the fuselage from above, which you can dial up on screen during take-off and landing. Finally we get to see something like what the pilots see. Like I said – way cool!
So, overall the A380 itself is a beautiful, big, well-built, quiet and excellent aircraft. Qantas has taken this opportunity to (at least in Economy) create a much better flying experience for the traveller but as with all new Qantas products they’ve left a few things off that would have been much better. A more warm and welcoming cabin with better colour schemes would have made a huge difference in the feel of the airplane, and given all the space they had to play with I’m surprised they couldn’t come up with a Skycouch-type product like Air New Zealand has done. The closest thing to a sky couch was my actual seat -71D, which as reported in the inaugural Friday Morning Cafe indeed has no seat in front of it and makes for a “luxurious” Economy class experience. Now on to a US domestic flight which I won’t even bother to comment on as I know it will be completely awful.
CAFE OPENING HOURS UPDATE: Next week’s (March 20) Cafe is likely to be either a bit early or a bit late, as I’ll be on the return flight from LAX next Thursday. Apologies in advance if the Cafe isn’t open first thing on Friday! Cheers.
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