Anonthis

Hi Everyone,

I'm a long time lurker in this forum, first time poster though I need to start somewhere...

To my question - I've got a booking for a Qantas Domestic Flight coming up in a few weeks time (QF485 MEL>PER), the flight has a 2-3-2 seating configuration in business that I haven't seen before, does anyone have any experiance with this configuration? Are the seats comfortable or is it just an overpriced economy seat?

The Qantas website seems to go out of it's way to be deceptive by not directly linking to the specific seating configuration that is being run and not mentioning anything but skybed's in the brief http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airl...-332/global/en - I only realised when I went into do my seat selection where I choose a window seat.

Any thoughts on these seats?

VH-RMD

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

quite a few comments in here...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/qanta...0-200-ebo.html

number_6

Probably more benign neglect than deliberate deception; qantas.com is often slow to be updated, and this is a new config with only 1 aircraft delivered to date ... speculation that all future ones will be in this config for domestic use. Maybe with enough feedback QF will reconsider, it does seem ill advised to have such a poor looking dense config just to get a few extra J seats on the 332. Seems to defeat the point, which is a shame as many of QF's past seating configs were well thought out and successful, this one is not.

harryhv

screech's pic of the "business" cabin on that A332.

perthite

I believe there are 2 in this configuration VH-EBO and EBP. It is 42J and 268Y, whereas the other 2 on domestic duties are 36J and 265Y. Both configurations are linked from the page in the OP.

Oneworldplus2

As Ewing posted in a similar thread, l also thought that these were Y seats at first glance. (Mind you, BA J on short haul is even worse, and LH l've heard too)

Anonthis

This is pretty much what I envisioned, hopefully the picture doesn't do the legroom justice...

Anonthis

Point taken I slept on it and have decided I'll fly the leg and see what it's like though I can't think that it will be great since the effective width would presumably be 14% wider ((8/7)-1) rather than the 33% increased width in the normal business config ((8/6)-1) - I'll be sure to send a letter if I'm not happy but I'll keep an open mind.

I'll come back with some photos and a trip report after my flight.

seat_4D

as a guy who does 99% of his flights in Y, I can assure you that your trip will be more comfortable than those behind the curtain.

Just enjoy the J lounge and enjoy the ride once on board.

Anonthis

I don't think that they should be following other carriers lead in 'downgrading' business given Qantas don't seem to be able to sell out Business seats on most Perth legs for cash apart from peak times, some real competition for business fares would probably do the Australian market a world of good though it might end up that they'll need to pack more people onto planes to compete so I need to be careful what I wish for

Anonthis

point taken, it just irks me when companies start forgetting about their best customers who are paying a huge premium for shrinking benefits (I get J lounge access with my platinum membership anyway so I'm really just paying for the seat and service).

seat_4D

Dont underestimate the value to Qantas or their pax of points based upgrades. At 2hrs prior to my flight to ADL on Sunday there were 9 J seats available, the flight left with one.

I wouldnt consider the J service on domestic flights a downgrade, it is significantly better than the alternative.

Competition on J fares wont see more people pay for it, because prices wont materially fall vs the highest econony rate. It will however have the potential to make filling J more difficult, resulting in more ODU's.

When ANsett flew I never paid a J fare and only 2 or 3 flights in 10 would I not sit in J because of availability. Now it would be 2 or 3 in 10 that an ODU is available

Blackcloud

I flew on it and I will say it felt tight.
I cannot remember if pitch was smaller, it did feel it, but the seat width is not that different from the Millenium Seat. The fact that the aisles are noticably smaller and I was bumped several times by pax and crew made me . Shoulder room was okay but I do not know what it would be like in the middle as I was travelling on the window aisle.
I recently filled in a QF Panel survey on the configurations and stated that this looked like a Premium Economy product and if DJ bring a competitive Business Class then I would not pay QF for this product.

doctorjosh

Gosh. A 2-3-2 configuration for J class on a A332 is pretty tight. That is literally premium economy, just like what's on JQ and their Star Class. I wouldn't pay those exorbitant business class fares for those seats. Only the Skybeds Mk1 are deserving of such outrageously high prices!!

AndDee

Yep and the reason the new A330's to QF are like that is so they can swap between Qantas and Jetstar!