af101

Not really a TR, since I'm lacking photos and it's more whingey, but I hope this is interest to some people. Recently, I flew QF LHR-MEL and BA back SYD-LHR, in Premium Economy / WT+, A380 out and 777 back.

So this may be an extremely well-known story to many regulars here, but to me this was my first experience long-haul on another carrier's WT+ equivalent. I found the difference between QF and BA to be stark and am interested to know other people's opinions on this too.

Firstly, the A380 was a great plane - speedy boarding (thanks to two bridges) and the Premium cabin is upstairs with Business. QF treat Premium with Business and First, so you get dedicated boarding etc - nice touch.

The window seats have storage boxes along the edge like in BA CW - very handy, no need to use the overhead bins (A380 feature rather than QF I guess?). Seats seemed bigger and better legroom than BA, and it was easy to squeeze out past your aisle neighbour. Nice adjustable headrests. I slept a lot - far more than on the return leg. Very comfortable.

Anyway, on to the soft product experience. First thing that happens in QF's Premium is you're given a glass of Champagne, and welcomed by name with a shake of the hand from the steward. First thing I had to do in BA's WT+ was spend 5 minutes trying to reattach the headrest that was hanging loose.

QF Food was outstanding, and better than anything I've had in BA WT+ or even CW. Juicy, tender food (a lamb tagine), warmed through and not baked to a dry crisp at the edges. So, question: why is this? Might it be the ovens on the A380 are just better? Or is BA just terrible at heating food?

But that wasn't the only food plus. QF wine was excellent (four Aussie wines) from big bottles, not the BA mediocre economy wine in plastic bottles. And to top it all off, the breakfast. For a long time I've been asking why BA don't do cereal for breakfast. Why bother heating up manky pre-processed egg gunk? Surely it's more expensive and less good than cereal? Well, QF do cereal. Muesli and milk. It was wonderful.

BA 777 was surprisingly dirty in comparison to the QF A380 (even though they're both quite new), and one of the curtains at the back of the WT+ cabin was missing meaning the baby behind me was even louder than it should have been. And my final whinge, the toilets. On the 777 you're lumped in with the rest of economy to use the toilets at the back (and in one someone had inexplicably left a, err, brown present on the floor). And there was always a 10 minute queue during the whole flight. In QF, you can use the rear Business toilets - far more pleasant. In the BA 747s, IIRC, WT+ has its own bathroom… Why do we get lumped in with economy on the 777? Seems an unpleasant oversight.

In short, I think BA can and should learn a lot from QF here. Whilst it could easily be argued that providing a service in WT+ which in my opinion exceeded that in BA Club does not make economic sense, it really was eye-opening to see how polished and professional a Premium Economy service can be. Needless to say I'll be flying QF both ways next time I head down under.