Almost makes one wonder how Qantas managed to fly to YVR with the 744 without it dropping out of the sky.

The claimed range for both aircraft are virtually identical...
A340-300: 13,700 km
B747-400: 13,450 km

Referencing some range-payload charts, if we assume a 7,000 nautical mile trip,
A340-300 is 60,000 lb payload, which is slightly below its maximum passenger payload - see page 164: https://www.airbus.com/sites/g/files...40-200-300.pdf
Boeing 747-400 looks like around 45,000 kg (~100,000 lb.) payload: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/...fig1_346717745