Happy

Thanks for the info.

wilxam

Are there Quadra Smartium seats on CDG flights yet?

ORDnHKG

Less than 1% chance.

CDG is never on OZ's radar for QS seats, if you want consistent QS seats, LHR is the only route in Europe with that, but still not 100% of the time.

Rpcfly

OZ521 ICN-LHR June 20. Booked quadra seats with UA ff miles. Switched to old seats. Crap seats, crap food, and a screaming baby in row 1 for 10 hours. All in all a wonderful experience !!!!

agjil

lol having the old C seats and a screaming baby in the cabin for 10 hours doesn't sound like a wonderful experience.
I recently flew ICN-HKG on OZ that had the old C seats, and they were just terrible.
OZ really needs to replace them to QS seats on all of their long-haul flights.

nme7

Which aircraft did you fly?

If it was the 747-400, well those planes will probably be retired soon now with the arrival of the A380.
If it was the 777s, there are only just a small handful that have the older style seats. I believe those planes are leased and will probably be returned once the A350s start coming online.
If it was an A330, well none of the A330s have BS (Business Smartium, formerly called Quadra Smartium) seats and none are planned for the future.

You are correct in that OZ needs to have BS seats for all their long haul flights. Right now there are just a few routes that do not have them such as CDG and SYD, but I think the answer to that is in the form of new aircraft coming online in the next few years.

susiesan

I flew ICN-ORD 4 weeks ago on the old seats. I chose to fly to ORD instead of SFO on award tickets for the timing of the flight to connect on to MCI on UA. That was a mistake. The old seats were so uncomfortable I did not sleep at all on the overnight flight.

In the future, I will always use the SFO flights with the QS seats. I have another OZ flight in November and it is SFO-ICN-RGN.

ORDnHKG

I think it is better to say there are just a few routes that do have QS seats, SFO, LAX, JFK, and LHR.

OZ don't have that many long haul routes in the beginning, and you are missing ORD, SEA, FRA, IST other than CDG and SYD.

agjil

yep, exactly what ORDnHKG said.
Deploying lie-flat seats gradually in the coming years by introducing more A380s and A350s is just ridiculous, as it is going to take another few years!
OZ needs to install more lie-flat seats NOW...they think they can make it up by providing great service, however, (1) the hard product is so much more important on long-haul flights, and (2) other airlines also provide great service.

agjil

I flew on the A330.
I knew it was going to feature the old style C seats, as I've flown on this bird a few times in the past, but I had no choice this time, as it fit my schedule better than other flights to HKG.

nme7

Completely agree they need to get these seats on their planes. I don't think it is in the plans to update the remaining planes but I do hope I am proven wrong.

robertr

12/07/14 ( last night)Icn- Syd was a Quadra Smartium cabin which was a big surprise as they are not normally on the Sydney run.

It was well appreciated as I had just come off a Lax - Icn 747 flight with a 2 hour layover.

I had 3a +3c prebooked however we were allocated 3K & 4K due to the aircraft change , thumbs up to Asiana^

Nizar

Any chance that OZ will run the the Quadra Smartium cabin on ICN-SYD by March/April next year on a permanent basis seeing as though they will have a few 388s by then to serve LAX etc ?

nme7

There is always a chance. Is it likely? Not sure but my instincts tell me it is not likely. I do hope there is a plan to upgrade the plane for SYD route sometime soon.

The new A380s are coming online to replace the 747-400. Airlines are ditching the 747-400s as fast as they can because with the high fuel costs, it is becoming increasing difficult for airlines to turn a profit when flying the 747-400. However, Lufthansa has reported they will keep their 747-400s for some time. Anyways, the new A380s are reportedly around 16% more fuel efficient. Of course that depends on number of passengers but if you look at the link, the passenger count for both planes are very close to OZ's layout.

Let's say the 747-400s used for LAX are now available to supplement a route. Would OZ take a Smartium equipped 777 with just under 300 seats and replace it with a 747-400 that does not have Smartium seats, but does have 369-ish seats?

In 2015, two more A380s will be delivered to OZ. It has been reported that they will be used at JFK. If so, that might free up the latest 777 that has both Smart Suite and Smartium biz seats. Will they send it to SYD? Or back to ORD?

kpc

In Jan this year, we flew Sfo-Icn-Syd.....the difference between the J cabin on the 2 flights was unbelievable....lie flat beds with AVOD vs angled beds with loop IFE!!! We are booked Fuk-Icn-Syd over Easter next year on the way back from Japan Do 3 so I really hope OZ upgrade the Icn-Syd sector to the lie flat BS seats by then. PS nme7, hope to see you again in Fuk!!