traveler60657

Hello,
I'm flying AA ORD-LAX and QF12 LAX-SYD. I managed to secure a J ticket for this flight. Is 25B a decent seat? Also, I read that both AA and QF operate out of Terminal 4 at LAX. I will have about 3 hours layover at LAX. Will I have to go through security again? Also, I am travelling on an AA business award ticket so can I use the Qantas lounge at LAX? Thanks in advance.

Aaron

aura

I've been in row 25 on a non-skybed configuration aircraft and quite liked it. you are in the middle of the front J cabin, which means quite far from the economy bulkhead (ie infant) rows, and also iirc the 3rd row from the J infant bulkhead (which is also the first class toilets). yet you are also 3 rows from the galleys behind you, meaning less noise from there. you are also well forward of the engines. i had a quiet flight despite a slightly restive infant in the J bulkhead on the LAX/JFK segment. the lower cabin is also more likely to be empty than the upper deck if the flight isn't full.

i think so -- you arrive as a regular domestic passenger into T4. when i last took QF12 it left from TBIT (ie next door terminal) and since you are groundside when you disembark from the connecting trip, you have to clear security. not sure when happens if QF12 now leaves from T4 (dont know if it does).

again, i think so. someone else can probably confirm.

would be interested if you would post your impressions of the flight. i have found QF J trans-pacific to generally have pretty good service, pretty good seats, pretty good food and pretty good IFE. certainly better than the AA connections i have taken.

the only gripes are that sometimes they take a while to serve first meal out of LAX, serve breakfast earlier than they need to coming into sydney, and on my last trip undercatered the eggs/meat breakfast.

Dave Noble

"I'm flying AA ORD-LAX and QF12 LAX-SYD. I managed to secure a J ticket for this flight. Is 25B a decent seat? "

Its an aisle seat downstairs on the side. If you want an aisle seat its ok. Personally, I would go for an aisle sea in the centre block. You have a much better chance of an empty seat next to you then.

"Also, I read that both AA and QF operate out of Terminal 4 at LAX. I will have about 3 hours layover at LAX. Will I have to go through security again?"

Nope. You arrive as a domestic passenger in T4. No need to pass through security

"Also, I am travelling on an AA business award ticket so can I use the Qantas lounge at LAX? "

You will be able to use the Admirals Club which QF shares

Dave

ChrisG

I flew BOS - LAX - SYD last week on QF3000 / QF8 departing LAX at 1300 on THU 8 April. I was orginally allocated 25B for the LAX - SYD sector. Given only 3 pax downstairs in J class and 158 pax in total for the whole aircraft you were able to spread out. The service was outstanding with nearly a 2:1 ratio of cabin crew to J class passengers. Given the light loading J class was also able to determine when they wanted their meal service.

As others have pointed out you will arrive at T4 with no need to clear security again you can then proceed to the Admirals Club between Gate 41 and 43.

Be sure to say hello to the young lady from Gisborne in Victoria who was looking after the Qantas desk in the Admirals Club. She couldn't have been more helpful.

Having previously taken either QF12 or QF108 on numerous occasions I found the QF8 'daytime' flight to be quite enjoyable. Given an arrival into SYD at approximately 2035 I found being able to get back into a 'standard' sleep routine easier with little or no impacts from jet lag.

goosegreen

Chris, can you tell me if QF8 had the Skybeds installed? I'll be on that flight in Oct...glad to know it might not be full. However, only my mother will be in J..I'll be slumming it in Y down the back of the plane.

ChrisG

The flight I was on was the turn around of the QF-11 SYD LAX and it was non SkyBed (VH-OED). However the cabin crew were saying they came up on a SkyBed fitted A/C. So it looks as though as time goes by we will see more of the SkyBed's on the SYD-LAX-SYD run. I did read somewhere that 2 A/C were being fitted out / month so you will have potentially another 10 SkyBed A/C online by October.

Back in December I did QF-1 SYD-LHR on a SkyBed A/C (VH-OJL) and it was most enjoyable. I would rate it above the BA and CX product.

traveler60657

Thank you everyone for your helpful replies. I"ll do my best to post when I return (May 1). One final question. My return flight is QF 155 (SYD-AKL-LAX). Am I correct that this flight does not have skybeds in J?

Aaron

mikalee

Sort of.... QF155 is sold as a two class service. The two class 747's are planned to get the skybeds after the three class aircraft. I don't think any 2 class have slipped through yet and scored the skybed.

If your designated aircraft goes tech at short notice it is not uncommon (though becoming less common) for a three class aircraft to be substituted in its place. In that case some J pax sit in F seats and some WHY pax get J seats. The servide provide remains the same as that ticketed - the upper deck and forward F cabin have J service and the lower deck J cabin has WHY service.