Trip report: QF9 and QF10

However, the prospect of travelling some 8,000nm without a transit stop to stretch the legs, have a shower or enjoy some fresh air – as has been the case on every previous trip from Australia to Europe – left me feeling slightly daunted.

Nonetheless, I joined the 140-odd passengers in the economy cabin of Boeing 787-9 VH-ZND with the words of Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce ringing in my ears, that this was the best service his airline had ever put on board an aircraft.

The technologies embedded in the Dreamliner and its carbon composite fuselage and wings include having more fresh air pumped into the cabin, a lower cabin pressure altitude and a higher cabin humidity, alongside next generation lighting and temperature controls.

I was certainly hoping all of that would come into play as I settled into 41C in the first section of the economy cabin, with a water bottle, pillow and blanket already at my seat, and listened to the roar of the two General Electric GEnx engines during what was a long takeoff roll.

HEAVY PREMIUM MIX MEANS SMALLER ECONOMY CABIN

Qantas’s economy cabin comprises a small section of five rows immediately behind premium economy, and a second section of 14 rows that stretches from Doors 3 to Doors 4.

A heavier premium mix on board – some 30 per cent of seats are either business or premium economy – helps avoid that cavernous, almost steerage, feeling sometimes experienced when travelling in the main cabin of aircraft with a low proportion of premium seats.

Previously, Qantas has spoken of the ideal flight profile for jetlag as having passengers awake for at least the first third of the flight before going to sleep. That way, they will wake up for breakfast before landing in London better rested and better able to get on with their day.

And it certainly appeared the cabin crew was keen to achieve this objective, notwithstanding the disruption of having camera crews and other media, as well as airline executives, moving through the aisles to capture all the colour and movement of the inaugural flight.

It also should be noted the cabin crew was delayed in beginning the dinner service due to the seatbelt sign staying on for about an hour after takeoff due to turbulence caused by the flight skirting the edge of Tropical Cyclone Marcus.

The cabin lighting, which has been designed in partnership with the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre and experts at Boeing, also played a role. The cabin lights stayed on well after the dinner service had concluded, gradually turning dark over the course of what seemed an hour. The cabin temperature also seemed cooler as the lights went down.

After choosing the chicken with red rice and vegetables for dinner, served alongside a garlic butter-infused bread roll and panna cotta, it was time to attempt sleep. It would be an exaggeration to say sleep came easily. However, I managed to get about six hours of rest over the course of the 17-hour journey.

During the night, the cabin crew walked through the cabin at regular intervals offering food and water, including a warmed mid-flight sandwich.

In between times, passengers headed to the rear galley’s self-service station for drinks and snacks such as whole fruit, carrot sticks and hummus, and cheese and crackers. For those with a sweet tooth, Tim Tams, chocolate chip cookies and muesli bars were also on offer. Fresh fruit and vegetables proved a refreshing change to the usual assortment of pre-packaged food items, while a hot chocolate with marshmallows, poured out of a purple jug featuring Cadbury and Qantas branding, proved a comforting, and popular, warm prebedtime drink.

It is the verdict of passengers that ultimately determine whether a route is successful and on that front the scorecard for the 787-9, in economy at least, is mixed.

FIRST, THE POSITIVES

Rob Williamson is a very frequent flyer who normally travels in business class on his work trips to Asia or Europe. While the Perth-based businessman was keen to be up front for this inaugural flight, business and premium economy were completely booked out, meaning he had to settle for 41A.

He said he came away from the experience pleasantly surprised.

“It was above my expectations,” Williamson told Australian Aviation moments after the flight touched down.

“My personal feeling and well-being is better after this flight than after a 12-hour flight from Sydney to Beijing on a Qantas Airbus A330.

“I think the configuration of these economy class seats is very smart and the food I have eaten has been very good.”

And while dry eyes at the end of a long-haul or ultra long-haul flight have not been totally eliminated, it can be said my eyes felt less dry when walking off the aircraft at a chilly London Heathrow a little after 0500 local time. Further, while undoubtedly tired after a long trip, I felt able to face the day ahead and rather than immediately retreat to the nearest hotel room for a nap.

Also, Qantas should be credited for providing a decent-sized pillow for its economy passengers, instead of going for these tiny things that don’t offer anywhere near the needed support for those without the luxury of a lie-flat surface in business or extended recline in premium economy.

ON THE OTHER HAND . . .

In the minus column, Qantas’s 787-9s feature nine-abreast seating in economy. To put this in perspective, only Japan Airlines has configured its 787s in anything but a 3-3-3 configuration in the main cabin.

Nonetheless, 3-3-3 means seats are less than 18in wide (exact figures vary depending on how it is measured) and aisles feel narrow. There were a few accidental knee knocks and inadvertent shoulder bumps throughout the night as passengers made their way to the restrooms or self-service snack bar.

Even some cabin crew remarked about the narrowness of the aisles during meal service. JT Genter, points and miles writer for travel website The Points Guy, was further back in the economy cabin in seat 56D, the fourth last row, on the inaugural flight.

He said the time passed quickly as he busied himself with the inflight entertainment offering, the meals and the general excitement that an inaugural service often brings, including a short time spent in business class as part of a seat swap with another journalist on board.

“I actually didn’t sleep the entire time but it still flew by,” Genter told Australian Aviation in the arrivals hall of Heathrow’s Terminal 3. “There was tons of entertainment.” While praising Qantas’s meal service concept – in contrast to the traditional airline meal tray, the airline offers passengers in economy a larger main course, bread roll and packaged dessert while doing away with an appetiser – Genter said the seat itself was “as comfortable as possible while still being nine wide”.

“Those nine wide seats are tough,” Genter said. “At least they gave us an extra inch of pitch at 32in.”

“The seat was pretty well designed with the unique storage areas and mood lighting and all that sort of stuff.”

Getner said having only 166 economy seats – it is one of the smaller economy cabins among all 787-9 operators – meant the galleys were not as crowded with passengers when compared with some flights operated by larger aircraft such as the Airbus A380.

“Even with an inaugural flight like this one where a ton of people are excited and standing up and talking, the galleys didn’t get that crazy,” Gender said.

“The flight attendants might disagree but I think for a normal flight that might really play well.”

A further note regarding the economy seat. Perhaps the adjustable headrest, now pretty much de-rigueur on most modern airliners for the support it gives the head and neck, needs to be tweaked as it was my experience that the headrest struggled to stay in place, regularly sliding back down the seat after being adjusted.

And as Genter mentioned, Qantas’s inflight entertainment system, which does away with a handset in favour of a touchscreen, has something to cater for just about everybody’s taste including a heavy selection of box sets, with pre-flight fears of having no other option but to stare at the moving map to pass the time proving unfounded.

The cabin stayed dark until about 90 minutes prior to landing, when, again, the lighting gradually transitioned to “dawn”.

QF10 A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE

On Monday, April 2, I took the reciprocal QF10 from London Heathrow to Perth. Having come through my QF9 experience unscathed, there was less trepidation about what lay ahead. Less excitement too, given the party balloons and fanfare present for the inaugural flight were nowhere to be seen.

It was a, relatively, shorter journey on the eastbound leg, clocking in at a little over 15 hours.

Unlike Perth-London, QF10 with its scheduled 1315 departure time has three distinct phases of the flight – daylight, followed by darkness and then daylight again before landing in Perth at about 1230 the following day.

The cabin service, in economy, follows a similar pattern.

Drinks are served about an hour after pushback from the gate, before being cleared. The carts then roll up and down the aisles for the main meal service. Again, there are three mains to choose from, two hot items and a salad option, alongside dessert and a warmed bread roll.

Once cleared, it is now about four hours since pushback and blue skies have given way to a deep orange as the sun sets. The cabin crew come around for the final time in this meal service offering hot drinks as the inflight lighting slowly dims to eventual darkness. The mid-flight snack is a tomato and cheese calzone, while there are again an assortment of sweet and savoury items in the self-service bar. Again, I manage about six hours sleep.

The cabin lights make the gradual transition from darkness to sunrise about two hours prior to landing, some hours after dawn broke somewhere over the Indian Ocean. After landing, passengers continuing on QF10 to Melbourne head to the international transit zone without needing to clear security or passport control (which occurs in Melbourne).

Meanwhile, those on connecting flights to other domestic points head to the newly constructed border processing facilities at Qantas’s Perth Terminal 3/4 precinct. The queues move quickly, notwithstanding the passenger scrum for landing cards from Australian Border Force as they were not loaded on the flight.

Once landslide, I dropped off my checked bag, which had been tagged through to Sydney at London Heathrow, at a self-service kiosk before making my way to the other end of the terminal to clear security and head up to the boarding gates.

My flight takes off for Sydney on time and as a domestic passenger I am quickly out of the terminal at Mascot and on my way home.

NOTE: All passengers referred to in this story flew on paid revenue tickets.