[HardieBoys]

Just sitting in the lounge in Singapore, on my way back to Oz. Flew QF J Class five days six days ago to the UK, doing the return trip on BA. Without prejudice, just trying to canvas what the board's opinion is on whether the QF product is better/worse than the BA product...

[NM]

I have flown both BA and QF in J on many occasions on the Kangaroo route. My thoughts, based on my experience as follows:

• QF has better food/catering
• BA has better scotch (QF don't even have a single malt on offer in J)
• BA's Club World seat goes horozontal, while QF's Skybed is flat but at a slight incline.
• BA's Club World seat is narrower and shorter than QF's Skybed
• BA's Club World seat is lumpier and harder than QF's Skybed
• IFE is very similar and depends on the monthly selection of movies on offer

As a QF FF member, you get the same points and status credits on both, so no difference there.

Overall I don't have a great preference now that QF has Skybeds on the route. When they had Dreamtime seats, it was BA hands down. Now I lean towards QF since we get a better corporate discount on QF flights, but could take the QF codeshare on BA now that it is offered in J (wasn't offered pre-Skybeds) for the same discount.

So it depends on what you perceive as the most important. For seat comfort I prefer QF Skybed, even though it is not quite horozontal. But there are plenty of people who sware by the BA bed.

Of course there is always CX to throw into the equasion. Their seat is not as comfortable as BA or QF (more of an incline than QF's and nick-named the wedgie bed. But their service is renound for the highest quality, and they have Audio/Video on Demand (AVOD), which some people give a lot of value.

[sully]

I think it is quite simple. BA have Fullers London Pride and QF have Aussie crap. Lay down misere.

[NM]

More importantly, BA have Glenfiddich Solera Reserve 15yo Single Malt or Glenmorangie, while QF have Chivas Regal. That's slam no-trumps!

[Lindsay Wilson]

What NM said in his first post is an excellent precis of the situation (I'd expect nothing less from him). As I don't drink Scotch, I couldn't give a toss about what they offer in their lounges or on board.

Give me a seat that folds out to a bed (or near enough), good catering and decent service and I'm happy. More importantly, give excellent service to my wife and they'll make me happier (as a happy wife makes for a happy life!).

[HardieBoys]

I flew QF J two weeks ago, from Sydney to London, and BA J a week later, on the way home.

Impressions of Qantas:

I was pretty impressed with the new Marc Newson designed chairs in QF. The cocoon effect was interesting. I'm guessing that it goes to around 15 degrees off being horizontal. The seat hood was just a little tight around my shoulders. Liked the bigger LCD screen and thought that the whole effect was like watching TV in bed. I thought the handgrip on the top of the seat in front was useful to assist with climbing over your neighbour's seat when it was extended. The magazine slot was on the narrow side, and there was nowhere (that I could find, at least) to store books etc on the aisle seats.

The food and other aspects of service were fine. Off-topic somewhat, I was reading a Skytrax customer review of QF, in which the reviewer noted that the service on QF tended to reflect how the staff happened to be feeling that day.

Impression of BA:

Overall I felt it was an inferior product, and given that this was a paid ticket, I would've rather flown QF there and back. Initially, I was looking forward to comparing both services, but this wore off within the first few hours. The beds go to horizontal, but are noticeably narrower than QF seats (or even the old Dreamtime seats). In the main cabin, BA manages to get the seats on a 2/4/2 configuration, which is the same seat configuration as their World Traveller Plus cabin. The seats were too narrow around the shoulders to fit into, which was a shame. The backwards-forwards configuration of the chairs would be great if you were travelling with a companion, but if you're not, the arrangement can only be described as 'intimate'. An extendable fan separates the two passengers' personal space. Thankfully, the bloke next to me was quite pleasant (he'd flown from Australia to the UK on QF, and back on BA, and also thought the QF product was better; he stated that he was 6'3" and found the BA bed just a little too short).

Food was fine; vodka is my poison and therefore am generally pleased wherever I sit. Service was OK and friendly. I prefer the noise-cancelling headphones from QF.

NM, I agree that CX has to be thrown into the mix. Must say I found the incline on their beds did not preclude me getting a fantastic night's sleep back to Sydney earlier this year, and thought the service was great.

[NM]

Originally Posted by HardieBoys

I'm guessing that it goes to around 15 degrees off being horizontal.

Actually a lot less than 15 degrees. The claim is that the aircraft cruises with a nose-up pitch of about 6 degrees and seat is 9 degrees, resulting in about 3 degrees from horozontal. I am not convinced of the 6 degrees claim but don't have any facts.

The magazine slot was on the narrow side, and there was nowhere (that I could find, at least) to store books etc on the aisle seats.

In the armrest there is a storage compartment that can be used for an average sized book. May not fit a 4 inch thick thriller, but will fit most thinner books. The bulkhead rows (11, 16, 23) use this space for the flip-up IFE monitor, but can still be used for storage when the screen is not stowed.

[HardieBoys]

Three degrees off horizontal (even if measured in reference to the ground, some 11 000 metres below) seems a stretch. Qantas do not give a reference to the degree of tilt in their website, and Skytrax do not have any independent information on it either.

[HardieBoys]

And another thing...

The ticket I had booked was Sydney to Manchester, all in Business. The London - Manchester legs were also had 'Business' marked on the e-ticket voucher. The plane, however, is a one-class Airbus, and on both occasions, I was way down the back. I still ended up getting 30 SCs for each leg, but wonder if it would've been cheaper to buy a cheaper shuttle fare LHR-MAN-LHR and linked it to my SYD-LHR ticket.

[NM]

Often it is not cheaper to terminate short of your final destination and purchase a cheap "shuttle" fare. Many of the business class fares permit a connecting sector at each end a no additional cost. So long as you were booked on the QF codeshare for that last segment you will get (as you noted) business class SC's and minimum 1250 points. If you had booked the BA shuttle fare, at best you would get 10 SC's and 125 points, and maybe none depending on the fare type.