QANTAS QF 12 Los angeles to sydney on airbus A380
I flew back to Sydney in Feb 2023 and chose to fly on Qantas from Los Angeles to Sydney. The trip actually started in San Jose, CA on a Southwest Airlines flight to Los Angeles. The flight from San Jose arrived at around 6pm at LAX and I and walked to International Terminal B which was about a 15 minute walk which was not too bad.
By the time I arrived at the check in counters, it was not so busy at the Qantas counters but the rest of the airport was sure busy!
After passing through security, I headed to Gate 150. It was a good thing that I had TSA pre-check. The line for non TSA pre-check was absolutely insane. The money spent for Global Entry which includes TSA pre-check was money well spent!
Spent the next few hours just walking around the terminal and grabbing dinner. This was my first time flying out of Terminal B at LAX.
Qantas A380 being pulled up from a remote stand.
Here the A380 is parked and settled to onboard passengers and cargo.
Nice headshot of the A380
Headed towards the back of the plane on the lower deck to find my seat.
Each seat comes with a nice large comfortable pillow, blanket and amenity kit.
The leg room is not too bad and I'm 5'10" tall. Thankfully the middle seat was empty!
The backseat pocket had the Qantas magazine and safety card.
The one thing I don't like about the A380 is that the side walls are very thick and makes it hard to look out the window.
Push back
Just lifted off. One thing that I found a little annoying is that the cabin lights are kept on during taxi and takeoff which makes it hard to film with the reflection. Apparently as I learned that the CASA requirements for Australian carriers are different than for US carriers which normally turn off all lights during takeoff and landing phases. But for Australia carriers, the cabin lights are to be remained on.
The seat recline is not too bad in economy class. Much more generous than US airlines.
Checking out the IFE. Very disappointed that there was no flight map! The IFE itself was not that responsive to touch.
Dinner was served and surprisingly delicious! Good job Qantas for a delicious meal!
After trying to sleep through the night it was breakfast and just like dinner, the meal was delicious! I was pleasantly surprised!
The sun had risen for a few hours already as we head towards Sydney.
Now on finals and you can see Rhodes and Paramatta in the distance. Sydney is just absolutely beautiful city. It's totally unfair. :)
Landing on runway 16R.
Looking forward to flying the QF A380 myself soon, thanks for sharing this Report!
Thanks for reading my report!
Nice report! We'll be flying this route, but on AA (God help us!) in Feb 2024 so it will be interesting to compare. The A380 experience is great and much more comfortable in Y than any other aircraft, especially with the empty middle seat (lucky you!). I am surprised to see QF running an A380 with the older cabins to LAX considering that the majority have been refurbished with new cabins--but I suppose they have to fly somewhere. And I supposed the experience isn't very different in Y. The meals look really good for Economy!
Oh no! That's a big shame on such a long flight.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your comment! I actually was considering AA as well but in the end stuck with Qantas since I've flown them before. I haven't flown AA since the 90's and wasn't comfortable with trying them out on such a long flight.