Review of Qantas flight from Tokyo to Sydney in Economy

QFA

QF - Qantas

Flight taken on 30 December 2024
QF60
22:25 09h 15m 09:40
Class Economy
Seat 52E
gg_06atv
6,476 · 60 · 5 · 53

Introduction.


For the winter holidays, I decided to take a trip to Perth in Western Australia. Having already explored several major cities in Australia like Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney, I felt it was time to check Perth off my list.

I know there are direct flights to Perth with ANA, but that flight departs from Narita — and if you’ve read my previous reviews, you’ll know that I hate due to how far it is from the city. On top of that, the departure time for the ANA flight was really inconvenient. So I chose the better option of departing from Haneda.

Having flown with ANA on this exact route twice before, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to try Qantas instead.


Routing.


Flight routing

  • 1
    Qantas (QF60) - Tokyo → Sydney - Airbus A330-300 - Economy
  • 2
    Jetstar (JQ986) - Sydney → Perth - Airbus A321neo - Economy
  • 3
    Jetstar (JQ973) - Perth → Melbourne - Airbus A321neo - Economy
  • 4
    Qantas (QF79) - Melbourne → Tokyo - Airbus A330-300 - Economy

Check-In & Lounge.


I took a taxi to the airport which only took about 25 minutes, and arrived at Haneda around 8:15 AM, about two hours before departure. My flight would be departing from Terminal 3, the airport’s main international terminal.


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Since it was the holiday season, it was no surprise that the airport was busy and bustling with people. The terminal was really pretty though, especially the roof.


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The Qantas check-in area was conveniently positioned near the center of the terminal, making it easy to find. The Emirates check-in counters were also located in the same section. However, the area was quite crowded, with long queues forming at several counters.


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I opted to use one of the self-service kiosks for check-in, and the process was simple and straightforward.


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After checking in, I decided to go to the observation deck.


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The observation deck is located on the 5th floor. It's an amazing place to do some planespotting.


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From the observation deck, you get a great view of both the tarmac and runway, along with the city skyline. Iconic landmarks like the Tokyo Skytree and Tokyo Tower are also visible. It's gorgeous at night 😍


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Virgin Australia Boeing 737max which flies to Cairns daily.


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Our inbound aircraft arriving. (Hard to see it but its there)


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It was freezing cold, so I decided it was time to head back inside and go through security and immigration.


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There were some queues but it all went by pretty quickly


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With about an hour to spare before boarding, I decided to visit the Sky Lounge. Conveniently, it was located just across from the immigration area.


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The lounge wasn’t particularly large, but it was practical. However, it was quite busy during my visit.


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Thankfully, there were a ton of outlets which I needed cause my phone was running out of juice.
There was no buffet or food service here, but there was a drink bar which I made use of.


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I spend a good time in the lounge before it was time to head to my gate.


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Boarding.


I managed to catch a glimpse of our plane. By the time I arrived, boarding was nearly complete, making me one of the last passengers to board.


Aircraft Information

Aircraft - Airbus A330-300
Reg - VH-QPC
MSN - 564
Age - 21.1 years


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The crew greeted me onboard and I made my way to my seat.


Cabin & Seat.


The Qantas Airbus A330-300 is configured with 296 seats across two cabins — 28 in business class and 268 in economy. The configuration here was in a 2-4-2 seating configuration, which I find to be quite comfortable. My seat was in the rear economy cabin.


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Each seat is equipped with a well-sized, adjustable PTV screen. Below the screen is a small storage pocket, perfect for storing items like your phone. The foldable tray table is tucked underneath, with a seat pocket below that for storing other essentials.


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Seat width is 17" and the pitch is 31". However, these seats have really good padding and pretty good recline.
There was a large and soft pillow, blanket and a pair of headphones waiting at my seat.


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The Flight.


Boarding finished almost immediately after I settled into my seat.


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The safety demonstration was completed, and we began pushback shortly after. At Haneda, taxi times can be quite lengthy, and this flight was no exception. We eventually took off though.


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Once in the air, I decided to take a look at the inflight entertainment screen.


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The in-flight entertainment system offered a solid selection of movies and TV shows, many of which I personally enjoyed. The user interface was pretty good in my opinion and visually appealing, with great screen resolution and responsiveness.





There was also a flight map available, which, while fairly basic, was still a nice feature to have. Qantas also doesn't offer Wi-Fi on it's international flights just yet, but will soon launch.


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Around 45 minutes after take-off, the inflight service began, starting with a water service


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One thing I did notice, however, was the lack of a pre-meal drink service. I had it on my later flight from Melbourne to Tokyo, so it might just be specific to this route.


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For dinner service there was 3 options : 

 - Rigatoni Pasta with Tomato Herb Sauce, Broccoli and Roasted Vegetables
 - Deep Fried Chicken with Carrot, Snow Peas, Shiitake Mushroom and Steamed Rice
 - Braised Beef with Red Wine Sauce, Potato Mash, Carrot, Green Bean and Mushroom
Accompanied with
 - Bread Roll
 - Pudding
 - Drink of Choice

I chose the deep fried chicken with lemonade.


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The meal was presented nicely, and it tasted pretty good as well. However, they didn’t serve the signature focaccia, which was offered on my flight from Melbourne to Tokyo. For dessert, we were served this milk pudding, but I personally didn’t find it to be to my taste.


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Overall, good meal!
Shortly after, we were offered a coffee, tea, and juice service. I got a cup of orange juice, which was served with a Kit Kat. While I do like Kit Kat, I was hoping for the Tim Tam they usually serve instead 🥲.


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About 30 minutes later, the cabin lights were dimmed. I took a visit the restroom and stretched.


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The loo was farily clean, but nothing special.


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I eventually fell asleep and managed to get a good rest, probably sleeping for about three and a half hours.

The lights were turned back on in time for the breakfast service.


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There were 2 options for the breakfast service : 

 - Mushroom and Cheese Omelette with Bacon, Hash Brown and Braised Beans
 - Agedashi Tofu with Teriyaki Sauce, Carrot, Broccoli and Steamed Rice
Accompanied with
 - Blueberry Danish
 - Drink of Choice

I chose the Agedashi Tofu with orange juice.


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Again, it was presented pretty nicely and the meal tasted great. The blueberry danish was also super good.


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One often-overlooked feature of these seats is the netted footrest. While not particularly comfortable, it’s an underrated feature that I rarely see anyone use.


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Qantas also offers a magazine, which is a nice touch, especially because these are becoming increasingly rare.


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We soon started our decent into Sydney.


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Arrival & Disembarkation.


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I was seated near the very back so I was one of the last to get off the plane.


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Nice views of the business class cabin.


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One last view of our plane.


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That's going to conclude this FR. Thanks for reading!

Display all

Product ratings

Airline

Qantas 8.4

  • Cabin8.0 / 10
  • Cabin crew9.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi8.0 / 10
  • Meal/catering8.5 / 10
Lounge

Sky Lounge5.9

  • Comfort7.5 / 10
  • Meal/catering6.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi5.0 / 10
  • Services5.0 / 10
Departure airport

Tokyo - HND8.3

  • Efficiency8.0 / 10
  • Access8.0 / 10
  • Services8.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness9.0 / 10
Arrival Airport

Sydney - SYD7.9

  • Efficiency7.0 / 10
  • Access8.5 / 10
  • Services8.0 / 10
  • Cleanliness8.0 / 10

Conclusion

Overall, this was a very comfortable flight with Qantas. The seats were well-padded and had good recline, making the journey pleasant. The food was enjoyable, with decent presentation and great flavor. The crew stood out for their excellent service and cheerful attitude. A particularly charming detail was their New Year’s decorations, like tiny paper hats, which added a festive touch to the flight. It’s always delightful to see gestures like this. All in all, a great experience!

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Comments (5)

  • Have a nice time in Perth, it's not visited as much as the eastern cities but if you've got some time, there's a lot to explore in Western Australia

    Thanks for sharing this report, looks like a decent flight

    • Perth was a great city! Great beaches and a nice CBD area. It is a bit far from the east coast though.

      • Good to hear you had a nice time, it's a great city for sure. Yep it is very far from the east, people tend to forget it exists!

  • Nice report as always. Nice night shots from the observation deck.

    The QF A330s seem like a comfortable way to go with the spacious 2-4-2 configuration. I think they'll be installing new cabins soon, so it will be interesting to see what they're like when they roll out.

    I like the way QF do Economy catering. It generally looks more premium than what you'd expect economy catering to look like and the presentation is nice.

    Thanks for sharing!

    • From what I’ve heard, QF is planning to refurbish the A330-200s later this year. Apparently, they won’t be upgrading the 300 variant (correct me if I’m wrong), even though these planes are expected to remain in service for another five or so years until the new A350s and 787s join the fleet.

      The catering is definitely unique and is certainly a bit different compared to other airlines.

      Thanks for stopping by.

  • Thanks for sharing this FR, The QF A330 hard product definitely looks better than the NH B787 hard product on this route for cabin comfort, but find QF's meals to be quite uninspiring for ex-Japan catering when you consider what NH offers (minus the pre-arrival snack box). Also, not a single piece of fruit on a flight from Asia? That said, having 3 options for the first meal and 2 options for the second meal is quite good.

    However, they didn’t serve the signature focaccia

    Should only be ex-Australia

    • Both QF and NH have their pros and cons when it comes to seats. The seat configuration on QF’s A330 is great, with well-padded seats, but the legroom feels tighter compared to NH. On the other hand, NH’s seats aren’t as soft as QF’s, but the legroom is noticeably better, and there's a footrest which I personally find quite nice to use. Another point worth mentioning is that the pillow and blanket quality is much better on QF than on NH.

      Mid-flight, there was a self-service bar in the galley stocked with snacks and a basket of fruit, however, they didn’t include fruit during meal services.

      Thanks for reading!

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