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I don’t get to fly with Qantas all that often as, let’s face it, international premium cabin awards on Qantas aren’t exactly easy to find and the airline never seems to discount its premium cabins down to what I’m prepared to pay. Having said that, I have fond memories of the Qantas flights I took back in 2011 (in Premium Economy) and I’m a big fan of the Qantas First Class lounges in LA and Sydney.
Recently I flew down to Australia with Malaysia Airlines but, while I was there, I took the opportunity to try out the new Qantas 787 Dreamliner which, at the time, was still flying within Australia and preparing for its international debut.
I flew from Sydney to Melbourne in Economy Class on a 737 and, although the non-exit row seat I had was very snug indeed, the thing I remember most about the flight was the pleasant demeanour of the cabin crew.
Qantas 737
For most of the flight the flight attendants were busy trying to make sure that all passengers were served complimentary snacks and drinks before the very short flight ended….and yet they never seemed flustered, annoyed or in any way put out as they interacted with their customers. The crew were smiling throughout the flight and each and every passenger I saw served was treated with politeness.
It was a refreshing change for someone more used to the sullen crews often found on US domestic legacy carriers.
If I thought the crew on the 737 were good I was blown away by the crew I had in the Dreamliner’s Business Class cabin on my return flight to Sydney. I’ve already reviewed the Qantas 787 Business Class cabin but I deliberately didn’t mention the crew in that post as I wanted to highlight them separately.
Nothing was too much effort for the Dreamliner crew and they were all completely invested in making sure their passengers had a great flight.
Qantas 787 Dreamliner Business Class Seats
Yes, there was still quite a bit of excitement surrounding the new aircraft but, even taking that aside, the service the crew provided to a full Dreamliner Business Class cabin on a flight of just 65 minutes (take off to landing) was fantastic.
I didn’t see any passenger get anything less than a crew member’s full attention, each and every crew member was beautifully polite and they all went out of their way to answer any questions that passengers had about the new aircraft….and there were quite a few!
In my case the crew couldn’t fail to notice the number of pictures I was taking so one of them came up to me shortly before the end of the flight to see if there was any more information I’d like about the Dreamliner. This particular crew member had been to Seattle for the handover of the Dreamliner from Boeing and flown on the aircraft’s first flight as a fully fledged Qantas aircraft (Seattle – Honolulu – Sydney).
He was clearly very proud of the 787 and was more than happy to tell me all about it and, rather interestingly, was just as keen to hear what I thought of the new aircraft too (I can’t remember the last time a member of cabin crew asked me for feedback).
After we landed in Sydney I asked if I could go back to the Premium Economy and Economy Class cabins to take pictures (once everyone else had disembarked) and, unsurprisingly for this crew, this wasn’t an issue at all – they were more than happy to show off their shiny new Dreamliner.
Qantas 787 Dreamliner Premium Economy
The best moment of my Dreamliner trip came right at the end as I returned to the Business Class cabin to pick up my bag and to thank the crew for a great experience. As I turned to leave the aircraft one of the flight attendants (the one who had been on the Seattle trip) asked if I’d like to see the flight deck.
Yes please!
I’ve been invited to see a flight deck on just one other occasion in the last 30 years of flying and that was on an American Airlines 777-300ER a couple of years ago in LA…..but I’ve never come close to seeing the flight deck of a Dreamliner.
The flight deck had a full complement of crew still in it and one of the Captains I had the pleasure of meeting was from Boeing and was there to oversee the smooth handover of the Dreamliner. To a man they could not have been more charming.
Qantas 787 Dreamliner Flight Deck
I’m no aviation expert (in fact I know disappointingly little about how an aircraft works) so I was way out of my depth when it came to understanding what I was looking at on the flight deck and it took all my self-control not to ask how on earth they know what all those switches do!
Qantas 787 Dreamliner Flight Deck
I made sure not to overstay my welcome (the flight crew clearly had a lot more pressing things to do than to entertain an overly excited adult) but I left the flight deck wondering if I’d ever meet a more friendly flight crew in my life.
I guess I can’t really compare the Qantas flight crew to anyone else as I’ve had very few interactions with flight crews from other airlines, but I can definitely compare the cabin crew to their counterparts elsewhere – they were head and shoulders above most.
Overall, there was a sense of happiness and positivity about the crew that I haven’t felt in many of my flights, and while I’m sure some of this was probably down to the new aircraft, a lot of it has to be down to how the crew see themselves and how they feel about their passengers.
They appear happy and they clearly don’t view their passengers as self-loading cargo as some cabin crew seem to.
These flights have left me wanting to fly Qantas a bit more often so that I can see if my brief experiences were the norm or an anomaly, but they’re going to have to release award seats for this to happen.
Based on what I saw I’d be surprised if my experiences were an anomaly, but I’d love to hear from those who have far more experience of the airline than I – what do you guys think? Are Qantas crews great all-round or did I just get very lucky?
