British Airways and Qantas
Premium Economy Head to Head
I recently flew Melbourne to London return on a combined Qantas and British Airways Premium Economy fare and it was a great opportunity to directly compare the two One World carriers product.
| Route | QF: Melbourne to Singapore, 9 hours BA: Singapore to London & London to Singapore, 13 hours |
| Aircraft | QF: A380 BA: A380 |
| Checkin | QF: Priority check in and boarding. Smooth and seamless BA: No priority for Premium Economy. Self serve check in and self serve bag drop at LHR with no one to help when the computer says ‘no’. A disaster and a frustrating start to our London Singapore leg. Qantas wins hands down |
| Cabin | QF: Premium Economy 35 seats. Definitely in need of refurbishment soon, but matches BA for comfort BA: Premium Economy 55 seats. Fresher interior than Qantas, but more seats means less attentive service and more demand on the 2 bathrooms A clear win for Qantas |
| Loot | QF: lip balm, eye mask, socks, toothbrush and paste in a Naopleon Perdis pouch BA: eye mask, socks, toothbrush and paste, pen, in a plastic bag Narrow points win to Qantas |
| Seating | QF: 2-3-2. We selected window seats as soon as our booking was live on Qantas. Free seat selection. Side storage bins are a bonus on the window. BA: 2-3-2. We were assigned middle/aisle seats. Seat selection not included with BA PE fare. $85 per person to select window seats. Qantas wins big here |
| Comfort | QF: plenty of leg room and storage space. Good amount of recline makes sleeping easy enough BA: as above with foot rests BA wins narrowly, for the foot rests |
| IFE | QF: screen mounted in arm rests. Standard range of movies and TV. Typically laggy touch screens. Noise cancelling headphones BA: screens on back of seats. Similar selection and lagginess. Noise cancelling headphones It’s a draw |
| Baggage | 2 x 23 kg QF & BA |
| Service | QF: Friendly and attentive, I suspect a better ratio of staff to passengers due to smaller PE section BA: Unobtrusive but efficient service. Excellent service from both, but Qantas a bit more friendly and welcoming |
| Food | QF: 2 full meals on 9 hour flight to Singapore seemed generous. Both of excellent quality BA: dinner and breakfast en route to Singapore. Not quite up to the Qantas standard Points to Qantas |
| Drinks | QF: standard range of beer and spirits, excellent Australian wines BA: ditto for beer and spirits, wines not as good as Qantas Narrow win to Qantas |
The Verdict
These Premium Economy services made the long haul from Melbourne to London a very comfortable experience. We arrived early morning in Heathrow feeling quite fresh and rested – enough to spend the whole day on our feet exploring London, before retiring to bed at a respectable hour in the evening and avoiding jet lag.
However, Qantas was a clear winner: complementary seat selection, priority check in and boarding lanes, and a smaller Premium Economy cabin make Qantas’s Premium Economy decidedly more Premium than BA.
All in all, Qantas made us feel a lot more special than BA managed to do.
QF: Welcome on board 
QF: Meals 
QF: Meals 
QF: Meals
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