Qantas

LAX-SYD. After my free upgrade to business on the outward trip I was dreading the return in Economy on the way home. However the A380 surprised me as to the level of comfort and service it provided. I was seated in almost the last row of economy however found the seat to be really comfortable, recline excellent and comfortable. The overhead bids (and air vents) are quite high and I had to unbuckle to reach them. IFE was much better than on the 747 with much more content. The service by crew was excellent. Hot towels provided after take off, followed by a few beers with the meal. After meals were taken away the cabin was dimmed for sleep and provided with little snack bags which contained water, fruit snacks, cookies, peppermints and other little snacks. The self service snack bar was great - a nice place for people to have a chat, stretch your legs and grab a snack/soft drink. Flight slightly delayed out of LAX, but we got into SYD pretty much on time. I was able to get about the same amount of sleep as I did in business. The crew were fantastic and very eager to assist everyone. The service across the full length of the flight was consistently excellent.

Quite good flights and service with QANTAS were ruined by very annoying and occasionally quite loud 'pop-music' played on the tinnie sounding overheard PA systems, especially during the boarding and waiting-to-taxi process. Have a few screaming children on board as well (it was towards the end of the school holiday period) and what you have is a terrible din. Why Qantas persists with this policy, which puts me on a stress level I was not otherwise experiencing, is beyond me. On a more positive note, Qantas ran B767-300s on the Brisbane –Melbourne - Brisbane sectors on some flights during the school holiday period and this made the airborne part of these journeys quite OK. In-flight service was good.