If you're heading between Los Angeles and New York on Qantas, don't be surprised to see a Boeing 747 at your gate instead of the smaller Airbus A330 the airline previously used.
It's the first day that Qantas is flying its jumbos on the LAX to JFK "tag" flight for connecting passengers arriving into Los Angeles from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
The tag flight is numbered QF107 on the way to New York, and QF108 on the way back -- the same numbers as the flights between Sydney and Los Angeles that the plane also flies on its way.
A plane upgrade to the Boeing 747 is good news for business travellers, who will see more business class seats -- and more opportunities to upgrade into them using Qantas Frequent Flyer points.
But careful Qantas-watchers and the business class seat-savvy should note that the plane used (at least on the first and second LAX-JFK flights) is an older Boeing 747-400, which won't see the fully flat second-generation Skybeds added to the refurbished Boeing 747-400ER aircraft.
With the older 747s, the seats themselves are the same as the first-generation, angled lie-flat Skybed one the A330 -- not the upgraded, fully flat second-generation Skybed you'd find on the Airbus A380 superjumbo or on the upgraded, longer range Boeing 747-400ER planes.
Why are fully flat beds better than angled lie-flat seats? We show you in our illustrated guide putting the truth to the lie-flat lie.
Update: AusBT readers are writing in to let us know whether their New York flight is showing a 747-400 or a 747-400ER. Over the next few months, the trend seems to be more fully flat beds on refurbished planes.
If you have a flight booked and can tell whether you've got the new business seats, drop us a comment below, tweet us (@AusBT) or email our reporter John at john@ausbt.com.au.
Australian Business Traveller will keep you posted on whether the Skybeds you'll find on the route turn out to be the fully flat ones as the route beds in.
For the very latest news and reviews, follow us on Twitter: we're @AusBT.
About John Walton
Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.
1 on 7/5/12 by zacharyaugust