Review: Qantas 787 business class from London to Perth – the world’s 4th longest flight

This is our review of Qantas’ non-stop London to Perth flight on a Boeing 787-9.

It is the first (and so far only) non-stop service between the UK and Australia, and a far cry from the days of the flying to Australia with seven stops or more.

The route originally launched in 2019 and is a proof-of-concept for the airline’s upcoming ‘Project Sunrise’ strategy. This will see it launch non-stop flights from East Coast Australian cities to Europe using modified Airbus A350s with extra fuel tanks to make the 22-hour journey. These planes will feature brand new First, business, premium and economy cabins.

Whilst those ultra long haul flights will require specially modified Airbus A350s, Qantas was able to make London-Perth work with its existing fleet of Boeing 787-9s, albeit under payload restrictions and at the mercy of the winds and the routing.

Last year, for example, it had to temporarily add a refueling stop after the conflict between Israel and Iran escalated and it could no longer overfly their airspace.

The success of the route meant that it has since launched flights between Perth and Paris and Perth and Rome.

As the 4th longest flight in the world, QF10 – as the London to Perth flight is designated – has long been on my bucket list. Singapore Airlines dominates the top flights with its two flights between Singapore and New York and Newark leading the pack. Qatar Airways’ Doha to Auckland service is in third place – I flew it earlier this year for a family holiday.

As Qantas is a oneworld alliance member, you can earn and redeem Avios on this flight although in reality award availability is very thin.

Qantas provided my flights whilst Head for Points paid for all other expenses incurred as part of this trip.

Qantas check-in and ground experience at Heathrow

Qantas operates from Heathrow Terminal 3 in London. This is the oldest of the four active terminals but also features some of the best lounges, including Qantas’ own London Lounge which I reviewed here.

Check-in is in Zone C. Economy passengers are guided to kiosks to check-in and print boarding passes before heading to common-use bag drop desks which are shared between Qantas, Cathay Pacific and a few other airlines.

The business and First Class check-in (First is only offered on the A380s service via Singapore) was a bit tucked away and I had to ask a member of staff where it was. I was sure there was one, I just couldn’t find it!

As it happened it was at the very end of the left side, to the right of Cathay’s premium check-in desks, partially obscured by the building’s concrete pillars. There were no other customers when I checked in.

The check-in staff duly issued my boarding pass and took my bag, before asking if I had been to the lounge before and if I knew where it was.

Onboard Qantas’ Boeing 787 from London to Perth

Qantas’ Dreamliners are equipped with 42 business class seats followed by 28 premium economy seats and 166 economy seats. Business class is divided into two cabins: a large, forward cabin comprising of eight rows followed by a smaller rear cabin of just three rows. Click to enlarge:

I chose to sit in 10K:

Not many windows seats were available by the time I came to select my seat. Qantas operates a staggered layout, with some seats closer to the aisle and some closer to the window. I was keen to get one of the latter for the added privacy and distance from the aisle.

You can see the difference between the two options here:

10K (and indeed all of row 1 and 10) comes with the added benefits of extra-large leg room as they are the front rows in their respective cabins. This meant my seat was full-width from head-to-toe rather than tapering at the toes. Here’s the leg room in 10K:

Whilst here’s the legroom for other seats:

The seats are based on the popular Thompson Vantage XL used by many other airlines including Delta and Virgin Atlantic (on its A330neos). These cabins were introduced by the airline in 2017 but despite being almost a decade old still look and feel modern – bar for a few details such as the 16″ screen which is now considered on the smaller side.

Nonetheless, I was impressed how smart it looked compared to the photos. The contrasting dark grey and beige trim with touches of dark wood effect were sophisticated.

The more muted palette also lets Qantas play around a bit more with its amenity kit and menu designs, which are much more visually interesting:

‘Proper’ window seats like mine feature a generous privacy wing which means I could neither see nor be seen by any other passengers. If you’re on an aisle-side window seat you don’t have this luxury, unfortunately.

There’s not a huge amount of storage but, to be perfectly honest, it was more than enough for my needs and was actually more useful than the storage units that most business class seats have. It featured an open shelf with a rail which was perfect for tucking in a laptop, amenity kit, menus and more.

Underneath you also have a USB-A port and universal mains AC adapter. Other storage included a little drawer under the TV screen which is perfect for a pair of glasses and other valuables.

The tray table slides out from the side table. It is super sturdy as well as adjustable backwards and forwards:

Flip up the armrest and you’ll also find a mirror and remote control for the inflight entertainment:

Hot sleepers like me will be pleased to know that Qantas has opted to install adjustable air vents at every seat. Overhead bins are available both along the windows and above the centre seats, so there’s plenty of storage to go round.

The best seats on Qantas’ 787

Wondering where to sit? Depending on whether you’re travelling alone or as a pair you have a number of different options.

If travelling alone (or happy to sit separately) then you are best in the window seats at the front of the cabin which come with additional legroom. That means 1A and 1K or 10A or 10K, although note that 10A is an ‘aisle side’ seat. If these are unavailable then the window seats in rows 3, 5 and 7 as well as 11A and 12K are good choices.

If you’re travelling as a pair, then you’ll again benefit from being in the first row centre pair, either 2E and 2F or 10E and 10F. Beyond that it’s a tossup as all the centre pair seats alternate.

Seats to avoid: both 5A and 5K only have one window, rather than two, making it a bit harder to see outside.

Inflight entertainment and (lack of) wifi

The TV screen is on the small side at just 16″, but it was very responsive and had an excellent non-reflective coating which helped when the window shades were undimmed.

As I said above, the TV screen is very responsive and the software is easy to navigate, with everything where you’d expect it.

Whilst there’s plenty of content loaded it’s not as much as you’ll find on other airlines. For example, when I searched films A-Z it suggested there were just 123 films available. That includes lots of recent releases as well as classics, but don’t expect every Harry Potter, every Star Wars or every Marvel film to be on offer.

I ended up watching The White Lotus, which I have yet to see but given the industry I work in probably ought to! Qantas has a deep partnership with HBO which means that it has full seasons (and indeed, shows in their entirety) including Succession, Industry, Dune Prophecy and more.

As this is an older seat you won’t find Bluetooth pairing available. The supplied headphones are okay but don’t feature noise cancellation so I was annoyed that I forgot my own Sennheisers.

Also missing is onboard wifi. Qantas is seriously behind the curve on this as it has absolutely no wifi service whatsoever – not even slow, chargeable wifi. This is a bit frustrating on a 16-hour flight like this where it really could come in useful, although I recognise that some people like being forced to switch off!

Fortunately, Qantas has committed to installing wifi across its fleet and the Boeing 787s will start being refitted with antennas sometime in early 2026. It is not installing super-fast Starlink wi-fi, however, which puts the airline at a disadvantage to Qatar Airways.

Qantas amenity kit and bedding

Waiting at my seat was the usual mountain of bedding and the amenity kit. This comprised a David Caon mattress protector, quilted blanket and ‘European’ (read ‘square’) white pillow:

Crew came round offering Qantas-branded pyjamas which is a rarity in business class these days. Very soft they are too, with Qantas’ big kangaroo logo jumping across the front:

The current amenity kits are part of a brand partnership with Australian B-Corp Koskela. It features a relatively large cream cotton bag with a geometric design in brown and looks simple but stylish in my opinion:

Inside you’ll find ear plugs, a bamboo dental kit, socks and a relatively basic eye mask as well as a well-being pack in collaboration with Li’Tya containing Polama hand cream, Mirri face cream and Lowanna lip balm.

I liked it although they could have had a bit more fun with the eye mask, which was all black and not particularly nice (my favourite amenity kit eye mask is still BA’s The White Company one!)

Qantas food and service from London to Perth

I’ve always considered Qantas’ cabin crew to be amongst the most friendly out there and this trip confirmed it for me.

The London-Perth and London-Singapore flights are all operated by the London-based flight crew so you get a range of accents, from Aussies that have ended up in London to Brits and even (as on my flight) Jeremy, a French national who now does the sommelier training for the London crew.

Much like Virgin Atlantic, Qantas lets its crew be themselves – chatty, friendly and just all-round normal. The crew always took time to chat to passengers if they wanted to. I wasn’t just with me – I overheard one crew member discuss knitting and crocheting with the woman sat behind me, even comparing patterns later on in the flight.

The menus onboard showcase iconic Australian landscapes, in this case the Ningaloo reef and Whitsundays and add a lively splash of colour to the cabin:

Rather unhelpfully, they just note that a range of Australian wines are on board. If you’re lucky, like me, you’ll have a trained sommelier on board who can advise you.

On board I was offered a glass of champagne or water (or both) with the champagne on offer being the Jacquart Brut Mosaique, one of three champagnes Qantas has on rotation. It retails for around £40.

The rest of the service began after take-off, with a fairly sedentary pace (not a problem on a 16-hour flight given there’s not much else to do!) Orders were taken after the seatbelt sign was switched off with the first drink and salted nuts delivered about 50 minutes after takeoff.

This was followed, some time later, by a second service preparing my tray table, offering me bread and another drink to go with my starter, which was delivered about 10 minutes later. There were three starters to choose from:

• Fennel soup with brown butter, hazelnuts and thyme (this looked very good after one of the crew accidentally delivered this to me and not the person behind and I eyed it up for a good few seconds!)
• Duck rilettes with dill pickles, watercress and grissini
• Grilled king prawns with roast cherry tomatoes, eggplant, lemon and parsley

I went for the latter, an interesting (but tasty) combination between the prawns and the aubergine base, quite earthy in flavour:

There was even more choice for the main course, with four options:

• Fried tofu with wood ear mushrooms, black vinegar, chilli, pak choy and steamed rice
• Seared cod with tomato and cardamom sauce, spinach and spiced potatoes
• Roast chicken chasseur with roast potatoes, broccolini and tarragon
• Beef fillet with sauteed spinach, roast pumpkin and brandy cream sauce

The menu very helpfully marked out which were vegetarian, vegan or gluten free and a full three of the mains were gluten free. I went for the beef fillet, which was tender and juicy – pretty good for a plane!

Finally, the dessert consisted of a range of things such as

• Selection of cheese served with accompaniments
• Rosemary poached pear, gingerbread and mascarpone trifle
• Ice cream
• Seasonal fruit
• Chocolates

I went for the poached pear which was delicious if a little festive tasting! Definitely a highlight.

The meal service was complete within about two and a half hours of take-off. This is on the longer side but given this is a really long flight I didn’t feel like I was in a rush, either.

If you’re hungry during the flight you can also help yourself at the grab and go snack station in the galley, which features a range of sweet and savoury options as well as drinks displayed in an attractive manner.

I was pretty tired at this point and decided to get some rest. I have to say I found the seat incredible comfortable as a bed. I asked the crew if they did a turn-down service and they said they did so whilst I was getting changed into my pyjamas:

…. Rachelle made my bed. I think it’s one of the smartest made beds I’ve ever seen on board!

As you can see, there was loads of leg room in my bulkhead row:

As noted above, the seat is very comfortable as a bed and I managed to get eight or nine hours of really good sleep. This meant I had fully aligned my body clock with the time in Perth, which was seven hours ahead.

The crew were already starting to serve breakfast to the early wakers around two-and-a-half hours before landing. I started with a cup of tea before opting for my pre-ordered breakfast, which consisted of pain au choclat and free range scrambled eggs with pork sausage, braised beans, bubble and squeak. Other options included fruit, yoghurt, muesli, pancakes, and poached egg on shakshuka.

To be perfectly honest, the breakfast service was not as good as the main meal; I thought the eggs, sausage and beans were a bit lacklustre and could have done with some tomatoes on the vine or other veggies.

It was freshly plated rather than heated on the plate which shows an eye for detail rather than speed.

I followed up my breakfast with an item from the ‘mid-flight’ menu which you can order at any time and includes:

• Shepherds pie
• Broccoli and Shropshire Blue quiche with tomato and chilli relish
• Prosciutto, bocconcini and marinated zucchini with grissini

I went for the later, rather than a full second course. It wasn’t quite looking its best at the end of the flight with the zucchini drying out a little:

Before long, it was time to land at Perth which has probably one of the quickest arrival experiences I’ve ever had after a long haul flight – quick through immigration, a short wait for the bags and then quickly through customs straight through into the terminal’s pick-up zone, taxi rank and ride-sharing zone.

Conclusion

It’s pretty amazing that you can fly from London to Australia direct, and with Qantas you can even do it in style.

Although the business class cabins are now almost a decade old, they still look fresh and modern, bar the small-ish screen and lack of a door. Nevertheless, these are comfortable seats complemented by comfortable bedding.

The highlight for me was undoubtedly the crew who were all friendly and personable. No pretensions of formality here: just friendly, polished service with a smile and a laugh.

You can find out more and book on the Qantas website here.