Does anyone have any information on whether QF63/64 to Johannesburg is operated by a 747 that has been refitted with A380 style interiors?

Does anyone have any information on whether QF63/64 to Johannesburg is operated by a 747 that has been refitted with A380 style interiors? I am obviously keen to avoid SkyBed MKI. Thanks!

When I flew QF63/64 in June this year it was with a SkyBed MkII.  The plane was VH-OJA.  But don't rely on an airline to provide you with the layout that you expect.  Qantas has 3 versions of the 747, and they get changed around as required.

VH-OJA is commonly found on that route but doesn't have the A380 interior. It could have been another aircraft maybe

(Btw, how do you create a new reply on these question threads? I can only see a reply button to existing comments, but not to make a new one yourself!)

There are actually five Qantas 747 exterior configurations, and four interior cabin ones. (the three old ones out of the four will be phased out by, (is it late 2014?), leaving ONLY nine all-A380-interior-upgraded 747s left. (Thank goodness.)

If you want to make absolutely sure of it (and not just guess):

Ring Qantas up, and say you want to find out more information about the cabin and whether it's an A380 interior upgrade or not. (or maybe that you want to select seats).

Ask them specifically, what row Economy starts in.

- If Economy class starts in row 43: it’s one of the nine upgraded interior cabins. (http://www.qantas.com.au/infodetail/flying/inTheAir/ourAircraft/744ER-58J36W270Y.pdf and http://www.qantas.com.au/infodetail/flying/inTheAir/ourAircraft/744RR-58J36W270Y.pdf)
- If Economy class starts in row 40: it’s an old cabin. (it's this one: http://www.qantas.com.au/infodetail/flying/inTheAir/ourAircraft/744-14P52J32PY255Y.pdf)
- If Economy class starts in row 51: it’s an old cabin. (it's this one: http://www.qantas.com.au/infodetail/flying/inTheAir/ourAircraft/744-14P66J40PY187Y.pdf)
- If Economy class starts in row 38: it’s an old cabin. (it's this one: http://www.qantas.com.au/infodetail/flying/inTheAir/ourAircraft/744-56J40PY275Y.pdf)

Ofc never forget, they can change aircraft used for this flight in the schedule, either a week before, 2 days before, or on the day. If you really want to make sure you'll have to check at these times once more :)). 

There's just the three configurations now (not sure what you mean by 'exterior' configs?)

1. Four class aircraft, with Economy from row 40 and 4 rows in the nose with the single window seats (First seats are sold as Business Class on non-First routes). 3 aircraft. 

2. Old three class aircraft, with Economy from row 38 and 4 rows of Business in the nose. 4 aircraft. 

3. New three class aircraft, with Economy from row 43 and 3 rows of Business in the nose. 9 aircraft.

And you can scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll see a reply box below everything else :)

Haha thanks, domestic blindness proves itself again, it's hmm just right there at the bottom. (that was weird.)

Hmmmm, I've studied the (actually FIVE) official Qantas configs that I already linked to (they are listed on Qantas website at http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/aircraft-seat-map-boeing-744er/global/en and http://www.qantas.com.au/travel/airlines/aircraft-seat-map-boeing-744/global/en), and this is interesting, there appears to be a discrepency.

See this PDF: http://www.qantas.com.au/infodetail/flying/inTheAir/ourAircraft/744-14P66J40PY187Y.pdf

The plane VH-OEB is listed in both the above PDF, and ALSO the (old) 'Four class aircraft' that you noted (which has this PDF: http://www.qantas.com.au/infodetail/flying/inTheAir/ourAircraft/744-14P52J32PY255Y.pdf)

Do you think the config (of the former, the lonely VH-OEB PDF) is a now-retired config and they just haven't taken down the PDF for it?

Cos it's slightly different: Economy starts in row 51, not 40.

(Interestingly, I think they very recently actually changed the PDF for row 41 one, as I definitely would have noted VH-OEB being under that config and I didn't. I made this docx you see, for future reference. yeah, nerdy. But hey I'm not posting youtube videos of specific planes taking off. yet. it could be worse!)

And by 'exterior' instances I just mean that although there's nine in that refurbed A380 interior group, it's actually divided into two sub-groups, the ER planes (6), and the non-ER (3). so if you're being technical it means five 'taking exterior into account' instances instead of four [or four instead of three, if that lone VH-OEB has indeed been changed to the other 'Four class' 747 and I'm just going from outdated Qantas website info). After all, Qantas gives five PDFs to show this difference.

It'd be great to clear this discrepency up though!

I didn't think -OJA was reconfigured? 

QF63/64 isn't a listed route that 'should' have the new configuration, and by the looks of recent flights, chances are you won't have the new seats. A few flights here and there do have the new config. though so you may be lucky

You've got a far better chance of getting a four-class aircraft, which means that you might still be able to grab a fully flat be in the old First cabin (the service will be the same as usual). Do you have status with QF? 

And OJA definitely isn't reconfigured. She was my ride up to Singapore in June and was looking pretty miserable inside. 

Thanks everyone for your answers! Imagine a world where Qantas offered a consistent product offering???

Just checked on Seat Guru and its saying that QF63/64 are only angled lie flat.

Can anyone confirm if this is correct? 

If the 747 is 58J/36W/270Y then it's 'new" A380 style flat seats.

56J/40W/275Y and 14F/52J/32W/255Y equals old school.

So to answer your questions,QF63/QF64 is a mix. You can check TheQantasSource

In Feb 2015 there was a 70% occurance of old school on that route.