Qantas Melboune to New York via LA: best seats and flight loads

Hi!

I'm flying (solo) MEL-LAX-JFK on QF93 and 11 on 13/07/2015 and return on QF18 and 94 on 30/07/2015, all in Y. Having neither flown Qantas internationally, nor to the U.S. at that time of the year, my questions are:

1. What will the passenger loads be like on those flights? Given schools (VIC) go back on the 13th, but it also being summer in the U.S., it could really go either way.. So if you have any insights or experience flying on those flights around that time of year, that would be much appreciated.

2. What are your thoughts on the two-seaters towards the back of the 744 that does LAX-JFK? They seem like a good idea but I haven't found any useful reviews and/or photos on the web, so if you've had any experience with these seats, I'd love to hear/read about it. Or if you've found any good threads/photos online, feel free to pop a link in the reply.

Cheers! :)

Can't offer advice on 1. but for question 2. the two-seaters are great if your are 2 people travelling on a full flight. There is extra room between the wall and seats which is good. On the other hand they are noisy (engine and cabin noise). I doubt the LAX - JFK - LAX flights will be anywhere near full, so if you are travelling solo there will be little benefit in the two-seaters. May even be a chance of three seats for yourself if you are lucky.

Thanks for your input, I'll definitely be looking out for those seats!

I'm hoping for a somewhat empty flight LAX-JFK so I get a window seat without anyone to climb over! *fingers crossed*

Do you have any Status with Qantas or oneworld?

Hi Henrus, 

Sadly, I don't fly often enough with one airline for any significant status. I usually switch between SA and OW depending on availability and fares when I travel. :\ 

kff39,

The best way to review loads is to monitor the flight availability on Expertflyer. This is a subscription-based service. I know many other people have suggested alternative, free sites. But at about USD 100 for an annual subscription, I feel it is worth the price for access to all that information.

I concur with TheRealBabushka, ExpertFlyer is well worth the subscription fee and is a great tool for the frequent flyer.

Here is the current flightload for your flights... It can change though!

QF93 Flightload:

QF11 Flightload

QF18 Flightload

QF94 Flightload:

Hope this has helped! :)

Seat maps are just a proxy of load, given that Qantas do not allocate seats for non-prepaid pax until closer to the date of travel.

A better way to gauge loads is to utilise the Flight Availablity feature of Expertflyer. This will tell you the number of seats available for purchase across the different inventories.

For Economy class bookings, a good indication that a flight is reasonably full is when the lower inventories (Q,O, N,S, L, V etc) are not available. When you see inventories like M, K, H also being low in availablity, that is an indication that the flight is quite full. If Y and B inventory is low then you will probably have a very full flight.

You will need to monitor this on an on-going, periodic basis. A snapshot only gives you the loads at that point in time.

Thanks for the input, everyone. 

Just wondering if anyone's also had any experience with row 48 on the A380, especially 48A. I wouldn't mind a window seat and (somewhat) unrestricted access to the aisle, but I've heard mixed information about the boarding process, and there aren't many reports on how intrusive the bulge of the door is. 

I'm only 5'10, so not that tall, and don't mind ~slight~ legroom restriction by the door bulge as a trade-off for a window. 

ta

Since anyone in the United States can't book these flights (unless flying to Australia) it should be only be with people like you going to JFK for business or pleasure. I haven't flown during those times so I can't say anything to be honest.