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Before I knew it, my time in Brisbane was ending. I love trying different routes and plans. Instead of backtracking to Sydney, I decided to try out Qantas from Brisbane to Los Angeles.

My previous long-haul flights with Qantas had been from Sydney and Dallas. I was excited to try out this route. The A330 is also a new plane to be. I wasn’t particularly impressed with the food on this route. But the seat even though it was economy was fine.

Qantas A330 Economy Brisbane to Los Angeles: Review

Booking

I booked this a part of a multi-city cash ticket. I had a flight voucher to use from a previously cancelled COVID ticket.

If I was using points, American Airlines or Alaska would be the best two options. Economy tickets go for 40,000 miles each way with American Airlines. Alaska is slightly more expensive at 42,500 each way.

Check-In

Check-in was odd. Even though I was flying in economy, I had access to the business class check-in area due to my American Airlines Platinum Pro status. They had one person checking all the documentation. This person was extremely through for every single person. She did tell me I required a E-Visa to return to the United States even though I was traveling with a US passport. Once I got through that, I was able to speak with an agent to get my boarding pass.

Overall, it took about thirty minutes to get checked in.

Boarding

Boarding started about forty-five minutes prior to departure. We first lined up to get our exit immigration sticker which was placed on the back of my passport. I somehow lost mine standing in line. Luckily, it was easy to get another one.

Then we boarded by class of service. Business class went first. That’s where I boarded. Another reason I love my American Airlines status.

Seat

The Qantas cabin is bland. There isn’t anything identifying the airline unlike other airlines. Economy is arranged in a 2-4-2 on the A330. The two seats on the outside of the plane are perfect for couples or people traveling other. The middle section is great for families.

I assigned myself seat 50B. This was an aisle seat on the left side of the plane towards the back of the plane. I liked the color scheme of the seats. It was mostly burgundy with black headrests.

Legroom wasn’t that great. If you are tall, this would be a difficult flight for you. The seatback tray table was small. It was just large enough to accommodate my laptop.

I got lucky on this flight. Economy wasn’t that full. I ended up without anyone sitting next to me. The middle section of the plane for my row was also empty.

The IFE was older, but still had good clarity and responsive. There were tons of movies and TV shows for people of all ages. I spent most of the flight watching movies.

Waiting at my seat when I arrived were a couple of items. First was a tiny pillow. It immediately went into overhead bin. I also threw the blanket up there. Headphones were also provided. They weren’t that great, but if you forgot yours they would just fine.

The amenity kit was pretty basic. Don’t expect something fancy like what you would get in business or first class. All it contained was a toothbrush, toothpaste, eye mask and earplugs.

Bathroom

I visited the bathrooms for the first time after lunch service. There were bathrooms in the front of the economy section and the rear of the economy section. Since these were economy bathrooms, there wasn’t anything special like you would find for first class. There was already water (or pee?) everywhere. I did notice flight attendants cleaning the bathrooms often throughout the flight.

Food and Drink

Tons of food was offered on this flight.

The first meal was lunch. Before flight attendants came around with the entrée, a small snack bag was handed out. It was some sort of Chex mix like snack. It was okay.

Lunch was served all together. I chose the beef and mashed potatoes. It was served with broccoli and carrots. The veggies were rubbery. The beef and mashed potatoes were okay. The meal came with two rosemary rolls. They were dry and hard. Dessert was served about twenty minutes about lunch trays were picked up. It was a chocolate popsicle. It was simple and reminded me of the popsicles you get from an ice cream truck.

A couple hours after lunch. Flight attendants came by with a snack basket. There were two items. One was cheese and crackers. The cheese was a bit sharp, but it was a great snack. The other was a bag of double chocolate chip tickets. They were incredibly dry. They also came around with this snack basket a couple hours after the halfway meal.

The midway meal was some sort of pie thing. It smelled disgusting. I didn’t end up eating of this. I didn’t notice a lot of people partaking in this meal.

Breakfast was served about two hours prior to arrival in Los Angeles. The main part of the meal was scrambled eggs with spinach, sausage, beans and a hashbrown. The eggs were alright. I didn’t care for the rest as it was mushy. It also came with a blackberry crunch Greek yogurt and a bran muffin.

Qantas A330 Economy Brisbane to Los Angeles: Review Bottom Line

After thirteen and a half hours, I landed in Los Angeles. This flight wasn’t that bad even in economy. The food could use an improvement. Maybe eat something before the flight and bring your own snacks.

The seat wasn’t bad. While I would prefer business class, I’m okay with economy. I lucked out that the flight wasn’t that full. This might have sucked if the flight was full. I’m glad that Qantas doesn’t have the standard 3-4-3 seating.

Have you flown Qantas economy before? Let us know your experience in the comments.

These opinions in this article are the author’s not those of a bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.