One airline offers a secret economy class bed on just one flight in their network. This journey is scheduled for 17 hours, making it one of the longest flights in the world.
Sitting upright in a standard economy class seat for 13,804 kilometres can be tough going. That’s 8,578 miles for those hailing from Liberia, Myanmar, United States and United Kingdom.
The Economy Class Bed
Passengers leaving Dallas/Fort Worth airport in Texas are the only ones who have this opportunity. The reason for this is that the flight in question has a restricted payload due to the winds on the route. Therefore, a number of seats are not sold so the aircraft can make the distance.
The flight in question is the Qantas Airbus A380 service from Dallas/Fort Worth to Sydney, which is QF8. This departs at 21:25 and arrives in Sydney at 06:25 the following day.
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- Not as comfortable as business class, but far cheaper!
Officially called a “Comfort Row”, you can request this at check-in at DFW. For a fee of just $250, you will be able to have the three or four seats in a row all to yourself. This offers quite a lot of space to lounge around or you can even lie down and sleep. You can’t book this online and it is only offered on certain flights.
If the flight is pretty empty in economy class, Qantas won’t sell it as you’ll be able to move on your own for free. It is only available when free seats are available but not too many. Pretty fair, right? Those who have paid for an extra legroom seat, which costs $180, who opt for a Comfort Row will only pay the difference. Again, very fair.
Overall Thoughts
Selling the economy class bed or comfort row means that other passengers can’t move to your free block of seats. I have been allocated a free block of four previously, and had someone move to the other end. Not fun!
One of my most memorable flights was having a row of three to myself and sleeping across the seats for the entire flight. Memorable as it was the only time I can recall where I slept soundly on an international sector. Thanks United!
What do you think of this offering from Qantas? Would you pay $250 to have a row of seats to yourself? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image via United Airlines.
With thanks to Australian Frequent Flyer.
Are the seats similar to the ANA A380 Couchi seats?
Oh no, these are just the usual standard economy class seats. That is why it is only offered on the one flight where they block seats.