Jaunted

In the end, we just booked exit rows between LAX and BNE. If we can handle East to West Coast in coach on domestic airlines, we can definitely live with the Qantas international service, even in economy, for the same route. (Plus, we like to drink VB.)

Australia-bound:
Heading south-west, our plan worked. The six-hour JFK-LAX leg was fine in a regular economy row, especially since we had an empty seat between ourselves and our traveling companion. The VBs and quality Qantas entertainment options helped.

The LAX layover can be tedious, but once we transferred to our Brisbane flight, things looked good. The plane was light on passengers, and we again had an empty seat in between us—even in the exit row.

This was the 46 H, J, K row, which is near the front set of lavatories, which can often be irritating. However, we found that keeping your legs stretched out prevented too many people from congregating in the space in front of the emergency exit door, and we didn’t even mind the limited leg room in the window seat (K) that SeatGuru calls “very uncomfortable.” (Then again, we’re short.)

Verdict:
For this leg, the $160 was totally worth it. We had space, not too many hover-ers, and got hours of sleep. Brilliant.

LAX-bound:
We knew things weren’t going to go as swimmingly on the way home when we saw how full the flight was. Also: We hadn’t thought this through before booking but the only exit row seats available on this leg were further back in the plane: 58 H and J. That would be the row next to the galley. And this being a day flight that left Brisbane at 11:15 a.m., it was a restless plane. No one seemed to sleep. There was an endless parade of passengers approaching the galley to ask for water or more snacks or more tea or another glass of wine. Then there were the flight attendants. We all know Aussies are a laidback, friendly, gregarious bunch. Well, the crew on this flight might just deserve a Most Gregarious in the Air Award, because they never shut up.

Loud and jokey during the entire meal prep and delivery process, they become flashlight-wielding aisle monitors when the lights finally went out (and not for long enough). We were woken so many times that we never really did rack up any sleep. Like the rest of the back end of the plane, we were probably restless since it was technically daytime, but make no mistake about it: the galley is not your friend on a 13-hour flight. Sitting near the loos is much less intrusive.

Verdict:
Due to our own lack of foresight about the flight schedule, and the limited choice of exit-row seats when booking, we wish we’d kept our 160 bucks. We probably would have gotten more sleep (and less noise and light) if we’d gone with a regular economy seat further back. (Which is what we did for the final LAX-JFK leg.)

If you’re tall, you’ll probably always take the extra legroom of the exit row when you can. But don’t forget to factor in the time of day and which exit row you’re sitting in when you decide to fork over the extra cash.

And if you’re still eyeing off those Premium Economy seats, our two cents is: it’s not worth the mark up. The section on the Sydney flights (QF 107 and 108) looks new and a tiny bit more spacious than regular coach—but the LAX to Brisbane flight didn’t have this revamped section at all. All we saw that made it ‘Premium Economy’ was the fact that it was in its own smaller section, right behind Business, and separated from the masses up the back. The seats looked the same.

And those flight attendants still patrol the aisles with torches and jolly dispositions. Bloody Aussies!