Qantas’ Business Class cabin is one of the leading offerings in the sky, thanks to restaurant-quality meals, fantastic wines, flatbed seats and terrific entertainment and when it comes to that experience onboard the A380 superjumbo complete with an onboard lounge, it’s like having a luxury hotel experience in the sky, as James Wilkinson discovers.

The Flying Kangaroo has been serving the United States for over 70 years, notably flying the Boeing 707, Boeing 747SP, Boeing 747-400 and more recently, the Airbus A380 and Boeing 787-9.

Los Angeles, and more recently Dallas Fort Worth, has been a flagship route for Qantas and its one of only a handful the carrier includes First Class on, a cabin available on the A380 that recently had an upgrade, alongside flights to Melbourne, London, Singapore and Johannesburg.

Qantas will welcome its final A380 back to the fleet after a major service on January 1, 2026, when it takes off on the carrier’s Sydney to Dallas-Fort Worth services.

When that final A380 re-joins the fleet, Qantas will begin offering the A380 daily between the two cities for the first time since 2020 (the route is currently operated by a mix of A380 and B787 Dreamliner aircraft) and that means 40 per cent more seats to the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex than what’s currently on offer.

While the First Class cabin might be the flagship for Qantas, the Business Class cabin, featuring the carrier’s ‘suite’ seats that offer all-aisle access and recline to 80 inches as a fully-flat bed, is the sweet spot on the A380 on flights to Los Angeles and Dallas Fort Worth.

Qantas’ A380 features 70 Business Class seats in a 1-2-1 layout alongside a lounge area that features banquette seating and tables, accommodating 12 passengers, alongside a self-service bar.

The lounge area is fantastic for both business meetings should you be flying with a colleague or relaxing with a glass of wine and a copy of Wayfarer magazine to enjoy on the journey.

Flights to and from Dallas can get over 16 hours regularly and having a quiet place to escape during the flight is a nice X-factor the A380 has over its smaller Dreamliner cousin.

The A380 flights to the United States depart from the international terminals in Sydney and Melbourne and both offer access to a First Class Lounge for Qantas Platinum and oneworld Emerald frequent flyers, ideal for a Chef Neil Perry-curated meal alongside excellent wines before the flight.

The carrier also has an excellent Business Class lounge in both destinations – Qantas recently offered a glimpse of the new Business Class lounge in Sydney that includes an outdoor terrace – for passengers in the Business cabin and both are worth stopping by for three hours ahead of the long flights to the United States.

If you are flying from Sydney to Dallas, as Wayfarer did for our review, after take-off you can expect a bespoke beverage service that includes premium Australian wines, alongside exclusive cocktails – on QF7 there was an Avro Gin Spritz (Four Pillars Gin with fresh lemon and violet) or a Tommy’s Margarita with lime by Curatif – plus Australian beers, international spirits, Cognac and liqueurs.

Perry and the Qantas sommeliers have a range of alternating Australian wines onboard all Qantas flights in Business Class on the global network – from producers such as Shaw and Smith, Taylors, Vasse Felix and more – alongside French Champagne from Duval-Leroy, Jacquart and Lombard.

The top spirits and liqueurs onboard include Bundaberg Dark Rum, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee whiskey, Chivas Regal 12yo blended whiskey and the Singelton 12yo Dufftown Single Malt whisky alongside H by Hine VSOP Cognac and Baileys Irish Cream.

For lunch, expect three appetisers and four mains, all featuring top quality ingredients, curated by Perry for each route.

On the flight to Dallas the starters included mushroom soup with caramelised onion and thyme crème fraiche; niçoise salad with seared salmon, steamed potatoes, cherry tomatoes, green beans and olives; and grilled chicken skewers with coconut, tamarind, tomato and lemongrass dressing.

For the mains, the choices were orecchiette with Cavolo Nero, cherry tomatoes, pecorino, preserved lemon and chilli butter; seared Humpty Doo barramundi with broad bean, pistachio salsa, herbed kipfler potatoes and broccolini; ginger and soy chicken with beansprout noodles, stir fried wombok, cucumber and chilli sauce; and Barrington Hinterland beef fillet with soft polenta, salsa verde and buttered beans.

All come with a green leaf salad with Neil’s vinaigrette, alongside bread and butter from Pepe Saya.

Perry is known for always having a fantastic selection of cheeses in his restaurants and onboard is no different. On QF7, the selection was delights from Berrys Creek (blue vein, cow’s milk), Woombye (ash brie, cow’s milk) and Pyengana (matured cheddar, cow’s milk).

Those with a sweeter tooth would have likely ordered the cherry cheesecake with lemon thyme shortbread and almond or a Pat and Stick’s ice cream sandwich.

Given the length of the flight, a mid-flight snack was also on offer on demand, headlined by zucchini and tahini dip with saltbush crackers and pepitas, or a CopperTree Farms beef pastrami on sesame brioche with Emmental cheese, zuni pickle and Thousand Island dressing.

You can also expect Brookfarm dried fruit and nut mix, a Lindt Excellence milk chocolate bar, Fine Fettle cinnamon almond biscuits, hummus and rice crackers, almonds, deli chips and fruit.

Prior to landing, breakfast is served and you’ll fill out a hotel room service-style order card before or just after take-off and on that expect a choice of toast, sourdough crumpet or a croissant and spreads (yes, vegemite is included), plus juices, coffee and Dilmah tea – impressively oat milk is offered alongside dairy – as well as Brookfarm wild berry granola, fruit and yoghurt and a choice of main.

On the flight to Dallas Fort Worth, options included free-range scrambled eggs with beef chipolatas, sautéed kale and spinach and braised beans; buttermilk pancakes with mascarpone cream, strawberries, maple syrup and toasted almonds; or an egg white omelette with roasted capsicum, herbed ricotta, grilled shallots and tomato jam.

While the food and hospitality onboard is exceptional, you’ll also firmly fly in comfort and style courtesy of the suite-style Business Class seats the airline debuted on the Airbus A330 over eight years ago.

The design of the innovative seats mean you can recline your seat from take-off through to landing, plus there’s a large table that’s ideal for working and dining, storage space for headphones, laptops and water bottles, plus a power socket and a USB port for charging.

If you have a window seat on the Airbus A380, you also have side bins at the windows for extra storage space.

When it comes to rest, the fully-flatbed seats turn into a single bed thanks to the seat topper, 100% cotton duvet and European style pillow.

The Business Class seats on Qantas have a seat pitch of 46 inches, a width of 24 inches and they convert into a fully flat bed of 80 inches, more than enough room for someone that’s six feet tall for working, relaxing and sleeping.

Qantas also offer pyjamas in Business Class (the carrier was one of the first airlines globally to do this and it’s a shame many others don’t offer it) for long haul flights, alongside new retro amenity kits featuring vintage posters and patterns that are loaded up with wellbeing products from Li’Tya, including a hand cream, face cream and lip balm alongside socks, an eye mask, toothbrush and earplugs.

On the entertainment front, Qantas is well known for its excellent selection of new release, vintage and Australian movies and the choice onboard now is excellent.

When it comes to TV, Qantas has deals in place with Paramount Plus, Discovery Channel and HBO and the choice of shows, including full seasons of popular programs like The Agency and Lioness has made the offering all the more better.

There’s also music, games and wellness programming, including meditation and yoga videos, all found on the 16-inch TV with touch screen capabilities.

With such a fantastic onboard experience, a journey that sounds incredibly long turns into one that’s wonderfully easy and despite no WiFi on the Qantas Airbus A380s at present, it is genuinely as close to a perfect Business Class flying experience as you’ll find anywhere.

We can’t wait for Qantas’ Project Sunrise, which will connect Sydney directly to New York City in 2026 with Airbus A350-1000ULR aircraft, marking the final frontier in aviation, but for now what you can expect in Business Class is truly world class.