Where are the best seats on Qantas A380 flight between DFW and Sydney

Last night, Qantas Airways launched new nonstop service between DFW and Sydney, Australia, on the A380 double decker jet. It’s the longest commercial flight on the largest commercial plane in the world, a 15+ hour journey with new plane smell.

Once Qantas ambassador (and 747-rated pilot) John Travolta finished christening and saluting and glomming, a small group of media and officials joined some high powered Qantas execs on a tour of the new jet.

The 8,600-mile flight operates daily except Tuesdays.  In honor of the new service, Qantas added a cowboy hat and bandana to their kangaroo livery.

The Qantas A380 seats 484 passengers, including 14 First Class Suites, 64 Business Class seats, 35 Premium Economy seats and 371 Economy Class seats.

If you’re in one of the First Class seats, you’ll be happy in any one of them. Same with Business Class, which occupies most of the upper deck and shares the rest with Economy Class seats in the rear. Those lie-flat First Class seats take up the front portion  of the lower deck. The remainder of the lower level is filled with economy seats.

So where are the best seats in economy? Two places: the rear section of the top deck, plus the emergency exit seats on the lower deck. More leg room for sure, plus fewer seats in each row, since the rear of the plane is narrower. In that rear section, the configuration is predominantly 2-3-2 rather than 3-4-3.

The very best seats are next to the windows in row 32, where the emergency exits leaves you unlimited leg room in a 2-4-2 configuration. Another gem is in the center of the economy section, seat 72D, where you get extra leg room– seat 71D is missing because the space holds an emergency escape hatch for the crew bunkers below the deck.