Flying on a brand new Airbus A321-XLR with Qantas today, flight QFA544, Sydney to Brisbane. It is a very comfortable plane, especially in seat 16F, which is the exit row. As a 6 foot 2 inch traveller, the leg room is much appreciated, and with no one beside me it feels like a genuinely privileged setup.
That being said, if there was someone beside me I hazard that it would be more spacious than the Boeing 737-800 that I flew down on.
Individual air vents, a comfy seat cushion and an nicely adjustable head rest round out what is a pleasant little personal space.
The only downside so far: the hideous banshee scream that emanates from the craft leading up to takeoff. Whether that is an A321-XLR quirk or just the acoustics of sitting near the exits, it is not exactly the calm pre-flight experience you might hope for.
Food, Drink and In-Flight Comfort
The food and drink service came around quickly, no doubt helped along by a less than full flight. On the menu: a Handmade Food Co Roast Chicken and Avocado sandwich, fairly tasty if on the compact side, paired with an Andrew Peace 2024 Murphy’s Block Shiraz Cabernet. Not a bad combination at altitude.
For entertainment, I brought my own laptop, but the seat back had a handy phone holder built in. Both USB-A and 60W USB-C PD charging ports are available to keep your devices topped up throughout the journey. As expected there is also in-flight Wi-Fi available which worked quite well throughout the flight although I didn’t really use it that much.
The tray table was solidly adjustable, with plenty of reach given the generous row spacing, and handled the weight of a laptop without any drama.
The View Up Top
Sydney to Brisbane: and a Go-Around
As with every SYD-BNE run, you barely have time to finish your drink before the cabin is being prepared for landing. That was handled efficiently enough. Then things got a little more interesting.
We had a go-around. A recalcitrant tailwind picked up on approach, making our first attempt untenable, so the crew powered up and took us around for another lap over Moreton Bay. As surprises go, it was a welcome one: more time in what is genuinely a very nice new aircraft.
The actual landing was one of the firmer ones in recent memory, though nothing to write home about. I have certainly had worse.
Final Thoughts
The A321-XLR is a strong step up in comfort for what is, at its core, a fairly mundane domestic hop. The exit row legroom, the 60W charging, the adjustable tray, the quick and friendly service: it all stacks up into something noticeably better than the average short-haul experience in Australia.
Yes, the pre-takeoff noise will raise an eyebrow. Yes, the go-around added some unplanned minutes to the journey, and the landing was on the firm side. But none of that changed the overall picture. This is a well-kitted aircraft doing a short route, and for a tall traveller who spends too much of his life folded into economy seats, seat 16F on a brand new A321-XLR felt like something close to luxury.
If Qantas keeps deploying this aircraft on the Sydney-Brisbane route, the bar for domestic short-haul just got a little harder to clear.