Qantas international from Sydney in 2026: the A380 and 787 flying, the Perth to London ultra long haul and the FAAA enterprise agreement
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#1 Virgin Australia Sydney, but half my friends are Qantas international, and the Qantas threads on here are domestic and the recruitment. This is the Qantas international flying as they describe it, with the agreement, because it is the long haul job Australians want.
The fleets
The A380s (back on the London and Los Angeles and Singapore routes), the 787-9s (the Perth to London, the Melbourne to Dallas, the Brisbane to Los Angeles and the other ultra long haul), the A330s (Asia and the Pacific). The crew are on the international division with its own seniority and its own agreement.
The FAAA enterprise agreement
The Flight Attendants Association of Australia negotiates the international cabin crew enterprise agreement with Qantas, and it is public through the Fair Work system. Pay scales, allowances, the duty and rest rules that go beyond the regulator, the trip length limits, the crew rest arrangements. Qantas international crew are on one of the better protected contracts in the world and the agreement is the reason the ultra long haul is survivable.
The ultra long haul
Perth to London is 17 hours. Melbourne to Dallas is similar. The agreement sets the crew complement, the rest, and the layover for these, and the crew describe them as the hardest and best flying: a full crew rotation through the bunks, a service that is planned in phases, and a layover in London or Dallas that is long enough to recover. The A380 to London via Singapore is the classic and the crew who hold it are senior.
Who gets what
Seniority. The international division has its own list and the good trips (London, Los Angeles, Tokyo, the ultra long haul with the long layovers) go up the list. New international crew get Asia and the Pacific, which are good trips anyway. The movement from domestic to international is an application and a course, and the domestic years count for the application but not for the international seniority.
Pay
Australian legacy pay under the agreement: a proper basic, allowances per hour away, the tax that Australia charges. The international crew earn more than domestic and the ultra long haul more still. It is a comfortable Australian income at mid seniority and a tight one at the start, with Sydney rent as the problem.
The culture
Proud, unionised, older on average than the Gulf carriers, and with the Qantas identity that the Australian public has opinions about. The crew room has a memory and the agreement has a history that the senior crew will tell you about.
For Australians thinking Gulf versus Qantas international
The Gulf is more money and Dubai. Qantas international is Sydney, the agreement, the A380 to London and a career with a pension. My friends who chose Qantas would choose it again. My friends who chose the Gulf would too. The Perth to London layover is the thing that decides it for the ones who love flying itself.
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#2 Qantas domestic Brisbane, and the domestic to international move is exactly as Steve says: an application and a course, and the domestic seniority does not carry. Several of my base did it and started at the bottom of a list they are happy to be on.
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#3 Ex Qantas international, 22 years, and the agreement is the reason I lasted 22. The ultra long haul without it would be a two year career. The FAAA earned that in fights the new crew do not remember.
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#4 Emirates from Auckland, and the Australians at Emirates talk about Qantas international the way British crew talk about BA long haul: the home dream that pays less. Most of us chose the money. Some of us regret it on the London layover.