QF 107/108 to JFK - 744 or 744ER?
 

I'll be flying JFK-LAX on QF108 in mid-July (transferring to A380 LAX-MEL :) ) and was wondering what 744 aircraft Qantas puts on this sector (am hoping for an -ER)? I noted that it was a 4-class 744 when looking at the seating chart.

It can be either... http://www.16right.com/ACARS.php?Reg...&submit=Search

But its generally an ER or one of the 3 ugly sisters.

Lol, i agree...except for OEB now.

OEB/C/D do operate as the 108 quite a lot, with the ER used more commonly on the 11/12 and 93/94. Very rare that you will get a VH-OJ... suppose it just comes down to luck on the day

I think it is due to the seating configurations in the QF 744 fleet, which explains why you rarely see OJ's in JFK.

OEB might have a nice shiny new paint job but it's still an ugly sister!

They originally became known as the "ugly sisters" because when Qantas bought them they originally operated with the Malaysia/Asiana interiors which weren't particularly attractive, but the name stuck when later on the paint jobs got pretty rough on them

or so I believe...

Qantas have been shuffling their aircraft around a bit lately, due to the increased number of economy travellers. VH-OEB is used quite a lot because it has no W class, and more economy seats. For this reason, the ER's are not used as often because they have W class, and thus less economy seats. OEJ should make a few appearances as well as it has almost identical config to OEB

The seat map on the QF website for this flight shows W class, which means it should be an -ER... Is this right?

This does not mean that they will have a W cabin aircraft. If they can't fill it, or they can't fill business class, they may change aircraft to one without W, bumping those in W up to business. However, VH-OEE/F/G/H/I have W class, but VH-OEJ does not. It's too hard to tell at this stage what aircraft you get.
Also, there are about a dozen or so 744RR's that have W cabin.

For what its worth - VH-OJN is operating todays (26/6) QF107.