Qantas Business Class meals & menus

[QF WP]

Looking forward to posting my (hopefully) two meals tomorrow. All the recent posts have made me think breakfast and lunch (or refreshment) should be good

 

[QF WP]

19/12 QF601 BNE/MEL

Light load in J - only 5/12. Options were muesli or bacon & cheese omelette with berry compote yogurt

 

[dk4]

QF's (PER) trans-con (so-called) "meal".

Entree

Mains

Dessert (magnification x10)

 

[JessicaTam]

Looks like a meal to me.

 

[Spongbob]

Looks like a meal to me.

Well, maybe a meal at boarding school, but not a celebrity chef "inspired" meal. If you were served this at a cafe would you be happy?

 

[JessicaTam]

Well, maybe a meal at boarding school, but not a celebrity chef "inspired" meal. If you were served this at a cafe would you be happy?

As a meal served in J on an aircraft, yes.

 

[blackcat20]

Well, maybe a meal at boarding school, but not a celebrity chef "inspired" meal. If you were served this at a cafe would you be happy?

Looks nice, but a bit stingy for a transcon J service....

 

[mannej]

Looks nice, but a bit stingy for a transcon J service....

I have noticed that the entrees and mains are ok on the MEL-PER run, but not the dessert. Doesn't look like things have changed.

 

[Blackswan]

I have noticed that the entrees and mains are ok on the MEL-PER run, but not the dessert. Doesn't look like things have changed.

Nope they've been stingy on MEL-PER with dessert for some time now. Everytime I mention it to the crew, they say it's because of the short flying time - and they don't have time to prepare anything else. Surely it wouldn't be too hard to bring back the Maggie Beer Icecreams - at least they were a little more substantial.

I now ask for the icecream bar from Y.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Looks nice, but a bit stingy for a transcon J service....

Looks very stingy imo. Things have gone very downhill since the initial introduction of 'international ' style catering on transcon.

 

[amaroo]

Well, maybe a meal at boarding school, but not a celebrity chef "inspired" meal. If you were served this at a cafe would you be happy?

My 11 year old can knock up a better dish than that main.... one step away from crinkle cut frozen rubbish IMO.

 

[mannej]

My 11 year old can knock up a better dish than that main.... one step away from crinkle cut frozen rubbish IMO.

That main could do with a little pita

 

[boomy]

The cost of J ticket PER-MEL is $1,800. Flight time is 3.30 hours.
The cost of F ticket AKL-MEL is $1,200. Flight time is 4.00 hours.
Now let's compare the service...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

. Everytime I mention it to the crew, they say it's because of the short flying time - and they don't have time to prepare anything else.

and every asian carrier can serve a full multi-course meal in under an hour, to a business class cabin of 40+ people. It's not the cabin crew's fault - it's management for having the wrong procedures to make the meal take such a long time.

Sri Lankan can actually set tables (no tray) and serve from a trolley (multiple mains and vegetables plated according to passenger preference) in under an hour.

 

[RichardMEL]

The cost of J ticket PER-MEL is $1,800. Flight time is 3.30 hours.
The cost of F ticket AKL-MEL is $1,200. Flight time is 4.00 hours.
Now let's compare the service...

Apples and oranges IMHO. EK well overspends on international F service and F&B. You seriously want to compare that to a domestic J flight? It may make more sense to compare with say an AA or UA transcon, or perhaps medium haul (eg: LAX-DFW or LAX-ORD) imho.

Having said that, the excuse there's not enough on a 3+ hour flight is ridiculous to me. I've flown SYD-CNS numerous times, and that's around the 3-3:10ish flight time, and they can do a "normal" service plus I/C. I agree that the PER transcons from MEL/SYD are supposed to be "Premium" (hence the "int" style business linen, no tray etc)... I do find it a bit hard to accept the excuse supplied above.

Just my 2 cents

PS: am flying MEL-AKL "QF" (EK) F next week....

 

[serfty]

Looks nice, but a bit stingy for a transcon J service....

It's a bit more than they serve on the late evening 'supper' services in business class ex LAX - these days it's one option from a selection of rather small dishes. (Eat well in the lounge or go hungry and look forward to breakfast in 10 hours ...).

I guess this is one of the reasons why they are starting to make a profit ...

 

[boomy]

Apples and oranges IMHO. EK well overspends on international F service and F&B. You seriously want to compare that to a domestic J flight?

I am very serious. QF charges $1,800 for the ticket, what do they provide in return? 50% chance to get a coughpy J seat (ATM) and standard meal. Technically NZ is international destination but still you can purchase one way ticket and the service on QF is similar to east-west coast. So why EK can do so much better?
If a J ticket to PER would cost half of the marked price I wouldn't say a word but for $1,800 QF can provide similar service to EK short-haul Int (at least J) and still make decent profit.
P.S. Enjoy your flight next week, I also have one coming in Feb

 

[RichardMEL]

OK I'll bite.

1. EK is a foreign airline with much lower costs compared to QF
2. fights to/from NZ are tags for EK whoose main interest is the long haul to/from DXB and beyond. They dump capacity in the market with those huge 380's and 773's. You'll note that QF flies narrowbody 737's on the same sectors, and NZ has *no* J on it's 320's and while they do provide widebodies at peak times in the 777/787 J product, it's more or less a capacity issue for them and they can make use of the rotations for otherwise idle a/c (this may change when Santiago comes online, and 789 gets more use to PVG and other destinations).
3. QF charges $1800 for J.. how many PAY that? You talk about half the price - much less is what most people sitting in J would be paying (and upgrading).
4. What's VA serve/do meal wise? this has not been brought up. That's who QF will be comparing themselves to. Not even NZ doing PER-AKL (which I flew in Oct, or the reverse of which, and it was very nice thank you )
6. I did the MEL-AKL sector in EK J 2 months ago. Yes, the champagne was French (Moet) and the seat was the long hail seat - very comfy.. but the food.. honestly... not awesome. Of course it was your standard airline breakfast which can only be done so many ways I guess. Sure, I am sure better than the equivalen J product trans-tasman, but that wouldn't be hard. and again, you can't just compare product vs. price or even sector length.
7. I've also seen QF sell the same sector for $899-$999 o.w. in a sale.

To me, it's apples and oranges as I said. Obviously your mileage varies.

It would be best to compare these domestic transcon routes against the competition - which is VA. Looks like VA will probably wind up with a slightly nicer seat. I have no experience of their food to comment on that; I am sure many do - it is probably better too, but not by much I'd wager.

I'd also agree, by the way, with the very very poor effort catering wise on the redeye ex-PER, though when I flew it back to MEL the flight time was 3:05 and all most wanted to do was sleep (dear God those suites are needed on these flights.... the poor man's 332 was very uncomfortable) but the food was very lacking.

I'm not trying to defend QF here or anything like that, I just think that trying to compare two different markets, with 2 very different carriers (and even classes of service!) is rubbish and unfair. Just IMHO.

 

[Sprucegoose]

19/12 QF601 BNE/MEL

Light load in J - only 5/12. Options were muesli or bacon & cheese omelette with berry compote yogurt

View attachment 39169

Not it one but TWO slices of bread....tut tut..

 

[dk4]

... what do they provide in return?

For a "meal";

• 3 spears of asparagus and a small hard boiled egg as an entree,
• a few dead lettuce leaves as a side salad,
• 3 small meatballs, a cut up cucumber and 2 sliced cherry tomatoes as a main meal, and
• the smallest lamington (which would be rejected on sight at any reputable CWA meeting) as a dessert.

I have to say that I RAOTFLMAO when I see Qantas apologists on here post that they considered that a meal, let alone service suitable for transcon Business Class, and IMO, beyond a joke that it's something created by a "celebrity chef".