Qantas Business Class meals & menus

[MEL_Traveller]

Are you quite certain the staff levels are the same?

I think KA had three staff, maybe four. but I'm not sure the staffing levels are the should be of concern to the passenger... at $2000 return MEL-SYD it's up to the airline to provide staff to deliver the level of service.

 

[twinaisle]

Must be a safety requirement of some sort. I know other countries around the world where the ovens will be on for take off. Lucky they know the timing (i.e. they're not anticipating any turbulence where they can't actually get up to start the service) so the food - or worse, bread - gets burnt. Do plane ovens have heat safety stop measures or timers?

These days, IIRC the J cabin on 737s is only worked by the CSM, except for the initial set up where possibly another FA helps out. The other 3 FAs on board work the Y cabin. If someone from QF is reading, they can comment better on this (including how fast the service actually goes).

It's just how in our op procedure to turn on the ovens after we do the safety demo. We don't want to turn it on too early then have a long taxi or something to happen that causes the food to perish or so.

737 J is worked by the CSM, the FA next to the CSM helps set up the trolley and then assists Y service and returns once that is done. Usually by the time that FA is back the CSM should of finished the J service and that FA can assist by clearing/ top ups.

330 service has 2 FA working while csm follows with bread, t,c. Serivce may be a little slower as sometimes we will need to check with each to see what choices we have as one might run out but other might have.

The service depends on the CSM/crew who are working. We don't rush with service as rushing can prevent injury plus those damn trolleys are heavy and we are all focused on WHS. We will do our best and most of the time we ge the service done quite quick but if we can't finish the service due to food still not hot enough or cabin prep for descent then so be it.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It's just how in our op procedure to turn on the ovens after we do the safety demo. We don't want to turn it on too early then have a long taxi or something to happen that causes the food to perish or so.

Yes, 737 J is worked by the CSM, the FA next to the CSM helps set up the trolley and then assists Y service and returns once that is done. The service depends on the CSM/crew who are working. We don't rush with service as rushing can prevent injury plus those damn trolleys are heavy and we are all focused on WHS. We will do our best but if we can't finish the service due to food still not hot enough or cabin prep for descent then so be it.

hey twinaisle welcome to AFF!! thanks for posting!

i appreciate you have procedures, and these are set by management, so this isn't having a go at you guys

maybe QF needs to change their food to accommodate ovens being turned on earlier and food not spoiling.

 

[twinaisle]

hey twinaisle welcome to AFF!! thanks for posting!

i appreciate you have procedures, and these are set by management, so this isn't having a go at you guys

maybe QF needs to change their food to accommodate ovens being turned on earlier and food not spoiling.

Thanks MEL_Traveller,

All good and I understand frustrations and I'll try to answer as much as I can so you guys can understand what we do better.

Their food is changing and some of the new menu is quite ok. The standard is 275 temp for roughly 20 mins which times it to take 5-7 mins after the s/b sign is off.

Sometimes food takes a little while longer is because the oven itself doesn't reach the right temperature that it's suppose to. Then we would have to nuke it again which will add a few more minutes once that S/b sign is off. Trust me when I say this but I enjoy doing a quick service so everyone can get fed and do their own thing.

Before we serve food to you guys we have to look after our guys at the pointy end with theirs so thats a few minutes in itself. We can't rush this as the doors needs to be cleared for access and it's usually done while the 2nd FA is setting up the cart. Its longer if the guys need a restroom break

 

[Happy Trails]

Another welcome twinaisle.
Looking forward to more of your informative posts.

 

[twinaisle]

drinks are out in a few minutes as orders have been taken prior to takeoff. Same staff levels but no one is left feeling second best.

Let me clear this for you all.

International flights crew don't have to board passengers and they are all onboard hence why we have more time to take pre-orders, take coats, drinks and what not. All crew are onboard so we have more crew to be able to move around the cabin while one crew keeps an eye on our doors/ stay in the vicinity.

On Domestic 330 flights we have 2 crew who need to board (one FA from doors two and one from doors 3), and if two doors are open then CSM will be at doors 2 while one FA will be on door one. Theres no chance to do pre take off ordering as we need to be at doors to greet and to be in the vicinity of our doors.

If one door is boarding then you have CSM and FA at door one greeting and aslo a door 2 FA who has a bit of space but then you have everyone coming through one door so it's limited movement to assist in the J cabin for coats, drinks, etc.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

thanks again twinaisle, and again, not having a go at you guys because this is clearly a management decision to maximise efficiency and minimise costs. The pre-order of drinks is on dragonair and Cathay, and other Asian airlines. they also have to be present at the doors, but of course don't have to board passengers. A (supernumerary) crew member is free to circulate the cabin. but it comes down to cost.

 

[twinaisle]

thanks again twinaisle, and again, not having a go at you guys because this is clearly a management decision to maximise efficiency and minimise costs. The pre-order of drinks is on dragonair and Cathay, and other Asian airlines. they also have to be present at the doors, but of course don't have to board passengers. A (supernumerary) crew member is free to circulate the cabin. but it comes down to cost.

All good buddy, It's the company's decision so us crew really can't do much. We work with what we have Most of the time the 332 flying is flown with 8 crew (so we can cover all doors) however the 333 is flown with 9 crew .

Usually on a dom bfast/lunch/dinner 332 express path SYD-MEL or vice versa crew can go from 8 - 11 depending When there's 9 crew on a 332 SYD_MEL then it's much more faster to get the pre take off drinks out and all.

International flights are much easier as all crew are on board and we have more space to roam around, keep in mind that Asian carrier labour is also cheaper than what we have in AU and they always tend to have more crew on a 332/3 than what we would have.

A note also is that International flights tend to board via doors 2 which makes it easier and keeps J space free for us to roam without every man and their companion oozing and slowly walking down to row 54D thinking about what it would be like to sit there and dream over what our J cabin looks like. It's virtually impossible to squeeze up and down that aisle with flowing passengers coming down from doors 1 let alone doing it with a tray of drinks. And no, we won't run out drinks by the glass as it consumes too much time.

 

[Capricornus]

19 Sep 2016 QF553 BNE-SYD 19h25 (Dinner)

On offer was lemongrass chicken (hot option) or a greek style lamb? salad (cold option).
I went for the hot option and wasn't disappointed - the dish was tasty and fragrant, and worked well with the bubbles. A white wine offered was S+S and red was I think Parker from Coonawarra, but I am not sure.
The sourdough was served warm and consumed so that no room was left for desert, so unable to comment on the tart
Overall, would rate that meal 8/10.
Loads were light on that flight, 4/12.

 

[RichardMEL]

Yum! I love a good lemongrass chicken! Envy!

 

[kermatu]

Canberra to Melbourne breakfast flight on a 717 the other day. Only one option but it was good:



Now if if this can be managed in the morning why can't a hot option be managed for dinner for the same route???

 

[kermatu]

Refreshment flight MEL-SYD 10am. Choices were frittata with mushrooms or prosciutto and bocconcini. I had the latter given I'd already had breakfast and was on my way to the F lounge. Decent enough, and better than most dinners I've had on the MEL-CBR routes (detecting a theme are you?).

 

[kermatu]

2 October observations:

1 No S&S spotted

2. Santos pretzels and 4 cashew nut mix seem to be back. Damn I miss those Brazil nuts!

What I really miss are the almonds and wasabi peas mix. Happily put up with the santos packets (pathetic for J) if I got these. But haven't seen for a couple of years. Half a dozen domestic and trans-Tasman flights so far this week with drink service and always pretzels and cashews. Even if they insist on the packets, how hard is it to mix it up?

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

Perhaps slightly OT, but I would like to know why on international J services it can take an hour or more to be offered a drink. Having flown a number of other international airlines in the past month or so, QF are by far the slowest at starting any service. The only exception would be IB, where I had to use the call bell to request a drink 90 minutes after take off.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Perhaps slightly OT, but I would like to know why on international J services it can take an hour or more to be offered a drink. Having flown a number of other international airlines in the past month or so, QF are by far the slowest at starting any service. The only exception would be IB, where I had to use the call bell to request a drink 90 minutes after take off.

Ive had 80 mins on EK A380 and 3 hrs to finish a simple dinner

 

[yohy?!]

Are you quite certain the staff levels are the same?

Bingo there's the ticket - QF has the bare minimum staff working and seem to do nothing to speed up the service preparation on short sectors. It isn't even restricted to domestic, long haul is just as bad - it's a glaring difference to almost any of their competitors.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Bingo there's the ticket - QF has the bare minimum staff working and seem to do nothing to speed up the service preparation on short sectors. It isn't even restricted to domestic, long haul is just as bad - it's a glaring difference to almost any of their competitors.

Their competitor on domestic flights is VA, I don't think there's a lot of difference in staffing levels between them. It's wrong to compare to an international route flown by an asian airline.

 

[Ewing]

Bingo there's the ticket - QF has the bare minimum staff working and seem to do nothing to speed up the service preparation on short sectors. It isn't even restricted to domestic, long haul is just as bad - it's a glaring difference to almost any of their competitors.

Indeed. Flying SFO-SYD a few months back in J it was 2 hours into the flight before even the drinks service started - or about 1:30am. I was dozing off at that point and a few minutes from giving up and going to sleep when the service began.

Not only that but I had to flag someone down to get a glass of water as they were closing the doors. Water bottles hadn't been handed out and there were no predeparture beverages offered.

Hoping it was just a lazy crew but it was enough for me to book my next few pacific flights on AA and VA even if it means changing in LAX (a few other service failures too but this was the cherry on top).

 

[yohy?!]

Indeed. Flying SFO-SYD a few months back in J it was 2 hours into the flight before even the drinks service started - or about 1:30am. I was dozing off at that point and a few minutes from giving up and going to sleep when the service began.

Not only that but I had to flag someone down to get a glass of water as they were closing the doors. Water bottles hadn't been handed out and there were no predeparture beverages offered.

Hoping it was just a lazy crew but it was enough for me to book my next few pacific flights on AA and VA even if it means changing in LAX (a few other service failures too but this was the cherry on top).

I recall from one the QF FA novels that SFO is a popular route for the most senior FAs, they like to get rusted onto it for the high hours and staying in one of the nice US cities - the service obviously suffers as a result of their complacency.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

This is the domestic meals thread guys. I think we have wandered off topic. Perhaps we should have an intl j meals thread too.