Qantas Business Class meals & menus

[Berlin]

SYD-AKL, "dinner" flight on 737-800:

The flight was already delayed when we boarded and as ever so often, Qantas totally messed up any attempt for priority boarding and we all got stuck behind the great unwashed on the sweltering hot and humid aerobridge in Sydney. By the time we got on board, stress levels were peaking already. The chaos continued and passengers who hadn't brought the right immigration papers on one side, terrible thunderstorms on the other and generally quite chaotic crew did the rest and we finally took off almost 2 hours delayed. None of the passengers were particularly happy about all this though kudos to the crew who kept filling up the champers while we were waiting around on the ground.

Once in the air, meal and then drink orders were taken which is funny- still the good old service flow on the smaller Jetconnect planes, while you rarely get a pre-meal drink order on the bigger ones these days. Was very happy with my excellent bloody Mary which was followed by the following menu:



I selected the soups as a starter as I cannot have fish and then the crumbed pork as the main.
The soup was served after a fair wait and unfortunately was served rather cold. Still a nice taste but would have preferred it properly heated up:



I had a glass of the Vasse Felix Chardonnay with it which was the perfect match. However, for the main, I then decided to move back to champagne which I stuck to until landing. I was delighted to see that the main was indeed a proper 'main' which is a rare feat on Qantas trans-Tasman business class:



I had crumbed cutlets of various varieties on previous flights- both short haul and proper international long haul and it tasted like these always taste which is a good thing in my mind and everyone who ever had one of these can imagine the taste. Cutting off the bone on the wobbly little tray table is a bit tricky but the meat it juicy with a fair fat content which actually helps on an airplane, as does the coating of crumbs.

I actually also liked the sides, the barley and carrots added just the right amount of healthiness to the meal without making it non-enjoyable. Needless to say that the big dollop of aioli was the blowout in this respect but it also tasted just sooooo good. All in all a very nice meal which I just followed up with the tiny ridiculous dumped-in-the-pack on your plate Maggie Beer vanilla ice cream. Looking at the various E numbers, colours and aromas in it just proved once again that there's nothing special about that MB nonsense but they rather simply come off a conveyor belt and straight onto a tray table near you. I really wish Qantas let go of this non-sense and introduced proper deserts like Air NZ does.

 

[Choosethedrew]

Any advice on what to choose for QF9 PER-LHR this Sat? I am honestly not that inspired by this menu.

 

[jase05]

Any advice on what to choose for QF9 PER-LHR this Sat? I am honestly not that inspired by this menu.View attachment 205802

I’ve had that chicken dish before (or similar) and it was very nice

 

[Choosethedrew]

Sorry, I should have said that the mains don’t look very thrilling. The starters actually look good! I’m tempted to try the lamb sandwich but Qantas never reheats bread well IME (?)

 

[eminere]

Sorry, I should have said that the mains don’t look very thrilling. The starters actually look good! I’m tempted to try the lamb sandwich but Qantas never reheats bread well IME (?)

I had the steak sandwich recently and it was absolutely delicious!

 

[Daver6]

QF10 that departed LHR on Tuesday. About 3 hours into the flight they announced the refrigeration system had failed. No way to fix it. So anything that needed to be kept cool wouldn't able to be served post 4 hours into the flight.

Usual ridiculously slow J meal service, I still hadn't been served my main at the time of the announcement. Breakfast was some break and muesli.

 

[Berlin]

QF10 that departed LHR on Tuesday. About 3 hours into the flight they announced the refrigeration system had failed. No way to fix it. So anything that needed to be kept cool wouldn't able to be served post 4 hours into the flight.

Hang on- did that mean no cold champagne with breakfast???

What an absolute disaster!

 

[Cheatah]

QF10 that departed LHR on Tuesday. About 3 hours into the flight they announced the refrigeration system had failed. No way to fix it. So anything that needed to be kept cool wouldn't able to be served post 4 hours into the flight.

Usual ridiculously slow J meal service, I still hadn't been served my main at the time of the announcement. Breakfast was some break and muesli.

So no 2nd meal service as they couldnt keep the meals chilled?

Was their milk with your muesli or no!

I'd be pissed if this happened.

 

[Ade]

QF10 that departed LHR on Tuesday. About 3 hours into the flight they announced the refrigeration system had failed. No way to fix it. So anything that needed to be kept cool wouldn't able to be served post 4 hours into the flight.

Usual ridiculously slow J meal service, I still hadn't been served my main at the time of the announcement. Breakfast was some break and muesli.

Was there some sort of compensation offered ? I understand that the refrigeration system failure mid-air was beyond the control of the crew or the airline. A retrospective item for the ground maintenance crew, I'd think

 

[Daver6]

Hang on- did that mean no cold champagne with breakfast???

What an absolute disaster!

Correct. Although it did at least mean the Chardonnay I had with dinner was actually at the correct temperature.

So no 2nd meal service as they couldnt keep the meals chilled?

Was their milk with your muesli or no!

I'd be pissed if this happened.

What annoyed me was how poorly it was handled for breakfast. I had filled out the meal card that included muesli, croissant, toast with marmalade and a hot item. I was just expecting to get everything bar the hot item.

Instead it was a trolley service where I got two pieces of cold toast. No marmalade and no croissant. Yes, there was milk. I assumed they use UHT milk on board.

Was there some sort of compensation offered ? I understand that the refrigeration system failure mid-air was beyond the control of the crew or the airline. A retrospective item for the ground maintenance crew, I'd think

We were informed in flight that we'd be given a food voucher on landing. I was handed some sort of card with $30 credit. Didn't use it. Just wanted to get home. No idea where I can use it or how long the credit might be valid for. That was not explained.

I actually had multiple service failures on this flight. On boarding I opened the tray table. It was filthy. Covered in crumbs. Crew didn't smile once and didn't seem to want to be there. My table cloth for the first meal service had a large stain on it. Crew member just put the salad over it to cover it up (salad usually goes on the left, she put it on the right to cover the stain). Took 90+ minutes for the first drink to be offered.

There was a cabin crew memeber across the aisle from me paxing to PER (not staff travel). Now they did take her meal order last, but the crew fawned over her. She was offered a drink right after take-off too.

I've submitted feedback requesting a partial refund of points that I used for the upgrade.

 

[Ade]

We were informed in flight that we'd be given a food voucher on landing. I was handed some sort of card with $30 credit. Didn't use it. Just wanted to get home. No idea where I can use it or how long the credit might be valid for. That was not explained.

Very bad. For a J seat I'd expect more than a $30 voucher with no instructions to use them. I think it's similar to one of those $30 hotel vouchers one'd get when doing a booking.

OT : I've done quite a lot of bookings on QF website, but have received none so far

Took 90+ minutes for the first drink to be offered.

First time I'm reading this on a QF Intl service. The drinks are usually offered within the first 20 mins of take off? That has been my experience so far on QF Intl J

On boarding I opened the tray table. It was filthy. Covered in crumbs

Now, I see this, honestly, every single time I fly QF - at least in my case - every time, the tray table (regardless of Y or J or PE) is ALWAYS dirty ! It's like the part of the seat that they always forget to wipe down during the clean up. It's usually bread crumbs or sometimes sticky remnants of the previous meal or spillover from the drink, which had stained and became sticky over time. I once asked the FA and he was like, "Oh, the ground crew would have missed it. We had a tight schedule today. I apologize for that" and reaches out to a bottle of pinot noir and offers with a smile "More wine, Mr. S"

She was offered a drink right after take-off too.

May be she was offered this to calm her nerves & anxiety of flying QF as a passenger Given she is an insider, she might have thought to fly on a different carrier, but couldn't get seats

If only many of us in this forum were offered drinks to sooth our nerves before every QF flight

I've submitted feedback requesting a partial refund of points that I used for the upgrade.

Fair ask, may be half the points for all the inconvenience and the dirty plane

 

[N860CR]

First time on QF dom for years. SYD-ADL on 765.
Crew were friendly with drink top ups regularly... but the meal was a little basic. Two little sausage rolls and some bread.

 

[faller]

Date: Feb, 2020
Flight: QF38 SIN-MEL
Service: Dinner
Meal: Cheese platter. Two, rather bland bits of cheese.

 

[Flying Fox]

First time on QF dom for years. SYD-ADL on 765.
Crew were friendly with drink top ups regularly... but the meal was a little basic. Two little sausage rolls and some bread.

It might just be me but for what QF charge for J, this food doesn't refect the price.

 

[jase05]

It might just be me but for what QF charge for J, this food doesn't refect the price.

I do find it funny how VA serve up a chicken sandwich and rightfully get slammed by all and sundry and are accused of cost cutting yet QF serve up something worse IMO and no one bats an eyelid

 

[RichardMEL]

I guess we're just getting more used to the ever dwindling options on both of the carriers sadly.

it's pretty sad that this is the "enhanced" refrreshment service on shorter haul flights but even BNE-MEL has shown up (along with soup / cheese box options).

Again why I find other options - eg lounge or even in terminal rather than worry about eating on board too much.

 

[Happy Trails]

It might just be me but for what QF charge for J, this food doesn't refect the price.

The price is reflected in AJ's bonus.

 

[RichardMEL]

I do not really equate ticket price to inflight amenity in this respect.

Now hear me out (OK read) before you jump all over this broad statement. Obviously I do not expect French Champagne and a EK F shower suite for $50, nor do I expect a party pie on a 12 hour flight.

BUT

Airline Pricing is not rational. And, just because the sticker price on a domestic sector might be $2k for full J that doesn't in any way reflect what every passenger in the J cabin is paying - some could be on points (and that's a whole minefield there).. some could be upgraded.. more could be on a connecting itin where the real cost of the one sector in particular is going to be very different, or even next to nothing if long haul international is involved.

And by that token an airline like QF should actually NOT in this regard care about the ticket price for a cabin of service when it comes to things like catering.

Obviously they do, because they operate in an environment of ensuring flights are profitable, so they will look at things like yield per sector (and again that's a different measure).

Even then it's not even so much about that. They have a budget and a spend/pax AND they clearly have a "philosophy" regarding domestic flight offerings (as discussed earlier).

How many people sitting in the J cabin of your average QF domestic flight actually pay full J? how many are on points? how many upgrades? How many are even staff travel? Yes, some of us do pay J fares for sure but many do not.. at least not directly.

And it shouldn't matter what has been paid for the flight.. the issue, to me, is not the ticket price(in cash, points or whatever) to determine "value" but is it a reasonable service for the sector, class and time of day. Most often for QF domestic flights, specially short-med haul.. the answer is no outside of main meal flights, and even then some of the offerings are not great.

This is a systemic issue within QF Inflight Services (whatever they are called) who make thee decisions. Maybe budget dictated.. maybe "decided" by Neil Perry types.. maybe a mix. I am certain it is a definite attempt to get J pax to eat in lounge and not on the plane (rage against lounge slop is a whole other thread though MEL and BNE have had decent options over the past few months to my way of thinking and I've avoided SYD ). And yes, I know, lounges aren't always an option for those short on time or on short connections, or from ports with no lounge.

And finally the big puzzle to me has always been why OOL - a mostly leisure route - seems to have fare that is a step above most other ports. I've had some truly fantastic food out of OOL over the years.. always a puzzle.. but I digress.

The argument that "I paid $1k for this ticket and all I got was a lausy party pie" has merit yes, but remember one's paying for the transport service not just the meal, and the prices being charged for J are what the market is allowing.. if nobody bought the tickets(or no companies did, even those with big discounts) then the price would come down or the J cabin would disappear.

 

[Flying Fox]

I think that your points are valid and I accept all of those.

However, given that J tickets pay for lounge access, additional floor space in the cabin and catering etc. the difference between the actual food served in Y vs J does seem to be diminishing.

 

[RichardMEL]

Absolutely diminishing to be sure when it comes to the catering. Heck half the J meals these days are akin to what Y got in the 80's and 90's (but I may have some rose coloured glasses and old age when it comes to those memories ).

I very much hesitate to drag out the comparision to other places point but for a 1-2 hour sector even warmed party pies, bread and a tea cake are a far cry better than some potato chips or cookie if you're lucky you may get on Another Airline, and not too different to some things I've had crossing the continent.

Given VA's reductions in some meal services it seems a race to the bottom for both of them, and thus no incentive for either to really attempt to maintain a standard.

Here's a question for the hoi poloi: Given the recent rage in product offerings has been unbundling of J class fares by the like of EK.. in terms of domestic AU service would you be happy to pay a cheaper price for a J ticket if it did not include a meal offering at all?

(I do know with the EK unbundling they do not affect inflight offerings, but I just mention them in terms of the concept)