Qantas: Changes to Inflight Meal Services

[$CJ]

Just rcd this email from Qantas....

---------------------------------

From 1 January 2007, Qantas will change it's policy on Inflight Meal
services. We have recognised that you have a request for a special meal
in your Qantas booking.

For flight services departing between the hours of 08.30-11.59 and
13.30-18.00, a light refreshment will be served onboard. Requests for a
specific meal will no longer be available for these services.


Regards
Qantas Telephone Sales

 

[NM]

so that implies the following meal times:

Breakfast - flights departing before 8:30am
Lunch - flights departing between midday and 1:30pm
Dinner - flights departing after 6pm.

 

[serfty]

Welcome to AFF $CJ.

I noticed that too NM; I thought that implying the flights departing at 6pm would have a refreshment service may have been a misprint, but If so, why go to the trouble of mentioning 11:59; in that case it would have been 17:59 as well.

 

[Shano]

Welcome $CJ.

So my flights QF635 from BNE to MEL, departing 1750 and arriving 2110 (during daylight saving) I will only get a light refreshment, not a hot meal.

This is pretty poor service by QF. :evil:

 

[simongr]

I dont think thats too unreasonable - I personally dont feel aggrieved if I dont get fed mid-morning and afternoons.

I wonder if this is scheduled departures or actual...

I wonder why the "enhancement" to service is coming via email from the tele sales department ...

 

[serfty]

I did checks on EF for MEL-SYD-MEL on 29DEC06 and 07JAN07.

For both dates it's showing D (Dinner) for all flights scheduled to depart 6pm-8pm inclusive. For evening flights departing before 6pm and after 8pm both enquiries show R (Refreshment / Comp).

 

[codash1099]

I haven't received any similar notification and I also have a special meal request.

I wonder how they would handle the crossing of time zones, such as PER-East Coast? I'd hate to miss the old faithful Chicken Tagine.

 

[serfty]

On the actual topic at hand; It would not be a huge loss for me, even if I still had such requests. The last SPML 'refreshment' I received was that tub of spiced fruit they used to give out.

These days I have disassociated myself from SPML requests.

 

[Tooner]

I haven't received any similar notification and I also have a special meal request.

I wonder how they would handle the crossing of time zones, such as PER-East Coast? I'd hate to miss the old faithful Chicken Tagine.

I too haven't received a notification and have the special meal request. I think I too might miss the tagine and/or coriander chicken for dinner, but it seems to be aimed at the refreshment, which is usually the stewed fruit or Wallaby bar inmy case. Can't say I'd miss it.

I think BA doesn't have specials for refreshment service on domestic/europe flights either.

I think dinner service ends at 8pm too - "refreshment" after that on an 8:30 flight I was on.

 

[JohnK]

I don't think that it too unreasonable.

Sometimes I think it may be better to stop serving the light refreshment meals and discount the airfare instead.

 

[kpc]

Sometimes I think it may be better to stop serving the light refreshment meals and discount the airfare instead.

----> DJ

 

[oz_mark]

I wonder why the "enhancement" to service is coming via email from the tele sales department ...

Seems strange, although the email does appear to relate to a specific booking (perhaps a booking affected by the change).

 

[JohnK]

----> DJ

They do have pretty FA's.

 

[Altair]

Yep, drop the "meal service" and you lose your point of differentiation with DJ and JQ oh and maybe Rex?
All QF ads have the blurb about entertainment, 1,000 points minimum refreshments etc. so they need to have something.
On NZ domestic there is only "refreshments/snack", generally heated up but on non-morning flights you also get the cheese and cracker option. My profile has Vegetarian (Ovo-Lacto) preference and I never get a special meal for snack/refreshemnts flights.

 

[$CJ]

Seems strange, although the email does appear to relate to a specific booking (perhaps a booking affected by the change).

Yes it's a bit strange. It even has a grammatical error ("it's"). The flight in question was booked online (i.e. not telephone sales).

FYI I have Veg (LO) in my profile and the flight departs at 4:50pm.

I think the time windows accurately reflect when people normally want a meal, but being based on "time of departure" (rather than time whilst in the air and flight duration etc) skews it all out of proportion. i.e. how often do we rush straight from work to board a 2-3 hour flight departing at 5:30pm then after landing, collecting baggage, finding a cab and checking in to a hotel find little choice for tea other than room service pizza?

They should be increasing, not decreasing, the differentiation between Jetstar and Qantas.

 

[NM]

I don't think that it too unreasonable.

Sometimes I think it may be better to stop serving the light refreshment meals and discount the airfare instead.

No, don't do that! I am not interested in the $5 saving on the airfare that would result. And in fact I am more sceptical that the airfare would remain the same and the $5 would end up in the airline's annual report on the black side of the ledger.

 

[simongr]

I think the time windows accurately reflect when people normally want a meal, but being based on "time of departure" (rather than time whilst in the air and flight duration etc) skews it all out of proportion. i.e. how often do we rush straight from work to board a 2-3 hour flight departing at 5:30pm then after landing, collecting baggage, finding a cab and checking in to a hotel find little choice for tea other than room service pizza?

They should be increasing, not decreasing, the differentiation between Jetstar and Qantas.

I was thinking about this after I posted. I guess most flights in Oz are 1-1.5 hours so if you flew at 5:30 you get to the hotel at 8PM - not too bad really. But on trans-con or ADL-SYD this could be a bit of a drama...

 

[Altair]

Hmm...would this change people's plans if they were going to fly longer say 1.5 hours so that they would get a meal? Would the flights with meals now have a premium built into their price already, so snack flights will be cheaper?

 

[NM]

I was thinking about this after I posted. I guess most flights in Oz are 1-1.5 hours so if you flew at 5:30 you get to the hotel at 8PM - not too bad really. But on trans-con or ADL-SYD this could be a bit of a drama...

You need to factor in an houor timezone change in summer time for flights from some destinations.

 

[Shano]

I was thinking about this after I posted. I guess most flights in Oz are 1-1.5 hours so if you flew at 5:30 you get to the hotel at 8PM - not too bad really. But on trans-con or ADL-SYD this could be a bit of a drama...

This was my point with my earlier post. If I land in Melbourne around 9pm, by the time I get checked luggage and then bus to long term carpark it is usually about 9:45. So the option is to stop at the Golden Arches at the airport where you can't park, or wait until I get home. Eating dinner at 10:30 at night is not that appealing, nor is eating a hamburger for dinner for that matter.

I rarely fly domestically between 8am and 5pm so am less affected by the other changes, but would be happy with a refreshment if I was on a mid morning or mid afternoon flight.

I can understand QF wanting to have a set schedule for meal times, but with factors such as daylight saving, length of flight, scheduled departure time etc. they should have a little more flexibility.