Qantas domestic economy meals

[CorporateFlyerMEL]

no pics, QF417 SYD - MEL breakfast - ham and spinach/cheese quiche or vegie burger with mushroom, cheese, tomato, hot and cold drinks, all done nicely on full flight of 1 hour

 

[Quercus]

Flew Melbourne - Perth in recent days, fortunately on a rare a330 service. Unfortunately the food options were the exact same as my return flights in May. ‘Southern’ beef casserole with veg or a chicken pasta salad. It was bad enough having the exact same options on the flight home in May but already preparing myself for the same this time around. Didn’t get a thing of cheese and crackers either.

Would it be so hard to have a few more Asian inspired dishes on domestic economy like they do for international? Some noodles or a stir fry/curry and rice is much much more appealing than ‘American style’ casserole slop and veg. Obviously going back to the days of a choice of two hot meals with sides would be even better!

 

[ole nimeton]

Sydney to Adelaide last Friday on QF737. The flight took off a bit before midday with 'morning tea' of granola slice and tea/coffee/soft drinks served at 12:30pm. Arrived into Adelaide at 1:30pm (2pm AEST) more than ready for lunch. Hadn't really had anything since breakfast except a few pastries in the lounge which was also on limited offerings, transitioning between breakfast and lunch.

 

[cosi]

Perth-Broome QF1652 ETD 07:30am



Very tasty - I enjoyed.

 

[HirafuHeartAttack]

QF578 and QF579 Sydney - Hamilton Island return.
Only thing served on both flights was somehow simultaneously dry and far too moist vegetable fritters. No other options.
Certainly was a crashing back to reality on the flight home after a weekend on Hayman Island.

 

[moa999]

QF485 SYD-MEL 20/08
"Focaccia" (wet towel in a box, similar texture)

Vino was disgusting.

Same serving of the Handmade FoodCo
"Portugese chicken ciabatta with mango lime jam"

On QF494 MEL-SYD 8pm on 28/9

Actually thought the chicken was OK tasting, though a high bread ratio.
Agree that cab sav is poor.

 

[aleks12345]

QF924 SYD to CNS 15:35 flight in Y.
Food item served was a butter chicken puff, or mozzarella cauliflower bites was available (upon request) as an GF/non-meat option. A dark chocolate Lindt ball was offered for desert.

The butter chicken puff was hot, flakey and had good flavour. The mozzarella cauliflower bites however were soggy, salty and lacked flavour.

For a 3+ hour flight though, I wish the food provided in Y was a bit more substantial.

The food offering in the Qantas club lounge in SYD was poor that day, with the hot meal being a sweet sour chicken which looked fluro-red in colour; which both myself and my friend couldn't stomach. The lentil soup offered that day was ok.

Also, why doesn't qantas make proper Y meals (e.g. stir-fries, curries etc) rather than overly- processed foods by external suppliers? I'm guessing using external suppliers and promising them "great brand exposure" allows them to source the food cheaper than making in-house?

Plane was pretty dirty also, with crumbs on seat/floor on arrival, in the hand luggage bins, and even smudges on the flip-out entertainment screens.

Seems like the Y meals/ product is not really improving (at least domestically) under Hudsons tenure.

 

[downgraded]

Plane was pretty dirty also, with crumbs on seat/floor on arrival, in the hand luggage bins, and even smudges on the flip-out entertainment screens.

The lack of a holistic thought about service - if we serve greasy flakey snacks and expect them to be eaten with fingers, what's the knock on effect to cabin cleanliness? Doesn't take a rocket scientist...

 

[moa999]

rather than overly- processed foods by external suppliers? I'm guessing using external suppliers and promising them "great brand exposure" allows them to source the food cheaper than making in-house?

Qantas Catering was sold to dnata (Emirates Group) back in 2018 so nothing is in house these days.

Not sure if there is much exposure for these companies, it's just a cost driven decision, possibly some of the brands are even house brands.
And I suspect the dough heavy foods fit the budget.

Different for the wines where there is crossover to the Qantas Wines business.

 

[Flying Fox]

Are there any rules as to BYO food for QF flights?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Are there any rules as to BYO food for QF flights?

Not that i can think of… except for foods that might be ‘offensive’ (like a bad smell).

 

[SYD]

Not that i can think of… except for foods that might be ‘offensive’ (like a bad smell).

and alcoholic beverages.

 

[Daver6]

Not that i can think of… except for foods that might be ‘offensive’ (like a bad smell).

Given they don't ban pax with a bad smell, I can't see how the good one is going to be enforced.

 

[justinbrett]

Not that i can think of… except for foods that might be ‘offensive’ (like a bad smell).

No hot beverages

and alcoholic beverages.

Permitted to carry, just not to consume.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Given they don't ban pax with a bad smell, I can't see how the good one is going to be enforced.

I’m think durian for example. I saw a passenger being banned from eating dried fermented fish in an JAL flight! The stench was incredible, and when the cabin crew approached the man he vigorously denied it was him eating it… except he had a tiny fish tail still stuck to the corner of his mouth!

 

[Cloud9]

and alcoholic beverages.

Metal water bottles can be filled in exquisite ways in the lounge, if you're discreet about it.

 

[DejaBrew]

Metal water bottles can be filled in exquisite ways in the lounge, if you're discreet about it.

The trick is obviously in knowing how many cans of tonic water you can ask for at a time without arousing suspicion…

 

[aleks12345]

Qantas Catering was sold to dnata (Emirates Group) back in 2018 so nothing is in house these days.

Not sure if there is much exposure for these companies, it's just a cost driven decision, possibly some of the brands are even house brands.
And I suspect the dough heavy foods fit the budget.

Different for the wines where there is crossover to the Qantas Wines business.

Yeah I remember that dnata took over Qantas catering back around 2018.
What I meant was why Qantas/dnata don't provide proper in-house made meals (e.g. circa 2017 box meals on short Y domestic hops)?
Did a quick google for 'yummy karma' and 'Ivans Pies' and they seem to be proper established independent food suppliers.

You would think that dnata making a half decent boxed stir-fry wouldn't be much more than paying another intermediary to make a meal/snack, then pay dnata to load it to the aircraft.

Yeah you are probably right... dough-heavy and processed foods seem to fit the budget sadly.

 

[kookaburra75]

The trick is obviously in knowing how many cans of tonic water you can ask for at a time without arousing suspicion…

MrsK is known to carry a small thermos flask which can keep her white 'tea/cordial' chilled, which she drinks from a ceramic teacup so no one knows what she is drinking - something I taught her after working for some US tech companies where alcohol in the workplace was frowned upon

 

[Justinf]

Bunch of drunks in here.
I’m all for it.