Qantas First Class "Nothing more than a premium business class"

[Pushka]

Thats the problem.
Customers have varied expectations, and sometimes their expectations of F is not met. The airline has financial realities and a market expectations to cater to. Its a juggling act.

Re My expectations for F:
Dont want to be pampered
Dont want Bling
Want a quiet understated and spacious cabin
Stressfree airport experience
I don't want a greeting from captain
I would like service to be personable, but not a lord-servant interaction. Experienced FA
Inflight catering to be mostly restaurant quality - especially if the airline says its curated/designed by some famous celebrity
I understand that experiences can be less than expected - thats the nature of travel even first class travel.
Personal assistance with a concerted effort to mitigate consequences of delays and cancellations

I would like it if a crew member would move through the cabin every hour or so, just to check if there was anything I needed. Not to speak to me as such if I was watching a movie etc, but so that I could just stop them and ask for a drink etc. I really don’t like having to use the bell to summons them. If there was an issue re next connection, I’d like them to be on top of any delays etc to mitigate any issues and then to tell me that was the case. I’d like the food to be tasty and not dried out. Or with too much cheese or heaven help, Kale! Salads that had more than lettuce. I’d like to be offered wine with meals etc and not have to ask for it.

 

[kermatu]

@kermatu ,
Could you please describe what makes a "genuine" first class meal - (a) service (b) the meals?

Anything but a steak sandwich.

To be serious everyone's tastes and desires are different. To me a first class meal / menu / experience should be something out of the ordinary* (eg, caviar, lobster) as well as favourites*, be available any time, and not rationed. In my experience QF just doesn't offer this.

* all subjective, I know.

 

[Pushka]

Anything but a steak sandwich.

To be serious everyone's tastes and desires are different. To me a first class meal / menu / experience should be something out of the ordinary* (eg, caviar, lobster) as well as favourites*, be available any time, and not rationed. In my experience QF just doesn't offer this.

* all subjective, I know.

And never ever run out of Champagne. Seafood I can live without, permanently.

 

[kermatu]

Oh yes and something better than mid-shelf (at best) spirits.

 

[stm1sydney]

Economy is an experience
Business is a comfortable experience
First is a pleasant and comfortable experience

I've had pleasant and comfortable experiences in Economy on long-haul SQ and OZ in recent months. No way could Neil Perry deliver such tasty, succulent and tender spicy octopus as I was given in OZ Y recently (at the end of a 10 hour flight). Not to mention their side salad was not just a pile of leaves.

For First, I want a mind-blowing experience and QF simply does not deliver that.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Anything but a steak sandwich.

To be serious everyone's tastes and desires are different. To me a first class meal / menu / experience should be something out of the ordinary* (eg, caviar, lobster) as well as favourites*, be available any time, and not rationed. In my experience QF just doesn't offer this.

* all subjective, I know.

Rationed no. But it will be almost impossible to have food on a plane that is ‘out of the ordinary’. With the exception of some puddings, everything else must suffer from being cooked, prepared and plated at least 24 hours in advance (or packaged into little tiny containers for plating on board).

 

[Quickstatus]

F should not serve casseroles or cassseroles like dishes. And no rice please - even in Asian dishes. Rice is considered to be a space filler and serving it is considered cheap.
I would really like a Sunday roast. But the roast brought on a trolley and sliced and served at the passenger's location not in the galley. None of that precut meat drenched in gravy. Inthink thats what they did back in the good ol days.

Oh and no Bickford cordial please. It is cordial. No one serves cordial in a restaurant.

Oh and turn it around a bit and say there is a dress code for F. Suit and Tie for gentleman and something classy for the ladies - gloves, heels?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

F should not serve casseroles or cassseroles like dishes. And no rice please - even in Asian dishes. Rice is considered to be a space filler and serving it is considered cheap.
I would really like a Sunday roast. But the roast brought on a trolley and sliced and served at the passenger's location not in the galley. None of that precut meat drenched in gravy. Inthink thats what they did back in the good ol days.

Oh and no Bickford cordial please. It is cordial. No one serves cordial in a restaurant.

Oh and turn it around a bit and say there is a dress code for F. Suit and Tie for gentleman and something classy for the ladies - gloves, heels?

Now it’s hard to know if you are being serious

Ye olde days of a roast carved by your seat did have a sense of theatre... but trying to keep it hot was a problem. Plates were heated, but still not that easy.

 

[Quickstatus]

Now it’s hard to know if you are being serious

Ye olde days of a roast carved by your seat did have a sense of theatre... but trying to keep it hot was a problem. Plates were heated, but still not that easy.

Truly serious. Though I would baulk at a Flambe for the sense of theatre in an aircraft. Seriously, people complain about the dress standards in lounges - closed shoes and all that. F defines a certain experience (which this thread is attempting to distill) and a fine dining restaurant experience is rounded off by dressing properly, so why not bring that into F?.

What about a selection of cake for dessert. Sliced at the trolley. Simple things can be Wow. But Im not Neil. Neil knows best.

Raising the standards - Should First class be Classy?

OT - a nice round number of posts @MEL_Traveller 18000

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Truly serious. But I baulk at a Flambe for the sense of theatre. Seriously, people complain about the dress standards in lounges - closed shoes and all that. F defines a certain experience (which this thread is attempting to distill) and a fine dining restaurant experience is rounded off by dressing properly, so why not bring that into F?.

Raising the standards - Should First class be Classy?

Again, i think this comes does to what you are looking for. Is it ‘bang for buck’, perhaps something aspirational. Or is it an extension of your everyday lifestyle? (‘you’ in a generic sense, rather than ‘you’ personally )

I don’t know of any F pax in the latter category that are getting on a plane looking for a fine dining restaurant experience. Or for other passengers to be dressed in any particular way. They need to get from A to B, at a time that suits them, and with a level of personalised service that allows them to work, eat, or sleep to whatever schedule they want. Sometimes there’s a bit of fun, like the sundae cart on US carriers, but it should be transport without any hassle (including having to dress up).

Bang for buck is different. It may be a special occasion, anniversary or birthday or whatever. Or the trip of a lifetime on retirement. All very valid reasons, but you need to choose your carrier appropriately. An emirates for example. Or SQ. And here is where the QF advertising can, at times, be a far stretch from reality.

 

[Quickstatus]

That sounds a bit like a Domestic US carrier "F"

I dont think that F passengers expect a fine dining exprience, but the airline does itself a disservice by purporting to be associated with celebrity chefs and give the impression that at least the meals are a "cut above".

I don't want a fine dining experience either. Simple meals that look less like airline food and more like real restaurant food will do me, but my expectations are not that high.

Oh an Affogato would be really nice to round things off.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

That sounds a bit like a Domestic US carrier "F"

The sundae cart was a ‘signature’ of several US intercontinental F offerings.

The fun thing about planes is being able to try things that maybe you wouldn’t bother with at home... a sundae cart (for example) is a lot of preparation.

 

[blackcat20]

I don't wear heels to work so I'm sure as hell not wearing them on a plane and gloves? It's not the 50s.....

 

[Pushka]

I don't wear heels to work so I'm sure as hell not wearing them on a plane and gloves? It's not the 50s.....

Only if it’s freezing! Stops my fingers going white. And I don’t think I’d like to see guys tottering around in heels

 

[Quickstatus]

The sundae cart was a ‘signature’ of several US intercontinental F offerings.

The fun thing about planes is being able to try things that maybe you wouldn’t bother with at home... a sundae cart (for example) is a lot of preparation.

I like the trolley thing - but it must be a trolley with white linen. Then I can see what I fancy. The Satay cart on MH is a nice signature though 3 sticks is the bare minimum. I once got 4 sticks because I sat in the F section of the MH A350. Ive always got more off the cart than a menu would suggest.
The icecreams off the cart would always be rock hard.

I don't wear heels to work so I'm sure as hell not wearing them on a plane and gloves? It's not the 50s.....

Only if it’s freezing! Stops my fingers going white. And I don’t think I’d like to see guys tottering around in heels

Surprisingly lots of ladies wear heels on flights. I havent seen any gloves. But I have seen a passengers embark with ski goggles, ski jackets, ski pants and ski gloves and puffed by all the layers like a Michelin Man. Obviously short on luggage allowance. Guys in heels. Seen that too on an airplane. Or at least I thought it was a guy.

 

[Alyopsis]

I’d politely suggest that tastes and expectations change with the times. Back in the Super Connie days today’s first class QF lounges with their white tones, massages, and day spas may have been the height of bad taste, even brothel-ish. On the other hand, I can give the onboard smoking and chatebriand and refueling stops in Darwin that were a feature of first class not so long ago a miss.

 

[Forg]

^ I think other classes were offered that reduelling stop too! QF were a tad egalitarian back then, too ...

 

[love_the_life]

F should not serve casseroles or cassseroles like dishes. And no rice please - even in Asian dishes. Rice is considered to be a space filler and serving it is considered cheap.
I would really like a Sunday roast. But the roast brought on a trolley and sliced and served at the passenger's location not in the galley. None of that precut meat drenched in gravy. Inthink thats what they did back in the good ol days.

Oh and no Bickford cordial please. It is cordial. No one serves cordial in a restaurant.

Oh and turn it around a bit and say there is a dress code for F. Suit and Tie for gentleman and something classy for the ladies - gloves, heels?

You agreed with the post Cossie. On the dress standards? Are you intending to wear your dinner suit next flight?
I thought only Y got the Bickfords.
I don’t mind casseroles per se but they do need to be well made and not just a pile of gristle in gravy.

Actually the worst F I had was BA where for breakfast I asked for a croissant and that’s all I got on the plate. No butter, jam etc and not even asked if I wanted them. Hardly an exquisite dining experience.

 

[Pushka]

You agreed with the post Cossie. On the dress standards? Are you intending to wear your dinner suit next flight?
I thought only Y got the Bickfords.
I don’t mind casseroles per se but they do need to be well made and not just a pile of gristle in gravy.

Actually the worst F I had was BA where for breakfast I asked for a croissant and that’s all I got on the plate. No butter, jam etc and not even asked if I wanted them. Hardly an exquisite dining experience.

Clearly you were not specific enough and they were following your directions.

 

[love_the_life]

Clearly you were not specific enough and they were following your directions.

True but hardly proactive service.