Qantas Food

[minore]

Just returned from Bangkok. The Dinner and Breakfast were the two worst meals I have ever had on any airline.
It is apparent that Qantas is going cheap.

 

[netaddict]

What were the meals? Also what flight number and class of travel?

 

[minore]

QF2 economy. Dinner Tuna Pasta or Beef Curry,cake for sweets.
Breakfast Musili and Fruits.

 

[matthecat]

Cheap :shock: Must cost them a fortune to chop up some manky old lettuce, throw in a piece of tomato and call it salad :!:

 

[Yada Yada]

Food on domestic economy flights is not too good either. On evening flights from MEL-SYD I've found the hot meals to be very poor.

However in business class between SYD/PER and SYD/SIN it is great. I've had some really nice desserts. :wink:

 

[dajop]

Food on domestic economy flights is not too good either. On evening flights from MEL-SYD I've found the hot meals to be very poor.

It's all relative. I think the food on MEL-SYD is quite good (at least at meal times). Spend an hour in the air in the third world, eg on Qantas's alliance partner, AA and you won't get much either in the back or the front of the bus.

First Class Complimentary Food Service
Complimentary food service is offered in First Class on all markets systemwide that have flying times over 1 hour and 45 minutes and operate within traditional meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner) windows. Generally, a snack service will be provided on flights greater than 2½ hours outside meal windows.

That said, I do agree with original poster, that perhaps the international service on QF is a bit light on - my worst meal was actually in J on QF flying MNL-SYD - it was very ordinary and rather small in quantity for a 19:50 departure. Had more (& arguably better) food flying Trans Tasman, only in Y, on EK earlier this year.

 

[bambbbam2]

You should report this on

http://www.airlinemeals.net/

 

[straitman]

Just returned from Bangkok. The Dinner and Breakfast were the two worst meals I have ever had on any airline.
It is apparent that Qantas is going cheap.

I just returned from HK in Y and must say that the food and service (in both directions) was way above my expectations. -- It was very good actually.

Does this mean the standard varies dramatically or we have substantially different ideas on what an airline meal should be :?:

I'm not easly pleased if that's any clue :!:

 

[shillard]

Last week did NTL-SYD-PER-SYD-NTL, with the SYD-PER-SYD component in J.

Fantastic meals in both directions, roast chicken breast with roast vegetables on the way over (managed to scavange some fruit salad normally assigned to the salmon), ice cream for dessert, tea and port with some chocolates to follow.

Same meal on the reverse run, from a choice of 3. This was the CityFlyer scarebus service.

 

[durham70]

I recently flew LHR - SYD via Singapore on Qantas

Twice on the flight they ran out of meal selections at exactly my row (50 in economy).

Food was very average, video games didn't work for the first half of the flight, flight was 2hrs late - crew promised connections would be held - they weren't resulting in me missing last connection that night to Canberra.

Overall dreadful flight & service from Qantas.

Complained via the website 8 days ago - still waiting for a reply.......

 

[BlacKnox]

Just returned from Bangkok. The Dinner and Breakfast were the two worst meals I have ever had on any airline.
It is apparent that Qantas is going cheap.

In December 04 I flew QF BNE-ZQN and loved the meal (can't remember what it was, only that my g/f and I were pleasantly surprised). As many of the regular contributors know, I am no huge fan of QF, though have never had a problem with any meal in Y, J or F.

Sad to hear you had a (-) experience.

 

[MetroAir]

Nope, IMO QF food is very ordinary.

J class BNE-CBR last week, salmon quiche - except it was mushroom. At least the CSM realised halfway through serving the cabin and corrected the advice, commented that nobody ever eats the salmon when served anyway and the crew wind up having to eat it, and they don't like it either! Back was even worse, salmon (poached this time) again and a chilled Shiraz.

QF have never had their act together in relation to food.

Good meals, NZ, CX, BR (can only comment about F & J), bad meals QF, FJ, MR and most US carriers.

Cant wait to see what Ozjet will do to the domestic market.

Cheers

 

[BlacKnox]

Nope, IMO QF food is very ordinary.

It probably is. I should have tempered my previous comments with the fact I have only flown QF 3 times in as many years.

However on those 3 occasions (once in each class) I had no problem with the meal. Nope, my beef with QF is that service is very ordinary.

 

[Mal]

Nope, IMO QF food is very ordinary.

J class BNE-CBR last week, salmon quiche - except it was mushroom. At least the CSM realised halfway through serving the cabin and corrected the advice, commented that nobody ever eats the salmon when served anyway and the crew wind up having to eat it, and they don't like it either! Back was even worse, salmon (poached this time) again and a chilled Shiraz.
<snip>

I've flown a few Dom J sectors in the last year for various reasons. The "long distance" ones tend to have good food (eg Mel-Per) but shorter can be pretty ordinary . The biggest issue I see with Qantas food is that the FA's aren't actually told properly what they are serving.

On one flight . FA tells pax that it is a "omlette". Looked more like a crepe to me, and sure enough it was a crepe with bits of mushroom, tomato etc inside. Had been frozen or chilled and then reheated and you could tell as it was fairly watery.

Another example. "Gourmet pie" was the offering. None of the staff knew what type of meat was inside. This has happened a cpl of times on flights I've been on.

Yet another example. Staff serve chilled chicken salad. Nice meal, but was very cold, and would have been so much nicer if it was warmed up.

I agree that QF is better than some overseas carriers in the food department. However, I think the staff should at least know what they are serving to the pax...

Now I'll move to Y. Dinner meals are marked with what they are. Pity that doesn't always reflect properly what is inside. Eg. Creamy pasta (I think that's what it was called) was pasta with ham and cream. There are other examples too that don't come to mind easily...

When I have flown either International flights, or Domestic sectors of Int. flights I have found the food to be good. The biggest letdown I can remember was the snack offered on one QF flight if you wanted something to eat outside of meal times.... it was 2 minute noodles!

 

[danielh]

Anyone notice a slight improvement (in my opinion) in meals in the last week?

NOTE: All Y, generally 7.30am or 5.30pm flights so no Hot Meals.

I do the MLB-SYD-MLB Mon to Friday run so I'm used to a standard tub of cereal, a banana, milk and Frusion juice. The add-on was a small bun with butter (no butter if a shared AA flgiht for some reason). Today it was a nice (probably very fattening) Sara Lee muffin.

On the way back from Syd-Mel I usually get some sort of breadstick/tomato based biscuit combo (I usually refise to get when I see it) or a twin pack of Pretsels and cashew nuts.

This time I got two very delicious cookies, also very fattening, but was a good suger boost since I was feeling a bit tired.

I've been flying the last 3 months and had not noticed any changes until last week so was hoping to see more come through.

Anyone else notice changes in the food for domestic flights?

Regards
Daniel

 

[dajop]

I have a theory that catering is indeed related to yield. So higher yielding flights (like a 5:30pm flight MEL-SYD) will have better food than say a lower yielding flight at 2pm or 10:20pm. This is obviously the case if you look at Cityflyer routes (eg MEL/SYD-PER) vs comparable leisure routes (eg MEL/SYD-DRW), but I suspect that even within Cityflyer services (or leisure services) higher yielding flights get better catering.

 

[straitman]

I have a theory that catering is indeed related to yield. So higher yielding flights (like a 5:30pm flight MEL-SYD) will have better food than say a lower yielding flight at 2pm or 10:20pm. This is obviously the case if you look at Cityflyer routes (eg MEL/SYD-PER) vs comparable leisure routes (eg MEL/SYD-DRW), but I suspect that even within Cityflyer services (or leisure services) higher yielding flights get better catering.

Not so sure :!:

The HK trip I mentioned above had lots of spare seats (both ways) and plenty of discount tickets available, yet we had very good catering and service.

This may have been due to a/c type also. Fairly good galleys on the A330, which they need due to all that extra time in the air. (Almost 10% slower than a B747)

Realistically though it's probably a combination of yield, a/c type (ie capacity) and length of trip.

 

[redrat]

Well I don't know about you guys but my last three trips that have spanned midday on Cityflyer have only had cookies/cake served in Y. I reckon they're cutting back to the old cheese & bickies caper they had in the old days. :x

 

[serfty]

Well I don't know about you guys but my last three trips that have spanned midday on Cityflyer have only had cookies/cake served in Y. I reckon they're cutting back to the old cheese & bickies caper they had in the old days. :x

Methinks the flight (<90 mins) needs to depart Noon to 130?)pm before you'll get one of those "Assorted sandwiches for lunch". It's not enough to simply be in the air "When the sun goes over the yardarm".

 

[BlacKnox]

Well I don't know about you guys but my last three trips that have spanned midday on Cityflyer have only had cookies/cake served in Y. I reckon they're cutting back to the old cheese & bickies caper they had in the old days. :x

Methinks the flight (<90 mins) needs to depart Noon to 130?)pm before you'll get one of those "Assorted sandwiches for lunch". It's not enough to simply be in the air "When the sun goes over the yardarm".

Don't you guys have a nibble in the QP before the flight?