They forgot to load the F champagne

[pagingjoan]

<Snip>
Just to give some perspective, on our recent JL flight we had only three bottles of Salon to share between eight pax in F but myself and +1 still managed to drink 1.5 bottles together.

Salon? Now THAT would be lovely.
(And so sad, if you were expecting that, and it wasn't loaded. For that, the plane really would have to return to the gate!)

 

[MEL_Traveller]

But the word 'reasonable' has to be in there somewhere. How on earth is an airline meant to anticipate and accommodate an entire F cabin of Champagne super-guzzlers? Just how many bottles should they load? And of course it might not be Champagne guzzler's day - it might be shiraz guzzlers .. so an unlimited supply of that? And every wine and spirit on their list?

I agree that not having any is quite an oversight, but if they run out of my favourite tipple due to the overall demand being greater than normal (and they would have pretty good stats on what's usually consumed on any particular long haul leg in any particular cabin), then I shrug and move to the next. [-] Maybe I'm just getting more mellow in my dotage. [/-]

fair points... but champagne is one of those unique things... it can't be substituted by another white wine for example.

I personally wouldn't complain if cabin crew came to me and said 'terribly sorry, we loaded one bottle of champagne per passenger and that's run out'. that's a far different story to being told, shortly after takeoff, that your preferred aperitif (champagne) is not available because they've run out already.

one bottle per passenger means the airline has probably discharged the 'reasonable' test, and the passenger going without can blame their fellow passengers, not the airline.

in the air, qantas has very few luxury items commensurate with true first class service. Ethics aside for a moment... they don't have caviar, they don't have pate de fois gras, they don't serve abalone or anything else in that category. Their selling point is pretty much their wines, and possibly their amenity kits.

 

[mannej]

Wasn't caviar on the Autumn F menu?

http://www.ausbt.com.au/caviar-on-the-menu-in-qantas-first-class

 

[Flying mermaid]

possibly their amenity kits.

um - no! Definitely what you need on the flight (barely), but nothing to get excited over.....much preferred Emirates and much more boring than in previous years (took my first F flight with Qantas in 1989, so quite a lot to compare).

I don't fly all that often but as people might have gathered I fly F predominantly (and up to now predominantly Qantas). Have never noticed any bubbly drought on any flight, but then I generally don't drink alcohol after the first few hours, so wouldn't know if it runs out. We have had a feeling that Qantas' cost savings have extended across all classes, but that is hard to quantify. To put it into perspective though F is really cheap compared to 10 years ago, so I guess cuts have to happen. Some savings from more efficient aircraft and working them harder, but not the fat that there used to be.

 

[TheBOSman]

If they are running a yield managememt process to save money in soft product this should be done for the basic cabins, not First Class.

Perhaps they have already done this as much as possible for Economy, maybe PE, maybe even Business, and are now working on First Class?

 

[Flying mermaid]

Wasn't caviar on the Autumn F menu?

Caviar on the menu in Qantas first class - Australian Business Traveller

A bit of hyperbole there - a bit of caviar on a tart as a canape - more a garnish than anything else. Very nice but not exactly caviar on the menu......

 

[Anna]

I may be misremembering but I thought I got a canapé of foie gras last year on QF2.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Wasn't caviar on the Autumn F menu?

Caviar on the menu in Qantas first class - Australian Business Traveller

I'm not sure that counts as a 'proper' caviar service with the accompanying theatrics of chilled vodka, blinis etc etc.

um - no! Definitely what you need on the flight (barely), but nothing to get excited over.....much preferred Emirates and much more boring than in previous years (took my first F flight with Qantas in 1989, so quite a lot to compare).

For me it's the quality of the product inside rather than the amount or presentation. Bulgari is a luxury goods brand... I dunno about their cosmetics. I haven't found them to be as good as Payot or SK-II (at least in terms of the products generally offered in amenity kits).

 

[amaroo]

A bit of hyperbole there - a bit of caviar on a tart as a canape - more a garnish than anything else. Very nice but not exactly caviar on the menu......

More like bird dropping proportions.

 

[Flying mermaid]

I'm not sure that counts as a 'proper' caviar service with the accompanying theatrics of chilled vodka, blinis etc etc.



For me it's the quality of the product inside rather than the amount or presentation. Bulgari is a luxury goods brand... I dunno about their cosmetics. I haven't found them to be as good as Payot or SK-II (at least in terms of the products generally offered in amenity kits).

Quality is fine but the amounts were pretty much one use only. I liked the Bulgari - still using the cologne as an "at home" fragrance. Also no extras like lip balm etc.

 

[amaroo]

Quality is fine but the amounts were pretty much one use only. I liked the Bulgari - still using the cologne as an "at home" fragrance. Also no extras like lip balm etc.

SWMBO always asks for the J kit as it contains lip balm ... Strange but true.

 

[mannej]

I'm not sure that counts as a 'proper' caviar service with the accompanying theatrics of chilled vodka, blinis etc etc.

But you didn't say Caviar "service", you said that QF don't have caviar in F which technically isn't true.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

But you didn't say Caviar "service", you said that QF don't have caviar in F which technically isn't true.

If you asked for caviar on Qantas the answer would be...?

Well... it would be 'no' as they can't serve it to you as a stand alone item (that's my take anyway!)

 

[TheBOSman]

If you asked for caviar on Qantas the answer would be...?

Clearly from the thread title it would be "We forgot to load it" .

I had the caviar dish referenced, while a very good dish, the caviar definitely was more of a garnish than a main feature of its course.

 

[mannej]

If you asked for caviar on Qantas the answer would be...?

Well... it would be 'no' as they can't serve it to you as a stand alone item (that's my take anyway!)

That may be your take, but it still doesn't make your original statement correct.

 

[medhead]

How much champagne do people think should be loaded? Anything less than an allocation of 1 bottle per seat (ie 14 bottles) is not enough IMO.

Indeed, If I ever travel with my wife and 2 children in F, 3.25 to 3.5 bottles should just about be enough for my share.

 

[JohnK]

Oh boy, not the kind of thread I want to read before my QF1 flight tomorrow

Haven't read the thread in its entirety but is it really that much of a problem? Now if they forgot to load the food for everyone on board that would be an issue....

 

[boomy]

Haven't read the thread in its entirety but is it really that much of a problem? Now if they forgot to load the food for everyone on board that would be an issue....

Depends on your definition of 'problem'.
Keeping in mind all are first world problems, in my view, pax who fly F are entitled to expect a certain level of service and for the airline to forget loading something (champagne, food, PJs, whatever) is unacceptable.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Haven't read the thread in its entirety but is it really that much of a problem? Now if they forgot to load the food for everyone on board that would be an issue....

It's a problem in the sense passengers have actually paid for it. In advance. Bit cheeky if an airline then doesn't give what was paid for. (Assuming reasonable consumption.) In First class, I'd assume 'reasonable consumption' would be a bottle per person for those who wanted it.

 

[JohnK]

Depends on your definition of 'problem'.
Keeping in mind all are first world problems, in my view, pax who fly F are entitled to expect a certain level of service and for the airline to forget loading something (champagne, food, PJs, whatever) is unacceptable.

I feel your pain but if my flight only had VB instead of Crown Lager I wouldn't be jumping up and down....