Many Qantas customers have not received any compensation after they didn’t receive food as advertised on their flights. To make matters worse, one passenger has now been waiting two months for a response from Qantas Customer Care after their Business Class meal contained pieces of plastic.

Qantas not forthcoming with compensation for reduced Easter long weekend catering

Over the Easter long weekend, many Qantas flights departed with reduced catering or even no food at all. This was due to severe staffing shortages at dnata, the airline’s outsourced catering provider. As a result, many Business passengers were not served a meal as advertised and instead received a biscuit and water (if anything).

Given the fares charged by Qantas for Business Class, or the number of points required to upgrade, it would be reasonable to assume that Qantas would proactively offer compensation if a key component of the advertised Business Class experience is not provided. This could be in the form of a partial refund, meal voucher or frequent flyer points. But AFF members who flew over that weekend report that they haven’t yet received any compensation or communication from Qantas.

In fact, even Qantas customers who proactively contacted Qantas Customer Care after their flights are still waiting for a response. They have not received as much as an apology yet, let alone money or frequent flyer points as compensation.

The airline did proactively offer 10,000 bonus Qantas points compensation to some passengers whose checked bags were delayed in mid-April. Affected customers were sent an email requiring them to manually accept the offer of 10,000 Qantas points by 20 May 2022.

Australian Frequent Flyer asked Qantas what compensation would be offered to passengers affected by the catering problems over Easter, but received no response.

In the past, Qantas would often credit frequent flyers with points as compensation for failures such as catering not being provided as advertised or the in-flight entertainment not working.

No acknowledgement of plastic found in Business Class meal

Sadly, this is not the first time Business Class customers have been fobbed off by the airline after a major catering failure.

On 5 March 2022, AFF moderator JessicaTam flew in Qantas Business from Adelaide to Melbourne. The special meal she ordered contained pieces of plastic which had been heated inside the meal.

The Customer Service Manager on the flight was horrified and immediately noticed that the food could not be served, only showing JessicaTam the meal briefly to demonstrate why they were unable to serve it. Due to dietary requirements, she could not eat any of the other regular meals.

The cabin crew reported the issue to Qantas. After waiting a few weeks following the flight and receiving no correspondence whatsoever from Qantas, JessicaTam then also contacted Customer Care directly to ask for a partial refund – at least of the points used to upgrade to Business Class.

Two months have now passed since the flight, and JessicaTam has still not received any response from Qantas.

Sadly, this seems to be a common theme for Qantas customers trying to contact Qantas Customer Care lately.

Australian Frequent Flyer reached out to Qantas for comment on that catering failure and the lack of response from Customer Care. We also received no response.

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.