As a full-service carrier, Qantas provides complimentary food and drinks on almost every flight – including in Economy Class. But what you’ll receive depends on the route and the time of day.
On most international and longer domestic flights, you’ll get a choice of hot meals and complimentary drinks. On shorter domestic flights like Sydney-Melbourne, you might get a hot snack during designated meal times or a refreshment if travelling outside of those times.
Qantas doesn’t publish these meal times on its website. For example, when you book a flight from Sydney to Melbourne, the Qantas website lists the Economy Class catering as “refreshments” on every flight. So, we’ve put together this guide that explains what to expect.
Note that Qantas does change its catering and service timings every now and again, so the information in this article is subject to change.
Qantas is the only major Australian domestic airline to serve complimentary food in Economy Class. Virgin Australia only offers tea, coffee and water for free, while Jetstar only provides water. All other food and drinks on Virgin and Jetstar need to be purchased separately.
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Qantas domestic Economy food: Snacks on shorter flights, full meals on longer flights
On domestic flights, Qantas tailors its catering to the length of the flight and time of day.
Here’s an overview of what you can expect on different routes:
| Flight duration/category | Example routes | Food provided |
|---|---|---|
| Very short | Sydney-Canberra Melbourne-Canberra | Cold snacks |
| Up to 2 hours | Melbourne-Sydney Brisbane-Sydney | Hot or cold snacks (depending on time of day) |
| 2-3.5 hours | Brisbane-Melbourne Brisbane-Cairns | Hot snacks |
| 3.5+ hours (except redeye flights) | Sydney-Perth Melbourne-Darwin | Boxed meal |
| Redeye flights | Perth-Melbourne on QF764 | Snack bag |
Examples of food served in Qantas domestic Economy
Cold snacks and refreshments could include things like cheese and crackers, muffins, slices or cookies.
On mid-length domestic flights, as well as some shorter routes during meal times, Qantas serves “substantial” hot snacks such as brekkie burgers, pizza pockets or vege fritters.
On longer flights where boxed meals are served, there is typically a choice between a hot meal or a fresh salad. Hot meals could include things like pasta or beef with vegetables.
Meal times on shorter domestic flights
On domestic routes with flight times above around 1 hour and 10 minutes, but less than 2 hours, Qantas only serves the more substantial hot snacks on flights scheduled to depart during designated meal times:
- Breakfast – 05:00 until 08:29
- Lunch – 12:00 until 13:29
- Dinner – 17:30 until 18:59
This includes on many domestic routes such as Melbourne-Sydney, Sydney-Gold Coast, Melbourne-Adelaide, Canberra-Brisbane, Brisbane-Mackay and Adelaide-Sydney.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Qantas served full meal boxes on routes like Sydney-Melbourne on all flights scheduled to depart between 17:30 and 20:00. This change has not gone unnoticed by frequent flyers, with one AFF member recently expressing their disappointment at receiving cheese and crackers on a 7pm Melbourne-Sydney departure.
Qantas’ justification for this is that they see a decline in demand for hot food items after 7pm, as many passengers have already eaten dinner in the lounge or terminal.
Exceptions
The above information applies to Qantas and some QantasLink flights. However, as with everything in aviation, there are some exceptions. For example:
- There is no service provided on ultra-short flights like Barcaldine-Longreach and Cloncurry-Mount Isa, which are scheduled at around 30 minutes.
- No hot food is served on QantasLink Dash 8 flights as there are no ovens on board.
- Meal services may vary on QantasLink flights within Western Australia.
Qantas domestic Economy drinks
Qantas provides complimentary drinks on domestic flights, including water, juice and soft drinks.
Tea and coffee is available on most flights departing before 4pm.
Complimentary beer and wine is also available on flights departing after 12pm, or after 9am on flights over two hours. The airline no longer charges extra for beer and wine on board in Economy.
Qantas international Economy food
Qantas recently improved its Economy Class catering on international flights. Meals are now served on a tray and come with a bread roll or focaccia, as well as an additional side (such as a salad or cheese & crackers).
Depending on the time of day, the meal options could include a hot breakfast, hot lunch/dinner or fresh salad.
There are usually 2-3 meal options, including a vegetarian choice.
Ice cream is often served for dessert after lunch or dinner.
On mid-length flights into Asia, such as Sydney-Jakarta or Melbourne-Singapore, a hot hand-held snack is served for the second meal. On longer international flights, there are multiple meals served (and on ultra long-haul flights, mid-flight snacks as well).
Exception: Certain flights from Pacific Islands to Australia
Proper meals are not served on international Boeing 737 flights departing from certain Pacific Island airports where Qantas does not have a contract with a local caterer.
On these services, Qantas “double caters” the aircraft before it departs Australia. However, the 737s don’t have spare chillers to keep the food loaded for the return flights cold for the required length of time. Therefore, Qantas has to serve “ambient snacks” that don’t need to be stored at a certain temperature on the return services back to Australia.
The affected routes include:
- Nuku’alofa-Sydney
- Apia-Brisbane
- Koror-Brisbane
Qantas international Economy drinks
A full selection of drinks is available for free, including beer, wine (including sparkling wine) and spirits on all international flights, except trans-Tasman flights departing before 9am where alcohol is not provided. You can even order basic cocktails like a Bloody Mary, gin & tonic or vodka with Bundaberg ginger beer.
Additional snacks and drinks are always available on request on Qantas flights – just ask a flight attendant. Some long-haul Qantas aircraft, such as the Airbus A380, even have self-service snack bars.
Special meals
If you have specific dietary requirements, you can order a special meal up to 24 hours before departure (or 36 hours for Kosher meals). See the Qantas website for a full list of special meal options and instructions on pre-ordering one.
Anecdotally, many frequent flyers say that special meals often lack variety and can vary in quality. However, one advantage is that you’ll often get your meal before other passengers.
