On many levels, Virgin Australia now offers a better domestic Business Class service than Qantas. Ever since Virgin revamped its Business Class catering in March 2021, the on-board meals have generally been well received and the on-board service is typically excellent. (AFF’s long-running thread on Virgin Australia Business catering is a testament to this.)
However, there’s one area where Qantas has a clear advantage over Virgin Australia in terms of Business Class catering: special meals for people with dietary requirements.
On most Virgin Australia domestic flights, Business passengers are offered a choice of two main meals. There are a variety of menu options on rotation, with different options offered at breakfast compared to lunch or dinner.
But Virgin doesn’t offer the possibility for customers with specific dietary needs or allergies to pre-order a special meal. There is no possibility to request this online, nor through the call centre – Virgin simply doesn’t offer this service. The two pre-designated menu options in Business are generally the only meals available on board each flight.
There are many reasons some passengers may prefer to order a special meal. For example, they might have serious allergies, be lactose intolerant, vegan, or have celiac disease (intolerance to gluten).
Generally, one of the Virgin Australia Business Class meals will contain meat while the other will be vegetarian. So, Virgin does at least try to offer two meals that are quite different and cater to a variety of needs. But in the absence of special meals (or even just the ability to pre-select a meal before the flight), Virgin Business passengers can only hope at least one of the meal options presented on board will be suitable.
An exception is early morning flights departing from ports such as Canberra, Hobart or Mackay where Virgin Australia doesn’t have a catering provider. On these flights, there is generally only one breakfast choice offered such as muesli with a warm muffin.
Some cabin crew may ask passengers at the start of the flight if they have any dietary requirements, and they can generally access information about the ingredients in each meal if needed.
But it’s usually up to individual passengers to proactively flag dietary restrictions with the cabin crew. This may be especially important for passengers sitting in row 2 (especially seats 2D & 2F) on the Boeing 737, as these passengers are generally given the last choice of meals. By this time, one of the two meal choices may already be gone. If the second option isn’t suitable, the crew may not be able to offer much else.
Virgin Australia does have additional snacks available to Business Class passengers from its secret “pantry” menu, such as packets of chips and chocolates. On longer flights, there are also various accompaniments served alongside the main meals in Business such as cheese & crackers, pastries and/or dessert. But none of these are particularly substantial meal options.
There is also a buy-on-board menu in every seat pocket on Virgin Australia flights. Before COVID-19, Virgin used to offer items from the Economy menu for free to Business passengers. But Virgin changed its policy in 2019 so that even Business passengers would need to pay extra for food or drinks from this menu.
Australian Frequent Flyer asked Virgin Australia if cabin crew are able to offer an alternative meal or free items from the buy-on-board menu to Business passengers who can’t eat any of the regular meal options provided due to allergies or dietary needs. We also asked if Virgin had any plans to introduce the ability to pre-order a special meal. They did not respond to our questions.
You can join the discussion on this topic on AFF’s Virgin Australia Business Class – Meals, Menus & Service thread.
