Qantas international long haul Y (meals mainly) trip report.

[Austman]

I've flown QFi long haul many times in F, J, PE and Y.

I couldn't find too much information on what's actually currently served in Y on flights to and from North America. I recently flew QF49 MEL-SFO (B787) and QF94 LAX-MEL (A380), both in Y. These are pretty long flights.

Here are the Y-class menus:

MEL-SFO (evening departure, evening arrival):



LAX-MEL (evening departure, morning arrival):




I've never been too much impressed with any airline food regardless of F, J, PE or Y. But I'd have to say, for Y-class food it was pretty good and plentiful. The worst part of it is the presentation - on the plastic mini trays with plastic cutlery. The hot mid-flight snacks are in a small box but you could more-or-less have as many of them as you wanted. Overall it wasn't too bad for airline food. Typical Y-class wines and drinks were fine. Bottled water and a small amenity kit were offered to all seats at the beginning of each flight. Of course a blanket, pillow and the Qantas coughpy-ish headphones too!

On both the 787 and A380 there are also snack bars for Y class. Quite good. And the cabin crew were great on both flights.

Not so great of course was the squeezey Y-class seating. But that's Y, I guess!

 

[pippen_2k]

Hi Austman, thanks for that as I am flying on QF49 (Y) in a few weeks time. Just out of curiosity what day did you leave and how full was the flight ?

 

[Austman]

Hi Austman, thanks for that as I am flying on QF49 (Y) in a few weeks time. Just out of curiosity what day did you leave and how full was the flight ?

It was a Thursday and there were about 15 empty seats in the 166 seat 787 Y-class. There were 2 of us flying and we were lucky to get an empty seat to share in the 3-3-3 Y-class arrangement.

Coming back, the A380 was almost full. We we in the small upper deck Y-cabin (get it while you still can!) in a 2 of the 2-4-2 arrangement with side lockers in the window seat.

I must say the 787 was quite new but the A380 seemed to be in fine condition.

 

[pippen_2k]

Cheers. I am leaving on a Wednesday and the seat plan looks currently empty. I was gonna hold off pre paying for an aisle seat but your Thursday flight was busier than I would have expected.

 

[clipped_wings]

Great to hear your positive comments. Some photos would have made this all the more fun to read!

 

[Austman]

Cheers. I am leaving on a Wednesday and the seat plan looks currently empty. I was gonna hold off pre paying for an aisle seat but your Thursday flight was busier than I would have expected.

My flight began to look pretty busy a couple of days before the flight. Before then it was showing about 50% occupied.

 

[Austman]

Some photos would have made this all the more fun to read!

To be honest, I don't think QFi Y-class food offerings photograph well! It really doesn't look so great. As I mentioned, it's the presentation that's probably the worst part of it.

 

[clipped_wings]

LOL, that's the whole point! To incriminate them!

 

[kamchatsky]

To be honest, I don't think QFi Y-class food offerings photograph well! It really doesn't look so great. As I mentioned, it's the presentation that's probably the worst part of it.

I flew QF Syd-hnl on Y in April. The meal was very disappointing to say the the least. I have the photos but it looks so terrible.

 

[Austman]

The meal was very disappointing to say the the least.

I think I've been disappointed on every airline and in every class at some point.

With thousands of flights in F, J, PE and Y, I think only a handful of in-flight meals I've every had could be described as good. Most are quite OK. Some are dreadful.

The QFi Y presentation is pretty dreadful. But the food itself can often be OK. IMO, the cold choices (salads) are often the best. Portions are not all that big.

What hungrier Y pax seem to need to do on these very long flights, is to visit the snack bar and/or the galley now and again. The snack bar offerings were quite good - cheese and crackers, cookies, chocolate (kit kats and the like), candy, nibbles, fresh fruit etc- I've seen a few of the same items in the J snack bar. And the hot mid-flight snack box was on repeat offer to any requesting pax, straight from the oven.

 

[bPeteb]

Thanks for you very unsensationalised/unemotional review Austman (way too many reviews that sound like the world is about to end if the right Cab Sav isn't served).

We've only started moving into the front cabins in recent years and have decided after next year we'll start moving back down the plane and spend more when we get to where we're going. Prior to that, all of our travel was in Y across different airlines. Nothing was every that bad.

Sure the food isn't restaurant quality in Y but as you said apart from the look it was ok plus the snack bar is there as well. Good on the airlines that can present better but we all have to consider that we're in a metal cylinder flying at 1000kmh being served out of metal catering trolleys in a galley smaller than most of our home bathrooms.

Thanks again

 

[OATEK]

Daughter arrived from DPS this morning on QF44. Said Y meal was something inedible in a cardboard box.

 

[cambriamarsh]

Thanks for you very unsensationalised/unemotional review Austman (way too many reviews that sound like the world is about to end if the right Cab Sav isn't served).

We've only started moving into the front cabins in recent years and have decided after next year we'll start moving back down the plane and spend more when we get to where we're going. Prior to that, all of our travel was in Y across different airlines. Nothing was every that bad.

Sure the food isn't restaurant quality in Y but as you said apart from the look it was ok plus the snack bar is there as well. Good on the airlines that can present better but we all have to consider that we're in a metal cylinder flying at 1000kmh being served out of metal catering trolleys in a galley smaller than most of our home bathrooms.

Thanks again

A good dose of reality, generally agree. FWIW we flew LAX-SYD last Wed and had the same menu. J food is better but at the price it should be, the Y good was fine. Like Austman biggest issue is the small trays.

 

[Austman]

Daughter arrived from DPS this morning on QF44. Said Y meal was something inedible in a cardboard box.

That's like the domestic Y hot meal service. Which seems also to apply for (some?) international regional short hauls. Hence why I put "long haul" in the thread title.

Mind you, I've had a few of those cardboard box meals that, while the presentation was truly awful, actually tasted not too bad...

 

[Snowant]

I've been flying business the past few years, on upgrades from economy, and have to say that I find the food in business overly fussy and prevalent with things I'm scared-of (nuts and fish). This Neil Perry caper is for me a disincentive. I used to find the food in economy to be absolutely fine (this was Au to US), and am a bit irritated by the stuff in business.

And what the hell is an Arabic Chicken?!

 

[bPeteb]

I've been flying business the past few years, on upgrades from economy, and have to say that I find the food in business overly fussy and prevalent with things I'm scared-of (nuts and fish). This Neil Perry caper is for me a disincentive. I ... am a bit irritated by the stuff in business.

And what the hell is an Arabic Chicken?!

I'm a little addicted to YouTube videos of flight reviews and I see some weird and wonderful (and not so wonderful) things put down in front of the various reviewers.

I haven't had anything put down in front of me across Y, Y+ and J over the years that I've sent back. Ok, maybe I've had a couple of issues with coriander

Butter so hard you could cut bread on it, bread with crusts so hard you could use it to spread the butter, cutlery so cold it must have been used to freeze the butter. I'm on a plane flying somewhere. I don't care. Yay!!

 

[Silvia]

I have to say that I don't have much to complain on QF Y.
I tend to fly to the US yearly on the A380 and SIN a couple of times a year and haven't had a bad experience. Meals tend to be pretty good for Y and something that family and myself have found is that there's always a snack or a small meal often.

The issue for me is that QF really don't stack up when you compare them with other airlines in J. Below par food, amenities, etc. But in all, service and food in Y are pretty up there.