Open wine bottles will be reused on Qantas domestic business class

[Mark3000]

When on PE Heathrow to Singapore the crew said they had to dispose of all bottles whether opened or not. Sadly we weren't able to accept the offer of a few bottles of wine as we were going straight through to Australia. They were such a fun crew - two crew members from France.

What a waste! Red tape gone mad.
How is it different to the bottles in a restaurant that stay open all day?
I certainly wouldn't mind if the bottle had been opened on a previous flight.

 

[Hvr]

Or donate the half-drunk bottles to the passengers to take home

Half drunk bottles for half drunk passengers?

 

[blackcat20]

Half drunk bottles for half drunk passengers?

Maybe (....)

 

[pshepvic]

A decent wine should last at least 2 days, if not 3-4. "Wine save" also does the trick - although not sure if they could bring that on board plus it requires the bottles to remain standing upright.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Or donate the half-drunk bottles to the passengers to take home

Last year I travelled J CBR- Mel and had a glass of Chardonnay with my meal. I was the only passenger to do so. I was asked just before we landed whether I was on my way home and whether I would like to take the rest of the bottle. I was actually off to a "girls' weekend", so accepted the bottle and the rest was drunk that evening at a nice Chinese restaurant with my friends.....

 

[AdMEL]

Seems like a good idea to me! As others have said, no reason to discard at the end of each sector, or even the end of the day (provided it's stored reasonably well) - this seems to be extremely wasteful.

The apparent undertone of every cost cutting measure by QF being negative is a bit disappointing - they are in business to make a profit and are currently losing a lot of money. Given this, every cost should be reviewed and cut where necessary, especially wasteful and unnecessary practices such as this. In my view, this is just changing inefficient practice, which should always be done. Anyone in business would want to do the same.

Cost cutting where service is significantly adversely affected is another story.

 

[burrco]

Good policy. However my inner cynic does wonder if this policy will morph into a set allocation for the day's flights resulting in a "sorry sir/madam we are out of xx_XX" on later flights.

 

[JohnPhelan]

BA serves chamagne in little bottles in euro-club.

So does QF domestic (if you ask).

 

[Flying Fox]

Does QF have the same wines all day from all cities?

How would QF Catering manage the half bottles going on and off the aircraft all day long?

Not try to poo-poo the concept but wondering how the logistics are going to work?

 

[AdMEL]

Does QF have the same wines all day from all cities?

Whilst I can't comment from personal experience (I don't work for QF, or even fly QF that often, let alone business!), I would be very surprised if they didn't, given QF size and also given my understanding the wine comes from a catering company that has operations in most major airports (either Q or Gate, though I can't remember whether it's the same company at all airports).

And if by chance they don't, given my previous comments that all costs should be reviewed, this should be implemented for efficiency.

 

[TomVexille]

Does QF have the same wines all day from all cities?

How would QF Catering manage the half bottles going on and off the aircraft all day long?

Not try to poo-poo the concept but wondering how the logistics are going to work?

I think the major ports have catering but many outstations (like HBA) don't and the catering has to be loaded at the port of origin.

 

[blackcat20]

Last year I travelled J CBR- Mel and had a glass of Chardonnay with my meal. I was the only passenger to do so. I was asked just before we landed whether I was on my way home and whether I would like to take the rest of the bottle. I was actually off to a "girls' weekend", so accepted the bottle and the rest was drunk that evening at a nice Chinese restaurant with my friends.....

Ive had the same experience CBR-MEL, also in J.

 

[Mwenenzi]

When on PE Heathrow to Singapore the crew said they had to dispose of all bottles whether opened or not. .

On international flight local tax/duty/import law applies. Same reason why for some airlines/some airports booze is not severed on the ground. Once in the air it is tax/duty/import free

 

[JohnK]

Good decision. I just hope they won't start mixing wines from different bottles like it was reported seen at the J lounge.

I saw a staff member tinkering with the Epiqure wines available for tasting on Sunday in the SYD business lounge. Pouring wine into a glass and then filling up a bottle with it. I didn't take any notice if the wine was mixed or not.

 

[lovestotravel]

This is a good move and should have always been policy!

As long as the bottles are sealed well and not reused a day/week later it's fine...

Bottles would be about $18-$25 from the ones I have seen, and if you try to do the maths on the possible wastage from xx_ flights per day.... This should be a very good saving for QF

Well overdue!

 

[RooFlyer]

<snip>

BA serves chamagne in little bottles in euro-club.

So does QF domestic (if you ask).

Well, there's a good place to cut costs, right there.

 

[Ausbt]

When cost- cutting, why go with 'half measures'? For goodness sakes QF, start serving out of casks. One 4 litre goon-bag takes up a lot less space than all those bottles and crumples post-skol to nothing.

 

[Foreigner]

It's a shame that any thing of value should go to waste.

Do winemakers pack premium wines in smaller bottles?

 

[medhead]

Well, there's a good place to cut costs, right there.

It's not really champagne on domestic.