Qantas Business Class meals & menus

[wenglock.mok]

See i think 90 mins for dinner on a 737 is too long

If they can manage it in 40 mins SYD-MEL (from time cart is out until everything cleared away) they should offer the same for those ultra short sectors.

I don't recall seeing the cart ever come out though. I think the service flow was him going to everyone asking if they wanted to eat, what they'd like to eat and drink, and then him individually bringing the trays out to each passenger. The trays were literally flying out of the galley (i.e. not at a glacial pace) so I can only guess perhaps more passengers took up him on the offer to eat/drink than was expected?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I don't recall seeing the cart ever come out though. I think the service flow was him going to everyone asking if they wanted to eat, what they'd like to eat and drink, and then him individually bringing the trays out to each passenger. The trays were literally flying out of the galley (i.e. not at a glacial pace) so I can only guess perhaps more passengers took up him on the offer to eat/drink than was expected?

Thinking about it I guess plating takes extra time… but maybe they should switch to domestic and trans-tasman plating for the return flight? Pre-plated meals, simply put it on the tray and serve. They could easily get that out of the way in 45 mins. And pax whi want to enjoy longer service could be afforded that accordingly (extra time over dessert and post meal drinks etc)

 

[Captain Halliday]

The part I don’t understand about slow service on overnight flights is that the crew have to work both meal services so their only rest break is between those services.

Generally half the crew rest and half remain in the cabin and they swap mid-way through the flight.

So if meals on an 8 hour flight take 4 hours, they’d get roughly 2 hours break.

Get that service time down to 3 hours and they all get an extra 30 mins or so in the crew rest.

Perhaps I’m missing a company rule or policy or something in their EBA.

@milehighclub any insight here?

 

[Berlin]

Given QF 46 is in the air for around 5-5.5 hours I’d say there’d only be around 3 hours at most between dinner finishing and breaky starting so probably not a real need for a full breakfast.

Disagree. If you don’t want a full breakfast, then you can always decline.

Each to their own but I personally could never even attempt to sleep for such a short time. So come around breakfast time and given there are no hot snacks during the night (ha, on Qantas, as if!), I damn want my hot breakfast for the overpriced business class ticket I’m paying! At least THAT.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Disagree. If you don’t want a full breakfast, then you can always decline.

Each to their own but I personally could never even attempt to sleep for such a short time. So come around breakfast time and given there are no hot snacks during the night (ha, on Qantas, as if!), I damn want my hot breakfast for the overpriced business class ticket I’m paying! At least THAT.

Hot snacks are only on longer services like LA, JNB, SIN-LHR, where the time warrants it.QF have some pretty tasty toasted sarnies for example.

 

[Berlin]

Hot snacks are only on longer services like LA, JNB, SIN-LHR, where the time warrants it.QF have some pretty tasty toasted sarnies for example.

Oh yes, love those on the US routes!

If you can get them- I’ve whinged here before that on a late October flight all the way from Dallas in First even, there were no in flight hot snacks offered at all. This seems to have been rectified since then judging by later posts on here but it was thoroughly disappointing!

 

[SJF211]

Disagree. If you don’t want a full breakfast, then you can always decline.

Each to their own but I personally could never even attempt to sleep for such a short time. So come around breakfast time and given there are no hot snacks during the night (ha, on Qantas, as if!), I damn want my hot breakfast for the overpriced business class ticket I’m paying! At least THAT.

True and I do agree that at the price they charge you should be able to choose but again breakfast would start what 2-2.5 hours after dinner? I’m not sure most people eat a “full,” dinner at 2 am and then breakfast at 5. It comes down to individual preference but probably would see a lot of wasted food and I’m sure QF don’t want that for the environment ofc and not to do with their bottom line .

 

[Berlin]

QF don’t want that for the environment ofc and not to do with their bottom line .

Oh, it’s of course ALWAYS solely in the interest of creating a better world and has never ever to do anything with money!

 

[MelbFlyer]

The snapper in banana leaf looks good!

It was unfortunately just average, the flavours were there but not strong enough for my liking.

The meal was served with the fish fully wrapped, I just partially unwrapped it for photos before removing the leaf.

My ongoing opinion of this continues on though - it would be nice for QF to serve mains on larger plates.

Given QF 46 is in the air for around 5-5.5 hours I’d say there’d only be around 3 hours at most between dinner finishing and breaky starting so probably not a real need for a full breakfast.

The flight time was around 5hrs 15mins - that plus there wasn't much time in between the end of the supper service / lights off and breakfast - around 3hrs.

on the A330

Would have been nice to have an A330 for DPS to MEL, but I guess only SYD has that privilege on that route.
Same amount of points required (was 57k), but a much less comfortable and spacious product.

The dinner service is usually pretty quick.

From the time of take-off to being served, it took around 50 mins.

Lights off (after desserts) was around another 45mins - so overall around 1.5hrs.

maybe offering a few hot pastries (danishes) or yoghurt might be nice. Maybe even a toastie?

The breakfast options look lame and sparse… a muffin or fruit.

Yes, 100% these options would have been nicer than just a muffin or fruit plate.

I thought it may have something to do with the smaller galley on the B737 compared to the A330 service to SYD, but the menu states "Denpasar to Australia" and has a small annotation "J44_46_DPS-AUS_SEP25" so I'd assume that QF44 would have the same as QF46.

Oh, and also to add - we didn't get the Salted nuts under Aperitivo - only just sparking water or champagne was offered.

No PJs given out or offered either.

 

[kermatu]

A lot of this would be rectified if one could choose in advance what to eat (which some other airlines offer, including I gather even for premium economy) and ideally when. Wastage would be minimised with good encouragement/enforcement. But agree $$ drive the QF approach and a lot of us just accept it.

 

[SYD]

A lot of this would be rectified if one could choose in advance what to eat (which some other airlines offer, including I gather even for premium economy) and ideally when. Wastage would be minimised with good encouragement/enforcement. But agree $$ drive the QF approach and a lot of us just accept it.

Pre-order used to be a thing on QF longhaul…a COVID casualty I think…

Besides reducing wastage, there’s no excuse for not getting your first choice as a paying customer.

 

[LinaLee]

,
30 Jan 2026
QF 460 Mel-Syd
Cheese platter or Pastrami with Tomato Relish
Wine was Margan-semillion or Teusner Shiraz vintage.

 

[N860CR]

Hot snacks are only on longer services like LA, JNB, SIN-LHR, where the time warrants it.QF have some pretty tasty toasted sarnies for example.

Flew F recently JNB-SYD and no sign of any hot snacks midnight. Tbh the catering was pretty awful.

Fairly regularly using QR for DOH-DPS at the moment and surprisingly there’s nothing midflight. Although I guess you can have the pre landing meal whenever you want.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

,
30 Jan 2026
QF 460 Mel-Syd
Cheese platter or Pastrami with Tomato Relish
Wine was Margan-semillion or Teusner Shiraz vintage.View attachment 493900

....so, four pieces of bread along with a single slice of cheese and meat. Hope you didn't load up on the premium toasties in the lounge beforehand.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Pre-order used to be a thing on QF longhaul…a COVID casualty I think…

Besides reducing wastage, there’s no excuse for not getting your first choice as a paying customer.

Agree, and I'd be curious to know why they've never bothered to restore this given the capability was there before. Being able to pre-order even in Y genuinely did feel like a "premium" touch.

I just got off an SQ flight in PY and roughly half the cabin had pre-ordered in both directions (not to mention, nearly a dozen choices ex-SYD and closer to 25 ex-SIN even in PY). Service was still efficient, and no doubt it minimised wastage on remaining meals to be served.

Win-win for all, so... what gives, QF? We still can't even sight the menus in advance...

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Flew F recently JNB-SYD and no sign of any hot snacks midnight. Tbh the catering was pretty awful.

Fairly regularly using QR for DOH-DPS at the moment and surprisingly there’s nothing midflight. Although I guess you can have the pre landing meal whenever you want.

No steak sandwich on the menu? I haven’t seen the business class menu from JNB, but there’d usually be some sort of toastie?

 

[Melburnian1]

I just got off an SQ flight in PY and roughly half the cabin had pre-ordered in both directions (not to mention, nearly a dozen choices ex-SYD and closer to 25 ex-SIN even in PY). Service was still efficient, and no doubt it minimised wastage on remaining meals to be served.

I was in J on an SQ southbound flight to MEL a couple of months ago: almost everyone on my side of the cabin had preordered. Mind you, I didn't finish the Angus steak as this was the 0145 hours departure, and I'd been silly enough to consume food in the T3 J lounge.

 

[LinaLee]

QF25 30 Jan 26

Japanese meal is now served in one go for mains and starter. Dessert and tea after.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

QF25 30 Jan 26

Japanese meal is now served in one go for mains and starter. Dessert and tea after.
View attachment 494028

This looks smaller than the box of appetisers I was served before the mains even came out on JAL last month.

 

[The-Aviator]

January 2026 | QF163 | SYD to WLG

First flight of 2026 and it was a good one. I considered going to the EK lounge but arrived at the airport a bit too early so went to the temporary QF J lounge instead, to be honest I don't mind it! Some of the seats are a bit weird but there seem to be plenty of them, it's bright and the tarmac views are good.



Food and drink selection in the lounge was also good, enjoyed the korma curry and the chocolate brownies.



Boarding was on time and I went with champagne for my PDB. 11/12 of the seats were occupied in J and I lucked out with the empty seat next to me



We departed on time and it was about 40 minutes before the dinner trolley arrived, there was no service during this time except for a G&T for one guy who had asked for it while on the ground. Have seen a few reports of small printed menus being distributed even on 737 trans-Tasman services but unfortunately that was not the case here.

Dinner options were chicken curry with jasmine rice and vegetables or garlic prawns with linguine pasta and cream sauce. After the pasta from hell on my last QF trans-Tasman trip I wasn't going anywhere near the pasta option, so it was chicken curry for me! Everyone in the cabin got their first choice. Dinner was served with a salmon and potato side salad, bread and butter, cheese and crackers and a Koko Black chocolate. To drink I got a Heineken Zero, I appreciate Qantas stocking non-alcoholic beers!



The meal was fine but not particularly memorable, the chicken was seriously lacking in both spice and flavour. The bread was a highlight though, certainly something Qantas consistently does well.

Service from the NZ-based crew was pleasant and well-intentioned, drink top ups were offered after the meal.

About an hour after dinner ice-creams were brought around, on offer for this flight was a Maggie Beer lemon curd ripple and amaretti biscuit ice cream. Not a flavour I would typically go for but it was very good.



My understanding was that the full international drinks menu is now on offer for QF trans-Tasman so I enquired about a glass of H by Hine cognac, the FA looked but said none had been loaded and recommended a glass of muscat instead, so I took his suggestion. It was pretty good! To be honest as someone who typically flies with VA, I had forgotten that some airlines do stock dessert wines



Small bottles of water were distributed at the top of the descent and we arrived in Wellington a few minutes early!

Some small disappointments with this flight were the patchiness of the Wi-Fi (didn't have as many issues on the return leg) and the headphone jack at my seat not working, but thankfully I had my iPad with me as a backup.