Qantas Business Class meals & menus

[Quickstatus]

1) QF meal presentation is often very shoddy and 2) there's a lot of variation

I dont think that is a QF issue per se. You will find Similar issues on other airlines.
Though what is the standard you are comparing against?

 

[Seat0B]

It's truly a sad state of affairs that when flying J people need to worry about this to get their food choice. QF should be ashamed.

I had this recently on CBR-BNE on QF1950 in J on E190, scheduled for 1315 (ish) departure but left late. I was in 3E - which is actually only 5 seats into business (because row 1 only has a single seat) and the meal was lamb pie and peas. They had run out by the time they reached me so I was offered an economy meal “if there are any spare” or a cheese plate. I said to FA that I thought this was pretty poor for a lunch time flight to run out with still 5 people to serve and she said it was because so many people had received upgrades to J on this flight. I was on a fully paid fare so I was pretty unimpressed.

I submitted a complaint to QF, not expecting much but making the point that the flight was clearly under catered, that it was a lunch time flight so hardly surprising that people would want lunch, and that if it was indeed correct that I had missed a meal because of upgrades I would be upset about it. Further that if this was not the case I had been fobbed off with falsehood I would be upset about it too.

Imagine my surprise to receive a genuine response (not AI, but a real person judging by style and tone and that it did not just parrot back “we know you are upset about *fill in your own exact words from the complaint*) and offering 10,000 points as compensation. Probably worth more than the pie!

 

[mad_atta]

I dont think that is a QF issue per se. You will find Similar issues on other airlines.
Though what is the standard you are comparing against?

The most immediate point of comparison for me is QR, who are completely at the opposite end of the spectrum - their business class plating and meal presentation is exemplary. In fact you could sometimes level the opposite criticism at QR, that a bit less obsession with presentation might allow more to be spent on the quality of certain dishes - though the quality on QR is also well above QF in my experience.

I'm about to set off on a trip combining QF and QR, and I know from doing a similar combined itinerary last year that the contrast between the two, when flown back to back, is stark indeed.

Most other airlines are somewhere in between...

 

[RooFlyer]

Spend lots of time plating and with 26 or 42 pax, those towards the end are perhaps going to get food that’s been sitting, heating, longer. And possibly on the side of overcooked?

'Dine on demand' spreads things out.

 

[SYD]

'Dine on demand' spreads things out.

Which would require reheating in smaller batches (hence my earlier question).

 

[RooFlyer]

Which would require reheating in smaller batches (hence my earlier question).

I know when I've done DoD on QR an WR, they either ask for a time later or say that they need about 30 mins notice. I don't think the reheat needs 30mins, but it gives them time to juggle requests if needs be. Usually the meal comes early in my experience.

I can't see why they can't heat just one meal Vs have the re-heat ovens full.

When I'm on QR next, November, I'll make a point to ask them how its all done.