Qantas Business Class meals & menus

Should clarify my previous post - no bar services on the tasman applies to A330 (and the 787 while it is operating).
Even more of a joke. If one person can serve 12 pax why can’t 3/4/5 serve up to 30 or even 40 pax?

Could be done like it was for me SYD-AKL. Ask for drink preference at the same time as meal order taken, pre-departure, and just served by hand, no trolley.
 
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QF9 MEL-PER menu

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Service a bit slow but ok. No pre-meal drinks offered, but one eventually provided on request.

Tuna starter was nice.

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Main was the duck.
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Oily and totally lacking in flavour. The duck itself was quite nice but an odd choice (including by me I guess).

No pic but cheese the usual average plate.

Snagged 1K and had a few F lounge hours including spa and meeting room access and the convenience of not changing terminals coming off the flight from AKL so totally made it worthwhile. The flight itself? I’d take VA J over this any day.
 
Should clarify my previous post - no bar services on the tasman applies to A330 (and the 787 while it is operating).
I Received Bar service on A330 AKL-MEL 7:15pm departure Erly this month. Drink order were taken at same time as food order with the drinks coming out right away.
 
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I Received Bar service on A330 AKL-MEL 7:15pm departure Early this month. Drink order were taken at same time as food order with the drinks coming out right away.

This is when I prefer SQ’s service. You know what you’ll get and when you’ll get it. No YMMV.
 
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Auckland-Sydney, Friday 13th December, dinner flight on A330:

My trip started with the check in mess from hell at Auckland- this is what Qantas thinks is a priority queue (apologies for being slightly off topic for just the one image but I had to get it off my chest):

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Once I had survived this as well as the always horrid Qantas "First" lounge which was full to the last seat and offered only the worst possible food, I got on the plane and was delighted to see this menu- all the while being served a nice glass of welcome champagne:

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With some Qantas menus, I can hardly find anything that I fancy but this one is a big exception: I am actually spoiled for choice and could eat pretty much anything on there!

As much as I love a good cauliflower soup, in this instance I actually decided against it and went for the bruschetta followed by the calzone. Definitely wouldn't mind seeing this same menu again as the steak also sounded yummie.

Straight after take off, I asked if I wanted a drink from the bar and got my Bloody Mary individually served shortly after. I noticed that not everyone got asked if they wanted a drink so not sure what that was about- worked for me ;)

It took a fair while till the starter got served and it looked like this:

Starter.jpg

As you can imagine, I was shocked to see all this fizzly green stuff on my cheese which turned out to be parsley. While not even mentioned on the menu, such an amount of parsley would totally overpower the subtle taste of the ricotta so luckily I realized this beforehand and peeled it all off before starting. Parsley is to be used in sparing amounts in my eyes and not to overpower the entire dish, bah! Parsley removed, the meal itself was okay. Unfortunately, there was nothing 'slow roasted' about the tomatoes as they tasted like fresh out of a supermarket punnet. If they really 'slow roasted' these, it would have been a total waste! My favorite about this dish was the bruschetta bread which was served hot and stunningly crunchy and tasty. I didn't even know that you could accomplish such a thing on the airplane which begs the question why not all bread is always like this!

The main arrived pretty much straight after I had finished the starter and it looked absolutely delicious:

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And, man, did the dish live up to it! One of my new favorites of all Qantas meals! I had been wondering how a calzone would work on an airplane but it turns out to be more like puff pastry filo which wasn't a bad thing. The pork inside was of a surprisingly good quality too (it's weird with Qantas- you either get meat that is really good or totally awful, something in between seems not to ever exist) so I was super happy.

I asked for both the cheese and the ice cream which wasn't a problem at all and the ice cream was a REALLY odd flavor so I took a picture:

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The chamomile made it taste a bit like cough lollies but I got used to it half way through and then actually quite enjoyed it. I still think that dumping a pack of ice cream onto a plate is no way to serve desert in Business class but I rest my case. All in all quite a decent meal and a good crew that kept filling up my champagne glass constantly throughout the flight so even the poor desert presentation couldn't spoil the experience.
 
Had this menu again SYD-AKL approx 9:45 departure.

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Suppose I should be grateful it was lunch and not a breakfast menu. Drink order was taken before takeoff. Nicely done.

Pate removed from the cheap plastic tub so a tick I guess, but not sure it was the right way around!

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Even more of a joke. If one person can serve 12 pax ...

On which airline? Certainly not Qantas. They can't serve 12 meals on a 737 SYD-MEL before the start of descent.

The best training they could give to QF domestic crews would be to send them on a couple of LCY-AMS flights, or a LHR/LGW-AMS/BRU flight. Those BA crews work flat out from two minutes after takeoff until the final call for cabin crew to be seated. My last AMS flight was full open bar, meal, hot bread, drink refills, tea/coffee, final round of drinks, swapping glasses for plastics (to allow pax to continue with their drinks through landing). 28 pax, 2 crew, 35 minutes.
 
Trans-Tasman A330 and 787 services, as per milehighclub's post. No reference to SYD-MEL.

I know. But also posted here on AFF previously the claim by QF crews that they don't have 'time' to serve dessert on the PER-MEL :(

Even their long hauls are glacial in terms of service patterns.
 
So, a detailed report of Auckland to Sydney on the 787. Experience much the same as posted up thread.

We were boarded very early. Priority boarding worked well. Menu was at the seat. Pillow provided but no blanket.

Pre-departure drink offered. I drank mine slowly, but did not see any evidence of top ups or additional drinks offered, despite being on the ground for a good 45 minutes. The IFE was on, but had not been started / nothing could be selected. When I queried the crew, the nice FA said she was new to the aircraft and would check. A few minutes later it was switched on. Most of the time on the ground the crew were chatting, no attempt to take meal orders or hand out landing card etc.

After takeoff the CSM and cabin manager wandered around a bit and stopped at my seat and were looking at / commenting on the windows. Eventually explained they too were only on their second flight on the 787 and still figuring out how things (like the windows) worked. The CSM asked my view on the aircraft and I gave him a few thoughts - including that I did not like the windows been blocked by the crew, the IFE a bit slow but that everything else was pretty good.

A few minutes later he returned to hand out arrival cards. At this point he thanked me for my loyalty, acknowledged my status and was I thought quite genuine in his remarks. Nicely done.

As he was leaving he indicated that drinks and nuts would be around shortly. A few minutes later with no sign of action I waved down the cabin manager and she confirmed drinks would only be served with the lunch. However she was happy to get me something in advance which arrived a few minutes later.

About five minutes later the meal service started – – so fairly quickly, maybe about 20 minutes after takeoff. Here is the menu:

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So same items as I have had frequently now on trans-Tasman and trans-con flights, but as noted by others above somewhat truncated.

Meals were served on a tray and from the trolley which was manned by two crew members, so at any given moment two passengers were being served. As the tray was being set up I was asked what starter I would like. Had the pate yet again, and asked for a small soup as well. They were happily provided.

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Not great presentation, but Fundamentally nothing too different other than the tray.

Crew went on their way I finished my two starters and then waited about 15 minutes before the trolley came back up (I was in seat 1A) and top ups of water and wine were offered. I did not see any other crewmembers during that time.

The trolley then went back down the aisle so the crew could clear away starters, with a comment that the mains would arrive shortly. At least 20 minutes later the re-stocked trolley came down and mains were provided with the order taken on the spot.

I went for the lamb pie again. I had easily finished my meal before the trolleys returned to clear things away.

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Cheese or ice cream served a bit later. Also from the trolley. Didn't time it but my reckoning is this was served about 75 minutes after I was served the starter.

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Not the usual good NZ cheese.

While the crew were good the service was just ridiculously slow and inefficient. Really poorly designed. While I occasionally feel rushed between starter and main on the A330, it's definitely superior to this. I also suspect pax at the back will have limited choices of the food by the time they are served.

Flight departure and arrival time suited - including having the EK lounge open in AKL - but I'll be avoiding this service in future.
 
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I'll be avoiding this service in future.

This doesn’t sound nice at all but worst of it: Always the same frigging food! I had this menu with the plastic pâté three times already and it will be till March (at least!) till we will see a change.
 
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On which airline? Certainly not Qantas. They can't serve 12 meals on a 737 SYD-MEL before the start of descent.

The best training they could give to QF domestic crews would be to send them on a couple of LCY-AMS flights, or a LHR/LGW-AMS/BRU flight. Those BA crews work flat out from two minutes after takeoff until the final call for cabin crew to be seated. My last AMS flight was full open bar, meal, hot bread, drink refills, tea/coffee, final round of drinks, swapping glasses for plastics (to allow pax to continue with their drinks through landing). 28 pax, 2 crew, 35 minutes.
Actually the best training they can give to QF domestic crews is how to look after us in an emergency. Everything else is secondary.
 
787 services are doubled catered ex SYD so sadly none of the good NZ cheese!

To see some positive in this: Does this also mean though that we get the yummie Pepe Saya Butter and actual Balsamic vinegar in the olive oil (which you never get out of NZ usually)?
 
AKL BNE late dep due to late arr...
21 Dec 19
Had sparkling water for pre flight depts drink.
Sparkling champ was offered too.
Pretzels and almonds.
The Chamomile and Honey I like.
Beef intro was med rare, still a bit red in middle, def not totally roasted.
Main chicken thigh or breast fillet with rice was ok, token green chillies are tasteless.
Salad with jalapeño was indeed kicky spicy tangy.
Didn't check out A330 Loo's.
Pix of menu might not work.
 

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