Anna
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- Jan 17, 2005
- Posts
- 3,345
In March I flew on QF9 in J from MEL – PER – LHR. It was my first time on that flight so I’m interested in whether the food served is usually like what I experienced.
I booked QF9/10 by accident. I had in mind that QF9/10 was MEL – LHR via SIN. My mistake to be out of date. When I realised my error I couldn’t be bothered fighting with the QF website to change the flights and thought to myself ‘oh well, at least it will be interesting to experience the direct Australia to UK flight’.
My flight was while most of Australia, except WA, was still on summer daylight saving time. I know that the departure times get adjusted when daylight saving ends but I don’t think they change too radically from what I had.
We departed MEL on schedule at 17.05pm. As far as I was concerned this was excellent timing to enjoy a QF J dinner which I duly did. I’m not sure exactly what time we landed in PER or exactly what time we departed PER en route for LHR but departure was around about 18.45pm PER time. In other words for those who boarded QF9 in MEL it was by now about 21.45pm by their body clocks. I’d also done a relaxing stretch session with the lovely yoga instructor in the ‘spa room’ in the QF transit lounge at PER so I was feeling ready to wind down for the night.
Just to remind everyone, PER – LHR is a 17 hour sector. Another dinner was served after take-off from PER. Allowing for the drinks service and the heating-up time it was by now at least 23.00pm as far as my stomach was concerned, and I’d already had dinner. I don’t know about anyone else but I can’t digest another big meal when my stomach thinks it’s had dinner and it’s about time to go to sleep.
I told the crew I wasn’t really that hungry. They advised me to ‘try to eat something because the next meal is not till breakfast before we land at Heathrow’. Landing at Heathrow was by now about 15 hours away. I managed to eat some bread and an icecream sandwich. I really couldn’t face eating more than that and certainly not any of Neil’s spicy/heavy options that were on the dinner menu. (I like spicy food, just not when I’m sleepy).
I went to sleep and woke up about 5-6 hours later. It was still 9-10 hours away from landing at Heathrow. I was a bit hungry because my stomach thought it was breakfast time by now. I went to explore the snacks on offer in the galley. There were some fruit salads in bowls on a tray next to the chocolate bars etc – ‘fruit salad, perfect’, I thought. When I took one a crew member snapped at me that the bowls were ‘for breakfast’ and I wasn’t allowed to have one. So instead I took an apple and a biscuit and went back to my seat.
After another couple of hours, 7-8 hours away from landing, my stomach was definitely wanting breakfast so I consulted the menu to find out what the hot snacks were. For what felt to me like breakfast, these were the choices:
Stir fried vegetables with sweet potato noodles, soy and sesame
Beef kofta with Moroccan eggplant, pearl couscous and coriander yogurt
Prawn and celery brioche roll with smoked paprika and tarragon mayonnaise
I don’t like noodles much and I don’t like celery and I certainly don’t like either of them for breakfast. I mean, I’d eat either of them or even both of them if I was lost in the desert for 3 days without food and they were the only options other than starvation. But when my stomach thinks it’s breakfast time on a J flight I’ve paid $8K for, no. And at dinner time I would be very happy with beef kofta, but again – I’d been asleep 5-6 hours and then dozing and beef kofta for breakfast was not what I felt like eating. So I went back to the galley and took a lamington and another biscuit and asked for a cup of tea and some OJ which were brought to me.
That kept my stomach (but not my inner nutritionist) happy until we were about 3 hours out of LHR. I decided that by now that I was awake enough and hungry enough to manage some beef kofta. I went to the galley and found the crew were busily setting out breakfast trays. I asked the CSM how long it would be before breakfast was served. Remember by now it was about 12 hours since the dinner service ex PER. She told me that breakfast would be served ‘in about 20 minutes’. Her answer and her tone of voice made it clear to me that the crew would not appreciate it if I was to ask for beef kofta now when they were busy prepping breakfast.
I was happy to wait 20 minutes for breakfast so I went back to my seat and waited. And waited. And waited. And went and got changed out of my PJs in the hope that me being away from my seat in the bathroom would immediately trigger the arrival of the crew with breakfast. Nope, still no breakfast.
Eventually, when I was beginning to think that the other pax would be able to hear my stomach rumbling even through their headphones, movement started in the other aisle with breakfast trays being distributed. But it was still another 20 minutes before an FA arrived at my seat with my breakfast. It was at least 2 hours since the CSM informed me that breakfast would be ‘in 20 minutes’ and by now only about 1 hour 20 minutes away from landing at LHR – so about 13 or 14 hours between proper meals being served.
My reason for posting is to ask whether the mid-flight hot snack choices on QF9 are usually so unbreakfast-like? On QF10 one of the hot snack choices was a bacon sandwich which would have been perfect on QF9 when my stomach thought it was breakfast time. And also, on a 17 hour flight do people really think it’s ok that there’s a dinner service soon after take-off and a breakfast service just before landing but no proper meal service in the 13-14 hours in between?
I booked QF9/10 by accident. I had in mind that QF9/10 was MEL – LHR via SIN. My mistake to be out of date. When I realised my error I couldn’t be bothered fighting with the QF website to change the flights and thought to myself ‘oh well, at least it will be interesting to experience the direct Australia to UK flight’.
My flight was while most of Australia, except WA, was still on summer daylight saving time. I know that the departure times get adjusted when daylight saving ends but I don’t think they change too radically from what I had.
We departed MEL on schedule at 17.05pm. As far as I was concerned this was excellent timing to enjoy a QF J dinner which I duly did. I’m not sure exactly what time we landed in PER or exactly what time we departed PER en route for LHR but departure was around about 18.45pm PER time. In other words for those who boarded QF9 in MEL it was by now about 21.45pm by their body clocks. I’d also done a relaxing stretch session with the lovely yoga instructor in the ‘spa room’ in the QF transit lounge at PER so I was feeling ready to wind down for the night.
Just to remind everyone, PER – LHR is a 17 hour sector. Another dinner was served after take-off from PER. Allowing for the drinks service and the heating-up time it was by now at least 23.00pm as far as my stomach was concerned, and I’d already had dinner. I don’t know about anyone else but I can’t digest another big meal when my stomach thinks it’s had dinner and it’s about time to go to sleep.
I told the crew I wasn’t really that hungry. They advised me to ‘try to eat something because the next meal is not till breakfast before we land at Heathrow’. Landing at Heathrow was by now about 15 hours away. I managed to eat some bread and an icecream sandwich. I really couldn’t face eating more than that and certainly not any of Neil’s spicy/heavy options that were on the dinner menu. (I like spicy food, just not when I’m sleepy).
I went to sleep and woke up about 5-6 hours later. It was still 9-10 hours away from landing at Heathrow. I was a bit hungry because my stomach thought it was breakfast time by now. I went to explore the snacks on offer in the galley. There were some fruit salads in bowls on a tray next to the chocolate bars etc – ‘fruit salad, perfect’, I thought. When I took one a crew member snapped at me that the bowls were ‘for breakfast’ and I wasn’t allowed to have one. So instead I took an apple and a biscuit and went back to my seat.
After another couple of hours, 7-8 hours away from landing, my stomach was definitely wanting breakfast so I consulted the menu to find out what the hot snacks were. For what felt to me like breakfast, these were the choices:
Stir fried vegetables with sweet potato noodles, soy and sesame
Beef kofta with Moroccan eggplant, pearl couscous and coriander yogurt
Prawn and celery brioche roll with smoked paprika and tarragon mayonnaise
I don’t like noodles much and I don’t like celery and I certainly don’t like either of them for breakfast. I mean, I’d eat either of them or even both of them if I was lost in the desert for 3 days without food and they were the only options other than starvation. But when my stomach thinks it’s breakfast time on a J flight I’ve paid $8K for, no. And at dinner time I would be very happy with beef kofta, but again – I’d been asleep 5-6 hours and then dozing and beef kofta for breakfast was not what I felt like eating. So I went back to the galley and took a lamington and another biscuit and asked for a cup of tea and some OJ which were brought to me.
That kept my stomach (but not my inner nutritionist) happy until we were about 3 hours out of LHR. I decided that by now that I was awake enough and hungry enough to manage some beef kofta. I went to the galley and found the crew were busily setting out breakfast trays. I asked the CSM how long it would be before breakfast was served. Remember by now it was about 12 hours since the dinner service ex PER. She told me that breakfast would be served ‘in about 20 minutes’. Her answer and her tone of voice made it clear to me that the crew would not appreciate it if I was to ask for beef kofta now when they were busy prepping breakfast.
I was happy to wait 20 minutes for breakfast so I went back to my seat and waited. And waited. And waited. And went and got changed out of my PJs in the hope that me being away from my seat in the bathroom would immediately trigger the arrival of the crew with breakfast. Nope, still no breakfast.
Eventually, when I was beginning to think that the other pax would be able to hear my stomach rumbling even through their headphones, movement started in the other aisle with breakfast trays being distributed. But it was still another 20 minutes before an FA arrived at my seat with my breakfast. It was at least 2 hours since the CSM informed me that breakfast would be ‘in 20 minutes’ and by now only about 1 hour 20 minutes away from landing at LHR – so about 13 or 14 hours between proper meals being served.
My reason for posting is to ask whether the mid-flight hot snack choices on QF9 are usually so unbreakfast-like? On QF10 one of the hot snack choices was a bacon sandwich which would have been perfect on QF9 when my stomach thought it was breakfast time. And also, on a 17 hour flight do people really think it’s ok that there’s a dinner service soon after take-off and a breakfast service just before landing but no proper meal service in the 13-14 hours in between?
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