Why does QF penny-pinch so much on domestic J catering?

[esseeeayeenn]

Qantas did. Its what they serve bulk meals and drinks from (as well as many other airlines).



Oops, sorry, too fast off the key board! Just pretend I'm not here.

Carts are the past.

 

[chickentalon]

Only ever flown J SYD<->CBR. Except for 1 SYD<->PER. Even though it's such a short leg the meal service has always been top notch, I go lamb or their really nice Ciabatta sandwich. Maybe the nice J meals are reserved for all the ministers and APS routes. Doesn't hurt to shake the hand that feeds you (and protects your domestic routes).

Now to go off-topic, like everyone else has The cheese pate on international J is like something out of a bad hotel minibar. 3 crackers and a couple of mediocre frozen bits of cheese.

 

[RooFlyer]

Carts are the past.

But carts are so today .

As in todays J flight SYD-MEL.




Mind you I could scarcely believe it, so I asked them to show it to me. yep, its a cart.




It was a nice lunch offering - 3 choices, of which I had the bowl of pea and mint soup and a drinkable Riesling (all off the cart :mrgreen: )

 

[opusman]

Ah there's nothing quite like soup poured fresh from the thermos to make you feel like you're getting your money's worth is there.

 

[love_the_life]

I want to get you started .. what are "super services in international J"?

Yep, a classic typo! It is of course 'supper services' and i've fixed it

 

[esseeeayeenn]

Carts are the past, like coal is the past.
The best airlines are abandoning them in premium cabins.
But there will be some old economies relying on coal fired power for some years to come.

 

[RooFlyer]

Ah there's nothing quite like soup poured fresh from the thermos to make you feel like you're getting your money's worth is there.

I appreciate the point being made, and I don't disagree ( in general). But this soup was nice in taste, and presentation and it was all I needed, so I was a happy camper.

Allowing me to stray back to international, one of the nicest dishes I can recall on long haul J was cold pea soup on Finnair. Years ago now and I still recall fondly!

edit; and it was served off a cart ( shock horror!)

 

[RooFlyer]

Carts are the past, like coal is the past.
The best airlines are abandoning them in premium cabins.
But there will be some old economies relying on coal fired power for some years to come.

Ho ho ho . Subtlety is another casualty of the past it seems

 

[Limewood]

Yes a thing of the past here's mine...

 

[Flying mermaid]

Ah there's nothing quite like soup poured fresh from the thermos to make you feel like you're getting your money's worth is there.

I really like the soup, especially the Asparagus, but I know what you mean. I feel the same about the bottles of water they hand out between Canberra and Sydney instead of a preflight drink. I really like water and I am sure it is all very cost effective, but somehow it just feels tacky....

Anyway here are some meals on Turkish Air Domestic J. We did four sectors with very pleasant Flight attendants. Flight times were probably the same as Canberra- Melbourne and they managed a lovely preflight drink service with fabulous fresh fruit juices (my favourite was the lemon and mint). None of the flights was at meal times but here are some pictures of what we got - very light and tasty but substantial enough - just felt like J not what you get with Qantas these days.....

 

[eminere]

Catering really is TK's strong suit.

 

[Flying mermaid]

Catering really is TK's strong suit.

Suits me - I like food! Landings maybe not so good

 

[maroonone]

Back on topic - I have done about 10 J DRW-SYD/BNE or vv in the past 12 months all at meal times and few have been good. There was one flight about 18 months ago where we had a menu on the seat, two hot and one cold choice. I thought that was the start of something good but sadly never seen again - maybe the aircraft was set up to do trans tasman or something. I console myself that the paid J's were at prices lees than full Y.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

Agree with soup being poured from the thermos - I've never liked that and it's very Premium Economy, if not full whY. I see the pros and cons about serving a full service meal at all times of the day. Pro: You're paying a J fare regardless of time of day and should expect a full service meal from a full service airline. Con: Serving a full meal at all times of day will cost a LOT of money (but I'm fairly sure there was somewhat of a large profit just announced).

I'll still have a meal in the J lounge before I fly though, especially if I'm there while the plated course is being served.

 

[Bugalugz]

I've gotta say when Qantas first bought in the Internatonal standard meals on the trans con flights it was top quality and decent servings. Plus you were offered little snacks like mini pizzas and quiche etc and then those things all seemed to be 'enhanced'

Fast forward a few years and we seem to get cough mains usually only ever 1 main big dish then the rest a small or should be serves as a 'small' plate.

Just seems cheap when we went from the tray to international it was improving but the food is getting worse with every trip I take over east, combine that with cough service (50/50 whether it's good or not) and cough seats and you get a very peeved off passenger.

 

[medhead]

I'm intrigued. How else should they transport soup? I'm very happy with the quality of the soup, as are others. So clearly the transport mechanism that also keeps it warm must be an issue. So how do you transport soup so it doesn't spill during takeoff and landing, and such that it stays warm?

 

[RooFlyer]

Following the SYD-MEL flight and the soup above (there were 2 other hot lunch options offered) I did MEL-HBA mid afternoon in J. Offered 'refreshment'. One was a Greek salad (with grilled capsicums ... not sure what it was called exactly!) - it was a lunch sized (and looking) portion, with dessert item, wine, water, tea/coffee. Presentation was superb (my seat neighbour had it). Other option was a cheese selection. Too much - I just had a cup of tea.

I've mentioned this several times in these forums - the 'refreshment' to/from HBA is always substantial ( 1hr to/from MEL) and I've even suggested that enhancing it down would save money (I assume) and as long as something decent was offered no-one should mind.

 

[JohnK]

Oh here we go. VA has the answer for everything.

 

[medhead]

Oh here we go. VA has the answer for everything.

Wow, talk about left field commenting. Has anyone even mention VA in this thread? Well, besides you.

Still my last VA J late night snack was amazing. Even if they stuffed 2 serves into me.

 

[JohnPhelan]

I'm intrigued. How else should they transport soup? I'm very happy with the quality of the soup, as are others. So clearly the transport mechanism that also keeps it warm must be an issue. So how do you transport soup so it doesn't spill during takeoff and landing, and such that it stays warm?

I suspect some people are unhappy because they see the thermos, not that the thermos is being used. That is, they want the thermos to be kept in the galley, away from public view.

That seems to be the main complaint of some - they don't like carts being used, and want each meal to be brought individually from the galley. That's fine for international services - and certainly seems to be generally how QF does international - but it really is impractical for the short domestic routes.