No Compensation for Qantas Catering Failures

Empty wallet
Qantas customers are still waiting for compensation following catering failures. Photo: Emil Kalibradov on Unsplash.

Many Qantas customers have not received any compensation after they didn’t receive food as advertised on their flights. To make matters worse, one passenger has now been waiting two months for a response from Qantas Customer Care after their Business Class meal contained pieces of plastic.

Qantas not forthcoming with compensation for reduced Easter long weekend catering

Over the Easter long weekend, many Qantas flights departed with reduced catering or even no food at all. This was due to severe staffing shortages at dnata, the airline’s outsourced catering provider. As a result, many Business passengers were not served a meal as advertised and instead received a biscuit and water (if anything).

Given the fares charged by Qantas for Business Class, or the number of points required to upgrade, it would be reasonable to assume that Qantas would proactively offer compensation if a key component of the advertised Business Class experience is not provided. This could be in the form of a partial refund, meal voucher or frequent flyer points. But AFF members who flew over that weekend report that they haven’t yet received any compensation or communication from Qantas.

In fact, even Qantas customers who proactively contacted Qantas Customer Care after their flights are still waiting for a response. They have not received as much as an apology yet, let alone money or frequent flyer points as compensation.

The airline did proactively offer 10,000 bonus Qantas points compensation to some passengers whose checked bags were delayed in mid-April. Affected customers were sent an email requiring them to manually accept the offer of 10,000 Qantas points by 20 May 2022.

Australian Frequent Flyer asked Qantas what compensation would be offered to passengers affected by the catering problems over Easter, but received no response.

In the past, Qantas would often credit frequent flyers with points as compensation for failures such as catering not being provided as advertised or the in-flight entertainment not working.

No acknowledgement of plastic found in Business Class meal

Sadly, this is not the first time Business Class customers have been fobbed off by the airline after a major catering failure.

On 5 March 2022, AFF moderator JessicaTam flew in Qantas Business from Adelaide to Melbourne. The special meal she ordered contained pieces of plastic which had been heated inside the meal.

JessicaTam's Qantas Business Class meal contained chunks of plastic
JessicaTam’s Qantas Business Class meal contained chunks of plastic. Photo: JessicaTam.

The Customer Service Manager on the flight was horrified and immediately noticed that the food could not be served, only showing JessicaTam the meal briefly to demonstrate why they were unable to serve it. Due to dietary requirements, she could not eat any of the other regular meals.

The cabin crew reported the issue to Qantas. After waiting a few weeks following the flight and receiving no correspondence whatsoever from Qantas, JessicaTam then also contacted Customer Care directly to ask for a partial refund – at least of the points used to upgrade to Business Class.

Two months have now passed since the flight, and JessicaTam has still not received any response from Qantas.

Sadly, this seems to be a common theme for Qantas customers trying to contact Qantas Customer Care lately.

Australian Frequent Flyer reached out to Qantas for comment on that catering failure and the lack of response from Customer Care. We also received no response.

 

You can leave a comment or discuss this topic on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
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The likely lack of response from QF is why I didn't even bother raising this as an issue with them.

Reply 1 Like

A transpacific flight departed without meals. To bad if you're diabetic.

Wonder who isn't match fit now.

Reply 8 Likes

No surprises there at all @AFF Editor . Although some may come on and say “I had good meals on my flight”.

This article is a perfect demonstration of why I say “Qantas treats it’s customers with contempt.”

Reply 5 Likes

I had good meals on my flight

Reply 6 Likes

Qantas sadly currently have over 50,000 pieces of feedback/complaints to action in their system.

They have implemented advanced software to analyse/scan for pop words in these complaints that will be actioned within priority however what is being actioned as priority is anyones guess.

A good friend who works behind the scenes for the Roo in Customer Experience said it’s highly unlikely these types of complaints will be actioned any time soon if at all.

Alan recently advised the team at one of their regular town hall sessions (meetings) of the above.

Not really good enough and I think people (including myself) are totally over the excuse out there being used: Covid. I know it impacted the catering teams, however to triage emails or do a bulk points drop for all passengers impacted as per flights manifests really shouldn’t be hard in 2022!

Reply 8 Likes

click to expand...

As a data point, our family of 5 on a Mel to Lax Qf flight in Y a few years ago received 5K pts each as they could not serve a hot breakfast before landing as the refrigerator had broken and the crew were advised not to serve the food. I think I did email Qf customer service for the compensation. I was very happy with the 25K points compensation. I guess times have indeed changed...

Reply 1 Like

I haven't had a gluten free meal in 2 years now, mainly WA flights. Got one on recent EK but wish I didn't as I was sick.

Reply Like

Qantas sadly currently have over 50,000 pieces of feedback/complaints to action in their system.

Some dating from 2010! 🤣

They have implemented advanced software to analyse/scan for pop words in these complaints that will be actioned within priority however what is being actioned as priority is anyones guess.

Suggest pop words: vomit, maggots, foreign body?

A good friend who works behind the scenes for the Roo in Customer Experience said it’s highly unlikely these types of complaints will be actioned any time soon if at all.

Natch. Did we expect otherwise?

Reply 2 Likes

I had good meals on my flight

Really? Qantas domestic business meals have been ordinary recently. IME

Reply 4 Likes

Really? Qantas domestic business meals have been ordinary recently. IME

Was far from impressed with food on Recent Mel to Lax return in business. (Staff we’re great however)

Reply 1 Like