Virgin Australia Refreshes Onboard Menu

Virgin Australia has improved the range of food and drinks available for sale in its onboard retail menu, with new options including hot food for passengers in Economy Class on domestic and international flights.

Virgin has added nine new menu items to its buy on-board retail menu including muffins, Violet Crumble chocolate bars and Cheezels. Virgin will also offer more substantial food options on a rotating “secret menu” that will vary between flights. Options will include ham & cheese toasties, pies, yoghurt, wraps and sandwiches, with cabin crew able to advise passengers what’s available on each flight.

“Our new secret Economy menu will revolutionise the buy onboard offering, while providing more value and choice for customers. We’ll continually add fresh options each day from a range of items that we know our guests love – there’ll even be a pie in the sky, literally!”, Virgin Australia Chief Customer and Digital Officer Paul Jones said.

The new Virgin Australia Economy Class menu also features more beverage choices including pre-mixed cocktails and premium Archie Rose gin, as well as various bundles offering discounts when combining multiple products.

This is part of the new menu:

You can view a copy of the full new menu and bundles on the Virgin Australia website. Or, if you’re flying with Virgin Australia, you’ll find it in the seat pocket in front of you.

Virgin Australia axed complimentary snacks in Economy Class in March 2021, replacing them with the previous iteration of Virgin’s new buy onboard menu. But the old menu lacked any substantial hot or fresh food options, other than instant noodles. In fact, Australian Frequent Flyer commented in a review just last week that the onboard menu was lacking.

Selling pies and sandwiches on board a flight is hardly “revolutionary”, and Virgin customers still have to pay extra for anything on board (other than tea, coffee or water) – including on international flights to Fiji. But this new menu is a welcome improvement.

While Business Class passengers also have the option to purchase additional snacks & drinks from the same retail menu, Virgin continues to offer complimentary meals and premium drinks including spirits in Business Class. The airline says it has also recently refreshed its Business Class meals with new seasonal summer dishes. In response to customer feedback, the airline says it has also just doubled the amount of sparkling wine on each flight. (You can see what’s currently being served on our Virgin Australia Business Class meals thread.)

Qantas has not yet resumed offering spirits in Business Class on its domestic flights, but Australian Frequent Flyer understands these will be reinstated in the near future.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: VA economy food & drinks

Matt Graham

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.