Qantas upgrades economy meals on domestic flights

What is old is new again. Seems like a never ending cycle. Cut then bring back. Cut then bring back...

It would be great if there were more meat options. Sadly Qantas has capitulated to the vegan lobby and it is next to impossible to get snacks on their flights that are consistent with the meat-based diet preferred by 90% of the population. It should return to the old system of requiring vegans to make special meal requests. Disadvantaging 90% of customers to appease a vocal majority is the antithesis of putting the customer first.

Classic beef sausage rolls will be just fine, but p-lease, it must be accompanied by Heinz Ketchup.  

So, to align with domestic frequent flyer earn groups I read the service as:

Short sector = small cold snack

Medium sector = larger hot snack

Long sector = meal plus ice cream

As a regular traveller on the overnight transcontinental flights from Darwin and Perth, I note the service is a hot snack instead of a full meal. 

I hope this exception to more food is retained as the service is completed quickly to maximise sleep.

Having not flown a lot of Qantas flights recently I was shocked to read that they were only giving out a snack. Is a sausage roll that much of an improvement????? So it’s no better than VA back in its pre-covid days really  

It’s not even like you can purchase other things on board. 

I don't understand how this makes QF a “full service” carrier. I would argue that a crappy snack and no flexibility to purchase other options is worse service that what VA or even JQ offer. 

Funny,  I've done Syd-Mel econ a couple of times in the last week and got a nice hot MEAT snack most trips! I was quite impressed. They're quite substantial. Also as per other comments: fully agree about the capitulation to vegans. Meat is a must even on 1 hour flights. Although sadly missing the tomato sauce on those 3 sausage rolls!! Also not sure about the 2 hour comment in the article because Syd-Mel isn't that... Yet we got fed pretty well I'd say. Pleasantly surprised! I do think it should be minimum hot snack on short flights and a bigger meal on med+ flights... Oh and bring back the pre departure bubbly/juice options on J pls!

Does need an overhaul, but what value can you place on a snack if the fare is double the other carriers ? 

Is that sausage roll worth $400 for example.

As a Plat, places where I want to see improved catering (meat or otherwise, I was previously unaware how the provision of meat was such an indicator of quality for some fliers): the lounges, transcon domestic and Tasman all classes. Long haul Y the quality is good but the service just looks cheap.

Places where I don't really care: golden triangle domestic routes. I can go an hour without a lavish meal, and on those flights the faff waiting for it to be cleared isn't worth it. Some of the packaged options are better than others (the absolute worst thing I've ever been served on any airline was a Qantas vegie breakfast brioche SYD-MEL, not because it was vegetarian but because it had the smell and consistency of a dog treat). I quite like the free booze but the tea/coffee business after midday was just really, really weird.

Why don't they just have full meal service across all Jet flights and be done with it - its confusing "before 9am you get this and then from 12pm to said hour get you XYZ"

I can write up a  Qantas Inflight service menu in less than 5 minutes - its not hard (these people have these roles for a living as there day job and still manage to stuff it up)

Melbourne to Sydney Late Morning to Late afternoon fligths 
Economy -  Chicken and Avocardo sandwhich on ciabatta bread + Cheese and Crackers + Full Bar Service  

Brisbane to Melbourne Late Morning to Late afternoon fligths 
Economy -  Butter Chicken with Rice + Cheese and Crackers + Full Bar Service

Brisbane to Sydney Late Morning to Late afternoon fligths 
Economy -  Ham Forest sandwhich on ciabatta bread + Cheese and Crackers + Full Bar Service

I agree with with comments about trendy or vegan type meals.  The average punter just wants a simple meal, maybe meat based but doesn’t have to be. I don’t think anyone seriously expects cordon Bleu tucker on short domestic flights.  

These incremental fixes Qantas are introducing to fix their service are good news,  but I think many of us are still stinging from the last few years. Let’s hope the improvements continue to win us back.

In simple terms, offer a vegan snack and a meat/chicken/fish snack. Then everybody will be fairly happy, don’t you think? 

For Economy on a refreshment style service why not a bunch of little sandwiches with meat/cheese and some kind of  veggies or even a full size roll more or less the same I am thinking similar to a Bakery.It is more than adequate to get one by.I have copies of the Virgin Australia menus at home and that's more than adequate for the shorter sectors.anything else that's over 2 hours should also have a hot meal option.

I was given a nice beef sausage roll on my SYD-BNE flight last week.