Air New Zealand Air Points - TT: Meal standards slipping

Has anyone else noticed that the standards of Economy meals on AKL-SYD-AKL has gone down hill scene the start of the year.

At the start of the year the meals where great & the quality had improved. Now we seem to be back to the Pie's. After 4 years of the pie it might be time to put it to rest. The salad was so awful last night the crew started to joking about no one eating it.

By the way the crew on NZ106 last night where great esp FA2.

The meals have changed format recently to allow double-catering out of AKL on the A320 aircraft, so they've been standardized across the fleet. (They're now a weird shape to allow fitting on the new A320 trays).

BTW, if you're referring to the Inflight Service Coordinator who ran the economy service, FA2 isn't their designation onboard. (On the 767 they're FA5!).

I highly encourage you to mention both the meals and the ISC to flightcomment or myvoice. With prices at the unsustainable level they are on the Tasman I just can't see the meals being enhanced, but comments are valuable nonetheless.

Send me a PM if you need the ISC's name. He's a great guy!

The Meals in TT Business Class can be a mixed bag too. The brekkys are always very good but the lunches and dinner can be very variable. I often resort to having the pie in lieu. I never bother complaining as catering on such a shortish sector is not that important to me

While the food isn't always up to scratch the service and the new IFE certainly makes up for it.

I have heard QF TT catering in J is abysmal and even the service can be very hit and miss.

Actually, the J catering and service on QF TT is generally quite reasonable. Far better than that generally on Oz domestic J.

On Sunday I flew economy on NZ to MEL, departing AKL 7:30pm. We were offered a choice between a piece of chicken or a savoury pastry along with a few chopped salad leaves. Later an small icecream cup was served.

On the equivalent QF service there's a slightly more substantial offering.

(Mind you, space+ seating with gateTOgate IFE more than made up for it.)

Thanks, NZ_Crew for your help.

I find the cold breakky to be the best meal on the tassie, its always the same & it seems to be big
than the other meals.

The crew & the ice cream make up for the bad meal;)

I thought the service and breakfast from WLG to SYD on Monday in J was pretty good.

Service was definitely an improvement from the last time I flew this sector.

Has anyone had the new Gluten Free meal on the Tasman yet?

Whats it like? do you still get ice cream.

Im thinking about ordering it for my next flight to avoid the damn pie!

I went AKL-SYD-AKL last week going business premier there and economy back.

The economy meal was a chicken and asparagus tart (the other choice was a beef salad), a small couscous salad and black doris plum flavoured Kapiti ice cream.

Flew AKL-SYD yesterday afternoon, the meal was a beef parcel/pie (more like a large sausage roll but beef) or a chicken condon bleu. Both have a small cold salad, and a small tub of ice-cream for dessert.

You get this meal tray where only half is used - very weird. I keep expecting them to fill it with some stuff.

With QF, you get a main, a salad, a small bread roll, a little piece of chocolate and ice-cream.

I had catering like that on a 7:30pm departure AKL to MEL.

It depends on the departure time I guess, as two days earlier, the 6:30pm flight MEL-AKL flight was more substantially catered (similar to that of Qantas).

The economy meal was a chicken and asparagus tart (the other choice was a beef salad), a small couscous salad and black doris plum flavoured Kapiti ice cream.

These were the economy meal choices when I flew SYD-CHC 2 days ago (minus the ice cream though).

An FA did go through the cabin later on with what was obviously leftover desserts/cheeses from business class, and offered them to a list of names she was holding. (Not sure what the criteria were, but I was offered one, whereas no-one else in rows 4-6 was?)

I had some delicious cheese & crackers :)

Has anyone had the new Gluten Free meal on the Tasman yet?

Whats it like? do you still get ice cream.

Im thinking about ordering it for my next flight to avoid the damn pie!

The current LGML on the Tasman is salmon served with asparagus, tomatoes, capsicum, and new potatoes. The side salad has lettuce, pineapple, and carrot and the dessert is dried apricots and dates.

They are catering very tightly in the current economic climate, so it may not be possible to substitute an icecream.

The current LGML on the Tasman is salmon served with asparagus, tomatoes, capsicum, and new potatoes. The side salad has lettuce, pineapple, and carrot and the dessert is dried apricots and dates.

They are catering very tightly in the current economic climate, so it may not be possible to substitute an icecream.

Thanks,

My vote would be ditch the rest of the meal & increase the size of the ice cream on the late night flights.

In the current climate it might be better just to cut the meals & drop $5 of the fares. You don't really need a meal on a SYD-AKL flight that arrives at 11.35pm.

or perhaps they could charge you for something to eat (oh hang on that's been done already - Pacific Blue, JetStar etc)

I don't know about most people, but on a flight that departs around 6:30pm Sydney time I am ready for a meal and hour or so after take off.

I don't know about most people, but on a flight that departs around 6:30pm Sydney time I am ready for a meal and hour or so after take off.

I would rather grab a nice late lunch at Circular Quay at a restaurant before getting on the train to the airport. I think it depends if your body clock is still on NZ time, which if your on a short trip it most likely would.

If they improved the food at the lounge, they may get alot more people joining the KC.

sure always nice to have a nice lunch overlooking the harbour (if you have the time)

Thanks,

My vote would be ditch the rest of the meal & increase the size of the ice cream on the late night flights.

In the current climate it might be better just to cut the meals & drop $5 of the fares. You don't really need a meal on a SYD-AKL flight that arrives at 11.35pm.

They still need their food on late night planes, especially for all the people who left work at SYD city just before 5 and rush to the airport to fly to AKL. They would really enjoy their meal on the 3 hour flight to AKL. Well I certainly enjoyed it in my first ever J flight SYD-AKL NZ106 in April this year. Excellent service and food ..... I was very hungry and tired as well so it makes the service even more excellent.

I always look forward to the food on an international, no matter how meagre it is, it's just part of the experience to me. And an airline would simply absorb any $5 in food saving anyhow, so everyone would be worse off.

But yeah, if the flight's 3 hours, you've checked into the airport 2 hours before that's 5 hours, and then allow more time for getting there, that's a long time without food.

That's where lounge access comes to the fore.

Departing MEL last month on a 6:30pm flight, the Business/Koru lounge had some substantial meal offerings.

In the current climate it might be better just to cut the meals & drop $5 of the fares. You don't really need a meal on a SYD-AKL flight that arrives at 11.35pm.

Nooo - don't do that. When I've had a long day up at 3am NZ time for a full day of meetings and rush to get back to the airport in time for flight, there is no time to eat before the flight (unless it is delayed).

edison: I'm talking about getting rid of the economy meals, they are hardly classed as dinner.

When you think of the average passenger arrives at the airport 2hrs before hand. They do have time to grab something to eat at the airport / lounge.

I think you'd be surprised at just how many pax are like me. Already checked in (from the flight to Oz in the morning) and arrive at the airport close to boarding time.

I think you'd be surprised at just how many pax are like me.

Now there's a scary thought! :D

Yep I have done the early morning flight to SYD and MEL only to return the same night.
MEL was the worst as the airport is further away traffic etc meant I arrived with 30 minutes to spare, already checked in with no luggage.

edison: I'm talking about getting rid of the economy meals, they are hardly classed as dinner.

When you think of the average passenger arrives at the airport 2hrs before hand. They do have time to grab something to eat at the airport / lounge.

No way, the last thing AirNZ want to do is being classified as LCC. Also people like me who mostly fly Y would wait until getting onto the plane because they know that they are being served food. Otherwise people may as well fly Pacific Blue or Jetstar.

No way, the last thing AirNZ want to do is being classified as LCC. Also people like me who mostly fly Y would wait until getting onto the plane because they know that they are being served food. Otherwise people may as well fly Pacific Blue or Jetstar.

Don't forget EK, LA and - dare I mention it - QF (Jetconnect).

Suddenly, I don't think so lowly about the QF TT Y meals any more.

In saying this though, you still get Space+ or Y+ on NZ rather than QF which has stuff-all. But cutting down on meals? Not a good idea. Cut meals altogether? Mega-dumb idea.

I'm hoping that the cost cutting and resulting flying culture in the US for short-haul is not setting a precedent for down under. :(

Don't forget EK, LA and - dare I mention it - QF (Jetconnect).

You left out AR & BI.

You left out AR & BI.

Haha - would only fly AR if there tickets came with parachutes.

NZ still has a nice bunch of pluses
- Free Booze
- AVOD (Gate to Gate)
- Frequency
-Leg room

Haha - would only fly AR if there tickets came with parachutes.

I heard that the catering too isn't all that great. People thought LA was very pedestrian if not non-passable. From what I hear AR is worse.

NZ still has a nice bunch of pluses
- Free Booze
- AVOD (Gate to Gate)
- Frequency
-Leg room

Booze is non-present on the dry BI and requires $$$ on JQ and DJ. But that still leaves QF, LA and EK.

QF has the minus on gate-to-gate IFE (although I thought that the A380 AVOD might be gate-to-gate, and if they install similar on the new 738s....) and leg room - not sure about frequency, I thought they were about the same.

And if you aren't a WP, then NZ also have the up on lounges (or if you average it out on both sides of the Tasman, they do have the up on lounges).

Haha - would only fly AR if there tickets came with parachutes.



Well maybe you are adventurous, but someone like me are not that keen to do simultaneous skydiving with 200+ passengers .... :p

As a WP/*G, I'd prefer to take QF ex SYD/MEL TT and AirNZ ex AKL.

Since the changes last year, *G is much easier to attain via AirNZ if you travel a lot NZ domestic on the cheap fares.

Anyway, the few additional bits to the WHY meal when comparing QF134 (8:55pm) with NZ121 (7:30pm) do not break the deal.