gladstoneyoung

Hi,
A couple of us were travelling either ROK-BNE-MEL or GLT-BNE-MEL last week. QF2307 was severely delayed so we got transferred onto other flights. The special meal requested at time of booking was not transferred across to the flight we were changed to from BNE to MEL. They had four hours notice form check-in at the originating ports that this new flight was being used. QF BNE staff said they still need 24 hours notice in the event of disrupted flights to swap the special meal over to the changed flight. Does anyone else find this unreasonable? I can understand if the original request for a special meal was only made at time of check-in, but 24 hours notice for a disrupted flight?????

The QF BNE staff also said this applied to international disruptions as well. I woudln't want to be needing a special diet and be flying a lengthy international journey with no suitable catering provided. Just as well most people with dietary restrictions know to take their own stockpile of emergency provisions when travelling.

Thanks, guys.

shillard

Yeah, well, if God didn't want us to eat them, he wouldn't have made them out of meat.

If it doesn't bark or purr, it's food.


That said, I don't eat anything that comes out of the sea, and I don't eat the pig. The pig is a filthy animal.

Airline's problem? Nope, mine. If there's even the remotest chance that I'll be stuck with one or both of those as a meal choice, I'll have my own food on hand.

At worst I can pull a back country meal out of my bag and ask for a bit of boiling water. Presto! Beef & Pasta hotpot.

NZ_Flyer

Agree with the OP. This should be sufficient timing and if this is a regular occurrence then QF should have a system in place to deal with delays or a/c substitutions.

Some people require special meals for medical rather than religious or vege/vegan reasons and not having that special meal could have adverse consequences for them which in the end will end up costing QF more money.

shillard

Sure, but if you've got a special medical condition - plan ahead.

You SHOULD be able to rely on the airline supplying a special meal if requested - just like you SHOULD be able to rely on the bloke in front of you using his indicator before moving into your lane. Chances are though that neither will happen - so plan for it.

eoinnz

Well you summed it up in your own post - most people (unfortunately not all) do carry provisions because for whatever reason special meals do not get loaded. 99.9% of the time a meal can be created on board with other components and nobody goes hungry.

While 4 hours may sound like a long time, the catering for your flight would of been prepared well before then and even catered somewhere else if the flight was double catered.

Lonely Flyer

Some of the posters cannot think outside the square.

og

4 hrs notice is not reasonable. The airlines say 24 hrs for a good reason. They are unlikely to carry a range of special meals "just in case" - only to throw them out at the other end. This costs $$$. The balance between goodwill and the bottom line has firmly moved to the latter. Whether this is good or bad depends on whether you can eat the "äverage" meal.

Kiwi Flyer

Agree with above. QF is not alone in this. No airline guarantees catering for late changes. It is no different to that last minute upgrade to business when the airline may say - we can't guarantee a business class meal.

The better airlines may have a deadline but still try to switch special catering to your new flight, but I don't think they can be expected to delay flights significantly just to guarantee catering.

The people I know with medical conditions that require certain foods (or more correctly avoid a lot of common foods) always bring their own just in case.

Blackcloud

Believe me it does ...k when your international flight is delayed or cancelled. I have asked but never received my meal preference even 12 hours later the next day. I tried to get something to eat in the QP or even pay at a restaurant. Breakfast is easier as the continental meets the requirements.
Now with WP status would I miss a Flounge meal before a flight?

gladstoneyoung

Og: I can understand your comment if the special meal was only being requested at time of check-in. In this case though, it was many weeks before and confirmed. I know it would require manpower which to QF equates to additional $$$, but it would only have required someone taking it out of one trolley and putting it in another, probably in the same coolroom. The flight being ex BNE I expect it would have been catered out of BNE. We knew and were advised that QFLink do not make any catering for special diets so came prepared for them. Because we were expecting the BNE-MEL catering failure, food was bought at the BNE food court, my main gripe is the inaction/inability/unwilingness of QF to get off their butts, with four hours notice.

Eoinnz: The speical meal request was because of a medical condition and the very helpful cabin crew only had fruit and a small salad availble on-board. They did their best.

Lonely Flyer: Most posters here try and remain amicable.

vlt

If you need a special meal for medical reasons all the more reason to bring your own.

Touch wood, I have never required such, but do you rely on QF to provide you with medication or sleeping pills if you are sick/cannot sleep on the plane?

Posters here as just pointing out that 24 hours is what the airline wants. Your assumption that someone could just grab it out of the trolley is similar to what others have said. You could have just brought your own.

NZ_Flyer

In that case then are we required to bring our own seats? Are we required to bring our own DVD player so we can watch movies?

No we are not because that's all included as part of the fare. That's why QF charge more than DJ because they include the cost of a meal, the comfort of the seat and IFE in the cost of a ticket. As the OP pointed out, his special meal request was made well before 24 hours and because of a problem (which, most probably not, was caused by QF) that had nothing to do with the OP, his request was not actioned. If QF are going to accept meal requests then they need to have a system in place to deal with regular occurrences such as pax transferred onto other flights who have special meal requests.

thadocta

But that's just it - they do NOT charge more than DJ. Sometimes DJ is cheaper, sometimes QF is cheaper, the normal rules apply here.

Dave

IMOA

I don't see them loading seats when turning around an aircraft nor do seats have a timeframe they can be used or require special storage. Comparing seats and IFE to food prep is pushing the analogy well beyond its usefulness.

While I don't really know how the catering works I suspect that moving special meals from one flight to another is more than just moving a tray from one trolley to another, especially if that food cannot simply sit around for an extra 4 hours. I also think it's a fair assumption that when the schedule goes to crap and catering are trying to keep up getting meals onto flights it's the last time they have the capacity to do something else out of the ordinary.

While it would be nice if Qantas could move the meals around in a tight timeframe I think it's a bit unreasonable to expect an operation as large and complex as airline catering to be able to manage last minute special requests when they're already stretched

og

If airlines continue to offer a range of Special Meals, they need to make it clear that catering choices cannot be guaranteed if there are flight / schedule / alterations to the originally booked flight - UNLESS the caterers make a budget decision to employ an additional someone specifically to shuffle trays for late schedule changes. I'd suspect that "cannot be guaranteed" would kick in at <24 prior to scheduled departure.

Otherwise we'll see Special Meals scrapped and a warning like LOTFAP carriers give (for those that still cater ) where they say "no Special Meals"

Incidently, I've seen many a flight where the "Special Meals" are sitting on top of the trolleys when they are wheeled on board. Maybe the shuffling of Special meal trays at late notice may not be that hard ?