m0hamed

We don't eat it either which made the situation all the more shocking.

LTN Phobia

Speaking of catering, I just cannot understand how QF think that a bowl of soup is a good idea for food on a one-way J flight costing AUD 796 (MEL-SYD) departing at 2pm, which means quite a few people won't have had lunch due to travelling to the airport?

The alternative was a cardboard box with a small quantity of cheese. Not much to it either.

If it were $400 I'd find it quite understandable. But for $796 I'd have thought you could reasonably expect a proper meal.

In addition they seem to run out of choices by Row 2 most of the time on domestic J. It's starting to get a little annoying.

JClasstraveller

There is the J lounge though if you're absolutely running to make the 2pm flight you may not have time.

If the soup is as good as the soup and sourdough I was served on a J MEL-SYD flight in April, then I'd be quite happy actually.

LTN Phobia

Thankfully, I tend to normally end up on a "proper lunch" flight with decent meals, and I also normally have enough time to eat in the lounge if I am peckish. However, I am thinking of those who are on a tighter schedule than me and the fact that most airlines would provide a much more substantial meal than a soup and a slice of bread when a ticket costs AUD 796 for a one-way flight over just an hour in duration.

In fact I regularly fly domestic F on JAL and you get a fair bit of food on a 45-min flight, normally costing around AUD 220 one-way, so it feels very "under-catered" on QF. I'm pretty sure the QF domestic J catering used to be a bit more substantial than just a soup or a cardboard box of cheese even outside the meal time, e.g. giving you a proper, filling salad etc.

Has the domestic catering downgrade happened recently as well, but I hadn't noticed because most of my normal flying schedule falls on lunch time?

BadgerBoi

I've always enjoyed the soup when it's been served - I've always been able to eat it, so I feel better fed than when I'm served something that I can't stomach at all.

I think it's a great thing to serve, easy and fast for the FAs to do so it makes for more efficient service than some stupid dish that they have to fiddle around with.

mfl

its been a little while, but I still cringe thinking about the breakfast on Singapore-Sydney in J. - 1st time ever I had then take the coffee away I couldn't swallow it.

LTN Phobia

I'm wondering if anyone has the latest (in the last month or so) information on the status of J catering on QF22 (NRT-SYD)? I'm wondering if they have improved it since I flew it last.

Offshore171

Odd that they would downgrade dinner in J on this route.

A lot of business travellers come straight from the office and will not have had a chance to get dinner before the flight.

Himeno

They likely expect people to spend time in the lounge and eat there.

klymen

Speaking of which, I found the Sakura lounge vastly better than the QF lounge at NRT. Food not in great abundance anywhere though.

LTN Phobia

If I'm on JL or even JQ I don't need to eat much at the lounge because they serve enough food on board, particularly on JL.

There isn't enough food at the QF lounge at NRT to make a meal of it, so I think the catering downgrade on QF J is particularly bad. A lot of QF J passengers would not be aware of JL Sakura lounge etc so they probably head out to the QF lounge to find that there isn't much food, and then find there isn't much food on board either (unless they have changed it recently).

There is a fair bit of food at JL F lounge although it's not to everyone's liking. There is usually Japanese curry, with various smaller dishes around.

However, there are lots of cheap and OK food on the 4th floor of NRT T2 before security and if I feel that I would be hungry, I go up there and grab something to eat.

Offshore171

I guess the proviso is whether they have left enough time.

You used to be able to say "I'll just get dinner on the flight home". That meant you could leave the office, jump on the Narita Express and cut it fine with the flight.

But if the meal has been downrated, you're probably going to have to get a beer and snack off the trolley ladies on the train!

creampuff

I really think Qantas and any other airline that cuts benefits or services in the business class cabin is shooting themselves in the foot. The purpose of business class is that it provides benefits, comfort and services which you don't get in economy.

If you cut those benefits, then people vote with their feet and travel on other airlines or they say to themselves "%$^*-it, the last time I flew I was hungry the whole way, I think I'll just do this by video conference this time" or they think "why am I paying 3 times the economy price for this?" then end up just going economy.

creampuff

Anyway, on the basis of this thread and the lack of food, I've bzzzzzztt Qantas for the upcoming Sydney-Tokyo RTW segment and am going on JAL.

eminere

Another J passenger on the QF22 had to make a beeline for McDonald's on arrival: LINK