The Age Saturday, May18, 2002
Meals upgrade on
the Qantas menu
FED-UP PASSENGERS HAVE FORCED A CHANGE OF HEART BY AIRLINE
BOSSES, REPORTS; CLIVE DORMAN.
Qantas has admitted it mishandled a major change to its domestic in-flight food service that has attracted a barrage of complaints from customers.
Originally designed as a convenience benefit for its economy class business travellers, the change from meal trays to cardboard food "boxes" on short routes in January has backfired badly, with travellers complaining that they were given tiny portions of cold food, even at main meal times, and that tea and coffee service on recent flights had all but disappeared.
Qantas' sales and marketing boss,' John Borghetti, says that, in the "pandemonium" following September 11 and the Ansett collapse, the introduction of its new domestic convenience meals wasn't properly handled. "We went too far in removing food from the boxes," Borghetti admits. "That wasn't the original intention - it wasn't a money-saving exercise. We're now putting literally millions of dollars back into those boxes - in both quantity and quality. "
The new food boxes in economy class were trialed in the middle of last year outside of the main meal times and, according to the marketing executive, were well received by business travellers. The idea was that business travellers could take what they wanted from the tucker box, without waiting for a formal meal delivery from cabin crew, and could therefore get on with work, via the laptop, more quickly.
A decision was made late last year to extend the service into the main meal times. And, because, the boxes were easier for cabin crew to deliver, a separate decision was also made to reduce cabin crew numbers on short flights by an average of about one attendant, Borghetti says.
However, the reduction in the number of crew meant resources were stretched in delivering tea and coffee - "a basic human need", Borghetti reflects - which led to many of the complaints.
Age readers were certainly less than impressed and were firing in complaints about service on flights as recently as a fortnight ago.
"The tanks might be full, but the passengers are expected to fly on empty," writes business traveller Melissa Cheesman. "Call me high maintenance, but, when 1 take a flight around meal time, 1 expect to be offered a meal." On a recent Canberra-Melbourne-Canberra turnaround (evening flights in both directions), she says "dinner" was a third of a sandwich and a small water container.
In fact, many have been disgruntled about service on the Melbourne-Canberra route, where almost all passengers are paying premium fares. Public servant Lys Cleaver says that "not once have 1 been offered tea or coffee in the morning or evening. 1 did get a box with a couple of ribbon sandwiches, water and a coffee cup on one evening flight home, but, when I asked for it to be filled, the waitress got a bit stroppy and said there wasn't
enough time to serve it" - In fact,' haven't been able to find a fan o Qantas' domestic food service. It's "abysmal," writes Louise Burke. "Universally atrocious," declares ,Jacqueline Pearce. "Mean-spirited," says company director Leon Beswick. One reader says "the cutbacks" haven't been limited to in-flight food. "The offerings at the Qantas Club have become even more unappealing and limited," says club member Michelle Parker. "Who eats pickled vegetables and crackers for lunch? , "Corporate after corporate arrives in the lounges, searches endlessly for a spare seat in an overcrowded lounge and then eagerly make their way to the buffet, only to be sorely disappointed."
A number of public servants, in particular, say they'll be lobbying their departments to switch to Virgin Blue. One writer, lan McDonald, wonders whether Qantas is going down the same road as Virgin Blue anyway and will eventually abolish meals - because no one is eating them!
Some are convinced that downgrading of in-flight service is the behaviour of a new, post-Ansett Qantas monopoly.But Borghetti is adamant that changes in the food service were never meant to lower costs. It costs as much, he says, to deliver the food boxes as the former meal trays.
The turnaround was introduced in January, but John Borghetti says there were long lead times in changing a system that has to deliver tens of thousands of meals each day. "We now think we've largely got it right," he says. Apart from increases in the quality and quantity of food on offer, he says passengers are now offered tea and coffee on all flights.
'Ihe sales and marketing manager dismisses the concerns of some that domestic seating space is being squeezed. Standard seat row space is 32 inches (about 81 cms) the standard economy seating space for both domestic and international services around the world.
That's about two inches more than the standard on low-cost carriers like Virgin Blue, while some squeeze seat rows to just 28 inches apart, the legal limit.
However, Qantas has begun fitting its domestic fleet with new "slimline" seating that is also being progressively introduced on its international fleet. Even though that Will mean seating rows are placed Slightly closer together, there will be no loss of personal seating space, he says, as the slimmer, body contoured chairs take up less room.
It's part of a wider upgrading of in-flight services that, for example, is introducing phones and seat-back videos in international economy class - a program that is costing more than $700 million.
International economy-class food will also be upgraded, Borghetti says, in a program of improvements planned by Qantas' consultant chef, Neil Perry. "We're not doing this for its own sake," Borghetti says. "We want to be better than the competition."
That will be good news for many Age readers. Maurice de Morton was told by an attendant on a Wellington flight in February that "some irate passengers had even thrown the food at them!"
(OOPS Forgot the last bit
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