Qantas stops serving vegetarian meals on some domestic flights

Qantas has changed its in-flight food options for some domestic flights, which it says are designed to simplify service delivery for its cabin crew, but passengers with special dietary requirements are complaining about the reduced meal options.

A Qantas spokesperson told SBS News the airline had made some changes to onboard food and service offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Source: AAP / BIANCA DE MARCHI

Key Points

• Qantas is no longer offering options for dietary requirements on some flights.
• They say the change was due to COVID-19.

Passengers with dietary requirements on some Qantas flights are no longer being offered options that meet their needs on certain domestic routes.

It comes after a series of issues and complaints from frustrated passengers who have endured delayed and cancelled flights, long queues at airports and lost baggage with the carrier in recent months.

Twitter user John Dee was informed the airline was no longer offering vegetarian options while on a flight from Adelaide to Sydney on Sunday.

"I'm on the Adelaide to Sydney flight - I'm informed that Qantas no longer serve vegetarian food on domestic lights (except Perth)," he wrote.

"Crew said 'one size fits all'."

His tweet attracted hundreds of responses from passengers echoing his frustration.

"I had the same experience on two Qantas flights last month," user Prabha Fasman wrote.

"It was chicken on one and ham on the other. They offered me small bags of soy rice crackers, clearly the equivalent of hot snacks."

A Qantas spokesperson said during the COVID-19 pandemic, the carrier made some changes to its onboard food and service offerings to simplify the service delivery for crew members.

"We now offer a single meal/snack option per flight on our shorter flights, such as a chicken pie or a zucchini and onion frittata," the spokesperson said.

"If the option on a particular flight is not suitable for vegetarians, we try to offer an alternative of a small sweet or savoury snack which is vegetarian."

On longer domestic and international flights, the spokesperson said customers can pre-book a range of meals including vegan and gluten and dairy-free options.

In August, Qantas declared "the existential crisis posed by the pandemic (is) now over", with its net loss after tax for the year to 30 June narrowed to $860 million, compared to $1.7 billion the year before.

The airline said it would now focus on responding to current operational challenges.