Ground Hog Day, again!
January 26, 2012 1 Comment
Three weeks back in the saddle with Qantas and it is like Ground Hog Day. Welcome to my life as Punxsutawney Phil!
I reached another milestone with Qantas, they have sent me Gold Membership card with all the trimmings. The first time I took the “new” status out for a spin was today. I had managed to bag an exit row and at 192 cm’s (6’4″ on the old scale) I find it rather uncomfortable on the 737’s and yes,you guessed it, they changed the plane and we got a new seating configuration. A plane change is not necessarily a bad thing except, 11A was now forward of the exit rows. Sir, welcome to Gold!
Qantas also seem to have adopted new suppliers for the boxed food. We got, what only can be described as pressed tomato biscuits with a yogurt dipping sauce. In the good old days (last year) it was inedible Panini’s. Being a past export of boarding school, I generally do not have food hang up’s as I would have passed away somewhere between my 11th and 12th birthday from malnutrition. But this is getting out of hand.
Week ending Friday 20th January 2012
Week ending Friday 13th January 2012 and if you are wondering, the dipping sauce is “Zucchini & Lentil”!
I can safely say that I have managed to avoid breakfast in flight for the past 28 weeks of travel. Under normal circumstances, you would be entitled to a refund for the unused portion of your ticket but not in this case. I actually think I would pay a premium NOT to eat the breakfast. Qantas have also taken the last and remaining item off the breakfast menu that was eatable – the reconstituted material formally known as a muffin.
Didn’t Tiger Airways get grounded in 2011?
Last year, Tiger Airways, the budget carrier and 4th player in the Australian aviation market was grounded for failings within it operations that CASA felt caused an “unacceptable risk” to the Australian flying public. I have previously noted that Jetstar have it’s share of issues Jetstar botched landing at Melbourne Airport | Pilot pressure caused errors. This was one of a few reported last year. So, if you are an “Australian” operator with a large fleet, CASA will develop some sort of Stockholm Syndrome and look the other way. I hope I am wrong but the press is not always flattering, particularly for Jetstar. I wear a “badge of honour”, never flown Jetstar (yet)!
Commuterflyer 
Last month I flew Qantas back to Sydney after a trip to Melbourne. Got to QClub a bit early so enquired if my 1pm flight served lunch. Was told business got lunch, economy got ‘refreshments’. Agreed with the QClub suggestion to have a little something just in case. Just as well I did as ‘refreshments’ turned out to be a quiche – over-heated; filling too hot to touch; falling apart in that micro-wave heating effect; extremely greasy and pretty awful taste. Can’t see why they serve this sort of food with a little serviette as the only ‘utensil’ / plate. I was full of envy for your biscuits & strange dipping sauces!!
Love the blog, keep it up, Kath.