I spent two hours on a Qantas flight with a passenger’s lunch splattered metres from my head.

I spent two hours on a flight from the Whitsundays to Brisbane sitting in crumbs while a mystery splattered substance that was dried and crusty was just metres from my head.

I paid almost $500 to sit for two hours in filth - no this isn’t a new TikTok trend - it was aboard a Qantas link flight from the Whitsundays to Brisbane on Sunday.

Boarding my 3pm flight back home to Brisbane, I walked up the stairs into the small cabin to be greeted by the friendly staff, before making my way to the economy cabin to be greeted by a seat covered in grime.

Placing my bags in the overhead compartment, and about to take my window seat when I noticed the state of both the aisle and the two seats before me.

I spent almost two hours sitting on crumbs and the duration of the flight wondering what type of sauce was splattered across the wall metres from my head, possibly a sweet chilli or tomato?

The splatter looked dried and crusty, questioning how long someone else’s meal had been left there for.

A tray table inside a Qantas link flight with crusty food. Photo: Tayla Couacaud

But it didn’t stop there. I look overhead to the light and air conditioner to find more of the same red coloured splatter, how does one even get it up that far?

A napkin had also been wedged between the gap over head, hoping it was unused.

Reluctantly taking my seat between the crumbs and splatter I then noticed the red wine stained on the tray table on the seat next to me.

Horrified to find when opening both tray tables to find built up grime, food remnants and stains.

Not even the floor had looked like it had been vacuumed in weeks, with dirt clusters in the runs of the carpet and in between where the seat connected to the floor.

Thinking the flight couldn’t get any worse, as we go to take off the blasting air conditioner starts dripping on me and other passengers.

Qantas is meant to be our premier airline, that state of the cabin did not live up to its standard.

As someone who travels a often, if I walked into a hotel in this condition I would be asking for a new room.

A Qantas link flight from the Whitsundays to Brisbane. Photo: Tayla Couacaud

This comes as the Australian government is planning to set up an Aviation Industry Scheme with an independent ombudsman and a Charter of Customer Rights.

Australian airline customers could receive compensation for delayed and cancelled flights under the major overhaul of passenger protections.

But what about standards of cleaning inside a cabin? Should we be made to sit in other passengers mess?

A Qantas spokesperson said the images were disappointing and that it was looking into what happened.

“It is clear that the cabin cleaning wasn’t as thorough as it should have been prior to this flight and we apologise for this customer’s experience,” a Qantas spokesperson said.

“All of our aircraft are cleaned with a disinfectant between flights and at the end of the day.”

It’s understood Qantas aircraft undergo deep cleaning regularly and the flights between Proserpine and Brisbane are operated by Embraer E190 aircraft.