Qantas’ international meal service left me feeling cheesed off

Cheesed off

Promises, promises.

On February 16 aboard QF127 from Sydney to Hong Kong, the displayed lunch menu was shown on each passenger’s screen (see screenshot above). The meal came, but not the cheese and crackers. When I asked for them, I was told they have not been offered for years. Surely in this electronic age the least Qantas could do is update their electronic menu. If that is too difficult, provide cheese and crackers? And only offering eight classical music choices on long-haul flights is poor. No wonder Qantas objected to Qatar getting more flights to and from Australia. Qatar at least provides cheese and crackers and a greater selection of music and movies, as well as offering competitive fares.
Lindsay Somerville, Lindfield, NSW

Letter of the week: Missing link

Train on the way to Machu Picchu going alongside the Urubamba River.Credit: Alamy

I enjoyed Tim Richards’ story about the experiences aboard the great rail journeys of the world, but he missed one of the best. The PeruRail train trip from Cusco to Machu Picchu (and back) is a stunner. The train travels relatively slowly because of the steep terrain, but it has a see-through roof so you can admire the Andes mountains (some with snow) and at ground level, Inca ruins and walls and isolated villages. At the end of the train ride you are a 30-minute bus ride away from Machu Picchu – an amazing sight.
Peter Roberts, North Melbourne, Vic

Nights at the museums

There were some great tips in your Savvy Traveller article regarding museum money-savers (Traveller, February 20 ). A one-off event, MuseumNACHT in Amsterdam, was mentioned, however, there is a Europe-wide free museum event under the UNESCO banner called Night (or Long Night) of the Museums. This year it’s to be held on Saturday, May 17, throughout many European countries – France, Germany, Austria for starters. In 2016, we were staying in Avignon, France, and were delighted to explore five museums from 6pm to midnight for free. We began with the view from the fabulous Palace des Papes battlements across the twinkling lights of the city, and elsewhere enjoyed one-off performances, exhibitions, audio-visual presentations and talks as a bonus.
Barb Whiter, Bend of Islands, Vic

Status anxiety

I took a long-haul flight from Helsinki to the US last year on Finnair, a Qantas partner airline, with the understanding that it would earn Qantas points and status credits. This was based on Qantas’s website earnings table for my booking class and confirmed pre-flight by their call centre. However, my request for Qantas points was rejected post-flight by Finnair. More puzzling, the flight into Helsinki on Finnair automatically earned Qantas points. Happily, I got the points after much arguing. Customers need to be aware of this situation when it comes to earning points with Qantas partner airlines.
Frank Carbone, Port Melbourne, Vic

Happy ending

Following the issue I had with Virgin Australia’s Velocity program (Traveller Letters, February 15), I submitted details of my complaint to the airline customer advocate who engaged with Velocity on my behalf. Velocity then acknowledged that they did not provide me with notice of the expiry and have reinstated the points.
Stewart McKechnie, St Kilda, Vic

Switching seats

I understand the anxiety suffered by Mark Hardy when China Air failed to seat their nine-year-old with her parents (Traveller Letters, February 15). However, Mark does not appear to have explained why either he or his wife did not swap seats with their daughter so she could be close to one of them. I wonder if the airline crew were also puzzled. Was she booked in a different class of travel?
Katriona Herborn, Blackheath, NSW

Talk the boardwalk

I thank my lucky stars for David Whitley’s article on Urunga, NSW (Traveller, October 9). It’s been on my bucket list since then, and I was recently able to stay in a cabin at Reflections, a beautiful camping ground at the confluence of the Kalang and Bellinger Rivers on Urunga Lagoon. The long wooden boardwalk out to the surf (and another to the mangroves when not smashed by bad weather) is spectacular. Everyone we spoke to really enjoyed the whole seaside experience, which for us included freshly baked and iced carrot cake and coffee for $7 at the Boardwalk Cafe opposite the campsite. Reflections has good barbecue facilities, so make sure you go to the BP service station on the old Pacific Highway to buy your wholesale-priced fresh fish for the barbecue.
Bronwyn McLaren,Chermside, Qld

No jeers for Algiers

I went to Algeria (Traveller, February 16) in November, 2022, on an inexpensive 10-day private tour organised by an Algerian tour company. I easily got a tourist visa from the Algerian Embassy in Canberra. The Australian government’s Smartraveller website gives Algeria a rating of “exercise a high degree of caution”, the same as the UK and France. I walked around Algiers and other towns on my own, without an armed guard. I had a great time in Algeria, a country of friendly people, fascinating cities, wonderful scenery and some of the best Roman ruins you’ll ever see.
Robert Cumming, Centennial Park, NSW

Do your homework

We spent almost a month in China (Traveller Letters, February 15) last October and had a great time. It is easy to travel around, the people are friendly and helpful and there’s lots to see, but you do need to do some homework. In terms of internet access, you need to set up a VPN (virtual private network). We got three just in case – Nord, Lets and Mullvad – they all worked perfectly and we accessed everything we wanted. We downloaded WeChat and AliPay before we went – easy to use for payments. As a debit card we used Wise and there was no problem using it in China. For online maps, we used MEMaps.
Piergiorgio Moro, Coburg, Vic

Shades of grey

Regarding the article on getting a haircut while travelling (Traveller, February 19), there was a hairdresser on the bottom floor of the place we stayed at in Budapest. I walked in and communicated with sign language that I wanted a hair cut, returning at the agreed time. To my surprise, the hairdresser had brought a friend in who spoke English. The issue was, I have grey hair, and she wanted to know whether I wanted a colour as well as a cut. I said, no, much to her relief, with the other customers finding it amusing that I wanted to keep my hair grey. I had a great cut and left with good wishes from all.
Claire Rodier, Glen Waverley, Vic

Tip of the week: Final Lap

A snowmobile… the only way to sight-see in frozen Lapland.Credit: iStock

Hard to believe we’ve finally made it to Finnish Lapland, a trip we planned before the pandemic. We are staying in a cosy glass-roofed cabin at the Northern Lights Village in Saariselka, 250 kilometres above the Arctic Circle. The temperature dips to -27º as we rug-up and trudge through deep snow to soak up the magical atmosphere. We were lucky to see the aurora borealis the first night before it started snowing – well worth the wait and an unforgettable once-in-a-lifetime trip.
Rhoda Silber, Manly, NSW

Country style

A recent trip to Cootamundra, NSW, gave us the opportunity to dine at Bah Bah Food and Wine by Stockinpiggle. This gem of a place is doing a great job highlighting local food and wine. Our only criticism is that it’s too far from where we live to make it a regular haunt. So good to find these places out in the regions.
Lisa Armstrong-Rowe, Ocean Grove, Victoria

Cancelled plans

I recently cancelled a cycling trip to Spain scheduled for May 2025 due to ill health. Live Love Ride (Spain ) fully refunded my deposit as it was greater than 120 days before commencement. All accommodation was booked using free cancellation. Emirates promptly refunded $1724 of a $2224 non-flexible seat booked return fare to Madrid. Spanish rail, Renfe, refunded 70 per cent of all Elige Confort (first-class) fares booked, but not the basic fares. Allianz travel insurance took over a month to refund $517 (their calculation with no explanation) of the $1090 ( $200 excess) premium paid, but not activated. My friends tell me I have done well to be only $1100 out of pocket.
Haydn Moyle, Flemington, Vic

It’s a steal

As a passionate member of the retail industry, one of the joys of visiting big European cities is to go shopping. I always take an interest in overseas trends, and faithfully report back to my colleagues and friends. Unfortunately, this trip I noted the biggest shift in retail is the obvious explosion of shop theft, with the presence of uniformed security guards at every store door, and on the shop floor. It is such a sad state of affairs that theft has become commonplace and normalised in the big capitals, heralding a rise in dysfunctional and antisocial behaviour that I was being reminded and warned about regularly via train platform announcements, social media bag/phone snatch warnings and constant surveillance when buying my Marks & Spencer sandwiches. That supermarket had a guard at the front and end of every aisle – the groceries were as well guarded as the Crown jewels, my husband wryly remarked.
Jennifer Vernon, North Bondi, NSW

Simple SIM
Our airalo.com eSIM worked perfectly in Japan and Europe, providing fast seamless internet access for messaging (WhatsApp), finding our way around (Google Maps and Street View), translating to English (Google LENS) and going online for our bookings, social media and telephone banking. It cost $55 for six weeks and 5GB of mobile data. International roaming charges with our home mobile number would have been at least $1000. There was no fiddly SIM card to fit into our Android phones, which have an eSIM option in Settings (as do iPhones). We set up our Airalo eSIM App before leaving home, for hassle-free use of all our favourite Apps everywhere overseas.
Tony Danino, Wheelers Hill, Vic

Editor’s note: Read more about eSIMs in this article by Traveller’s Tripologist.

Photo opps

In response to Lindsay Somerville’s letter (Traveller Letters, February 12) we have an Android tablet acting as a photo frame in our kitchen. The photo frame is always on and has access to thousands of photos that we store online in the cloud. These include photos from our many travels. Being in the centre of the house we walk past the photo frame many times a day and often stop to share and enjoy a photo and the memories it triggers.
Deborah Reichardt, Cherrybrook, NSW

The Letter of the Week writer wins three Hardie Grant travel books. See hardiegrant.com

The Tip of the Week writer wins a set of three Lonely Planet travel books. See shop.lonelyplanet.com