Qantas unveils new domestic menu, relaxes free alcohol times

The airline has unveiled a new menu to cater for dietary requirements and has relaxed some of the restrictions on free alcohol brought in during Covid-19.

Qantas is tapping into pent up travel demand for Japan, offering thousands of seats to frequent flyers for points redemption. Picture: Getty Images

Qantas is putting to bed its foray into “one size fits all” meals with a new menu for domestic economy passengers that caters to several dietary requirements.

Six variations of the menu for each service time will be rotated throughout multiple weekly cycles so frequent flyers won’t get the same thing on every flight.

The move followed widespread outrage about the ditching of vegetarian options as part of a more simplified approach to food service during the Covid pandemic.

Qantas executive manager of product and service Phil Capps said that the new menu reflected what customers had come to expect from the airline.

“Qantas is continuing to invest in product and service as we work to get back to our best,” Mr Capps said.

“We have been progressively returning normal service levels and last month we fast tracked the return of vegetarian options on all flights.”

The new menu had been in development for several months, with a focus on variety and premium ingredients from local producers, Mr Capps said.

“We are proud to promote not just great Australian produce but also some terrific Australian small businesses like The Handmade Food Company based in Caboolture and Springhill Farm from Ballarat,” he said.

Qantas is launching a new domestic economy menu after the uproar over the removal of vegetarian options.

Among the new items on offer, were bolognese calzone, chicken and potato Mediterranean croquettes, and zucchini and caramelised onion frittata.

Qantas Club members could also fill up on cocktail pies with tomato sauce before flying while Business Lounge members would be able to try penne pasta bolognese with parmesan.

Along with the revamped menu, Qantas was relaxing some of the restrictions on free alcohol on flights with booze available from 9am on services of three-and-a-half hours or more.

On flights of under 2-hours, passengers could have a free wine or beer from 4pm, and from midday on flights over 2-hours.

The menu launch came as Qantas tapped into pent up travel demand for Japan ahead of the country’s long-awaited border reopening to independent foreign travellers on October 11.

Google data this week showed Japan was the most searched for travel destination by Australians in the search engine’s 20-years of operation.

For six weeks next year between May 11 and June 20, Qantas will make every economy seat between Australia and Japan available for frequent flyer points redemption.

Jetstar was also leaping on the Japan bandwagon, with all economy seats on flights from October 11 to November 30 available as “classic flight rewards”.

Qantas Loyalty CEO Olivia Wirth said the airline group was focused on giving its frequent flyers every opportunity to use the points they had been saving for their next trip.

“Australians have been waiting to be able to return to Japan and having access to thousands of reward seats will help our frequent flyers travel to one of their most loved destinations,” said Ms Wirth.

“We saw a record number of points used recently when we extended our commitment of up to 50 per cent more classic reward seats with strong demand for travel to Japan.”

Frequent flyers would need at least 21,500 points for a reward seat on a Jetstar flight, and from 25,200 points for a Qantas seat to Japan.

Taxes and charges were also payable, at a cost of around $150 one way.

Qantas also planned to schedule “points planes” between Sydney and Hong Kong on January 30, 2023, when services to Hong Kong restarted.