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Qantas domestic meal service. Source, QantasCuts to cabin crew staffing levels on Qantas domestic flights may be behind the airline’s embarrassing U-turn last week over vegetarian meals, flight attendants say.

Qantas came under fire for cutting vegetarian meals, with PlanetArk founder and businessman Jon Dee complaining he had been offered “chicken pie or chicken pie” when he asked about vegetarian options on a recent flight from Adelaide to Sydney.

Dee is reportedly a Qantas gold frequent flyer, meaning the airline usually brings him a vegetarian option automatically, as the preference is recorded on his profile.

Dee was shocked there was no vegetarian option.

“I’m on the Adelaide to Sydney flight – I’m informed that #Qantas no longer serve vegetarian food on domestic flights (except Perth),” Dee posted on Twitter.

“Crew said ‘one size fits all’ – Joyce has really screwed @Qantas”

“If Alan Joyce won’t change his decision on this, maybe it’s time for the Qantas board to take him off the menu,” Dee added later.

Flight attendants blame the meal problems on cuts to Qantas staffing levels.

“What we have – though most passengers may not notice – is a 20% reduction in our cabin crew on board,” Federal Secretary of the Flight Attendants Association of Australia, Teri O’Toole, told ABC News Radio.

“That means, on our dinner flights we used to have five crew – we’ve now got four.

“The reduction in crew basically means there’s not enough flight time for them [passengers] to have a choice. When you’ve got a choice it takes longer, believe it or not, to get through the cabin.

“That’s why they took the choice away of the vegetarian meal,” O’Toole said.

Jon Dee, who has been flying Qantas since 1992, said he would give Qantas a few weeks to change its position before switching to Virgin.

Last Friday, the airline caved in. Qantas executive manager of product and service, Phil Capps intervened, saying “We’ve heard the message loud and clear about having vegetarian offerings on all of our flights and so we’re making that change as a priority.”

Qantas abruptly issued a media statement headlined: QANTAS TO INCREASE VEGETARIAN MEALS ACROSS ALL DOMESTIC FLIGHTS

The text of the Qantas statement is as follows:

Following customer feedback in recent days, Qantas is moving to increase vegetarian meals and snacks on all domestic services. 

At the start of the pandemic in 2020, Qantas simplified its meal offerings on board all domestic flights under 3.5 hours in Economy. Many – but not all – of these were vegetarian. 

In the coming weeks, Qantas will carry vegetarian meals on all domestic flights under 3.5 hours. As an example, for evening meal service a zucchini and corn fritter could be carried onboard in addition to a Chicken and Leek pie. We will also reintroduce fresh fruit on board, which was paused during the pandemic due to high levels of wastage. Qantas will monitor the take-up of these options and make any further adjustments to make sure we reflect customer preferences. 

Qantas already offers a range of dietary meal options in all cabins on all International flights, domestic Business, and on domestic Economy cabins on flights more than 3.5 hours. 

Last year we introduced plant-based options on almost all our international flights for each cabin. As part of its sustainability commitments, Qantas is phasing out single-use plastics traditionally used as packaging on board and in its lounges. 

Qantas is the only domestic airline to offer complimentary food and beverages, baggage, and onboard WiFi on its domestic Boeing 737s and Airbus A330s, on all Economy fares. 

“We’ve heard the message loud and clear about having vegetarian offerings on all of our flights and so we’re making that change as a priority,” Capps stated. 

“We had to make a lot of alterations to our service during Covid and we’re still in the process of bringing things back and updating others. When we brought back complimentary beer and wine, we extended the times of day it was served by several hours and expanded it across all routes. 

“We’re in the middle of a broader menu refresh for our domestic network that will roll out from October, which includes new vegetarian options. 

“There’s a lot of work happening to get Qantas back to its best and that includes listening to the feedback from our customers as we keep investing in our product and service.” 

A growing number of people are demanding vegetarian meals – at least as an option – as they have become full or part-time vegetarians. For starters, some 40% of the population of India eats a meat-free diet, which is about 640 million people.There are countless millions of others, including “flexitarians” who prefer eating mostly plant-based foods while allowing meat and other animal products in moderation.

Vegetarianism shouldn’t be confused with veganism. Vegans follow a much stricter diet – many vegans do not eat honey or cheese and avoid leather shoes or belts. 

Written by Peter Needham

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