In the past few days, Qantas have announced a wave of improvements both in the front and the back of the aircraft for their passengers comfort. The introduction of refreshed Kate Spade and Jack Spade amenity kits, improved IFE and the upgrade of the economy meals makes for a welcome home in the sky. Qantas have been pushing hard recently to offer an outstanding and industry leading product, and looking at the latest developments, we can’t help but feel they are really going above and beyond to offer something truly special.
Amenity Kits
Qantas customers travelling internationally in Business will now experience luxury Australian-made spa products, ASPAR by Aurora Spa, in newly designed Kate Spade and Jack Spade amenity kits. The Kate Spade kit for ladies features a bold new geometric print and the Jack Spade kit for men features a modern colour palette, the second designs to launch as part of Qantas’ partnership with the brands.
The amenity kits include a Qantas exclusive ASPAR Sweet Orange & Shea Hand Cream, Vanilla & Orange Lip Moisturiser and an Ultra Hydrating Face Moisturiser, to help customers relax and keep skin hydrated while in flight. To break it down, each kit offers: ASPAR sweet orange & shea hand cream, ASPAR vanilla & orange lip moisturiser, ASPAR ultra hydrating face moisturiser, Colgate toothpaste, toothbrush, earplugs, wrap-around eye mask and a pair of travel socks.
The new products sit in line with the new Aurora spa offering in Sydney and Melbourne’s first lounges, and even in the rest of the lounges you will see the ASPAR range appearing in the bathrooms. But it’s the geometric amenity kit bag we are excited about, and that is definitely a keep sake in our travel kit!
New Economy Dining
For the 5 million economy travellers with Qantas each year, there is great news. Qantas unveiled details of its new inflight dining offering, which is set to re-define the travel experience for international Economy customers when it rolls out across the network from 25 November. Customers will enjoy a wider choice of meals, a whopping fifty per cent larger serving and faster service due to an ingenious change to the way the food is presented.
“We have worked closely with Australia’s leading producers and suppliers to deliver what we believe to be the best inflight economy dining experience offered by any international carrier,” said Qantas group CEO Alan Joyce. “The new menu offers more generous meals and an increase from two to four meal options. We also have new meal categories, including a healthy option, comfort food and a meal inspired by the route itself, like Smoky Barbeque Beef on our US flights. We have extended our Select on Q Eat service to Economy passengers enabling them to pre-order their meal online with access to an exclusive dish as the fourth dish. Together with new serving plates, which remove the need for trays, our crew will be able to serve and clear meals up to 30 minutes faster giving them more time to interact and assist passengers,” added Mr Joyce.
12 months of research has gone into updating the economy menu, and although a slight difference, it is offering the most radical shift in presentation in decades. Some of the new dishes on the menu include smoky barbecue beef with roasted sweet potato, broccoli and corn; honey roasted chicken farro salad and seasonal vegetables with pumpkin and sesame seeds; scrambled eggs with chicken sausage, tomato, hash brown and baked beans; and Ruby & Roy’s traditional Greek yoghurt with granola. Pulled beef sliders with capsicum and tomato relish, Weis ice-cream bars, Maltesers and fresh fruit are among the self-serve grazing options. Shortly after take-off passengers will even be served a welcome drink from Bickford’s signature range, featuring flavours exclusive to Qantas such as Lemon & Elderflower, and Pink Grapefruit – a similar move to that of Virgin Atlantic’s new service offering.
Upgraded Entertainment
Qantas has begun to implement its new and improved inflight entertainment program giving customers more choice and variety and more regular and in-depth news coverage as a result of its new partnership with Sky News, Foxtel and Fox Sports. Qantas customers will be able to view a complete package of news, sport, entertainment and lifestyle programs with the partnership marking the start of a comprehensive transformation of Qantas’ inflight entertainment programming.
Qantas Group Executive, Brand Marketing and Corporate Affairs, Olivia Wirth said Qantas’ inflight entertainment was a defining feature of the on-board experience with the airline committed to investing and innovating for customers.
“From the latest in seat back technology to our Q streaming service, Qantas is working hard to deliver the luxury of home entertainment in the sky,” Ms Wirth said. “By partnering with news and entertainment experts like Foxtel and Sky News we’re able to deliver a greater variety of premium content on a more regular basis, just as our customers would experience at home. This means multiple, daily news updates seven days a week, 100 hours more TV and movie content, 160 hours of box set viewing, triple the number of new release albums and double the number of blockbusters.”
- More news – Qantas customers will enjoy multiple daily news bulletins on international and domestic flights seven days a week.
- More exposure – A new international Australian news service called Australia Channel will broadcast live to Qantas’ international network of lounges so customers returning home will be able to watch the latest news, sport and business updates from Australia. Domestic customers will also enjoy this service.
- More sport – Fox Sports content will be on offer for customers including highlights packages, interviews and documentaries.
- More variety – A Foxtel Picks channel will showcase a library of lifestyle, drama, food, sport and entertainment programming from the likes of The Lifestyle Channel, Fox8, Showcase, the History Channel and Comedy Channel.
- More content – Customers can expect more volume in popular categories including double the number of new releases and blockbusters, kid’s and drama content. Four times more business programming.
- More music – Customers can now listen to a greater selection of music with triple the number of albums added each quarter.
It seems the passenger experience continues to just get better!
TheDesignAir 
How does the new Economy service offer a faster delivery? As a Flight Attendant for another international carrier, I don’t quite see how this would work efficiently. It would seem that having to put down each component (bread, main, dessert, flatware) separately would actually increase delivery time.
When we flew with Qantas to Dubai from London they had the new service and it did seem much more streamlined. Notice how one plate is about half the size of a regular tray, meaning that you can fit all the meal service in one trolley. All very well choreographed and we loved the friendliness of the crew.