{"id":385386,"date":"2026-01-01T20:27:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T20:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/385386\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T20:27:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T20:27:23","slug":"different-with-qantas-virgin-australia-passenger-fumes-over-disappointing-business-class-feature-but-not-everyone-agrees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/385386\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Different with Qantas&#8217;: Virgin Australia passenger fumes over disappointing business class feature &#8211; but not everyone agrees"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Virgin Australia passenger has criticised the business class meal selection on domestic flights, claiming one element of the meal in particular is &#8220;disappointing&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>The frequent flyer revealed they usually fly with Qantas, but after taking three separate Virgin Australia business class flights in the past few months, decided to rank the meals provided.<\/p>\n<p>They claimed the side dishes served up alongside the main meals were not up to scratch in comparison with the equivalent offerings on a Qantas flight.<\/p>\n<p>On the first flight, Virgin Australia dished up pesto pasta, with the option to add on chicken, and this was ranked a mediocre three out of five.<\/p>\n<p>The passenger was far more impressed with the second flight&#8217;s dish of massaman chicken with rice, ranking the meal an impressive four out of five.<\/p>\n<p>However, a Christmas special meal of turkey with vegetables only managed to score a disappointing two out of five.<\/p>\n<p>All three meals were pictured, on Reddit, with a side of cheese and crackers while the turkey meal also included what appeared to be a small piece of chocolate.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As someone who usually flies with Qantas on domestic trips, I was a little bit disappointed with the dining on Virgin Australia,&#8221; the frustrated passenger wrote alongside the pictures.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"poster-img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/b6f064d32a6e2deec7da5db8545a3ab0.jpeg\" data-sctrack=\"op-poster-img\" alt=\"Virgin launches cabin service for pets on select domestic flights\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At least with Qantas when you get a bad meal (not uncommon) you can rely on a nice piece of bread and some Pepe Saya butter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Plain old cheese and crackers really isn&#8217;t much of a side in my opinion.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Despite the criticism and preference for Qantas&#8217; mealtime side options, the passenger did praise Virgin Australia for it&#8217;s selection of &#8220;pre-departure beverages&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;All three of my flights started with the choice of water or sparkling wine which isn&#8217;t something I&#8217;ve seen on Qantas domestic business class for years,&#8221; they said.<\/p>\n<p>The passenger also noted the three flights provided an &#8220;overall good experience&#8221; and they didn&#8217;t want to &#8220;complain too much&#8221; because the equivalent flights on Qantas would have cost significantly more.<\/p>\n<p>Commentors disagreed with the business class passenger&#8217;s initial assessment and argued Virgin Australia provided a better service compared with Qantas.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have flown VA business a handful of times and Qantas business once, and the Qantas food was a lot worse,&#8221; one wrote.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Better than Qantas slop,&#8221; another agreed.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;VA business meals are a million times better since they changed caterer. Haven&#8217;t had a bad one in twelve months,&#8221; a third added.<\/p>\n<p>SkyNews.com.au has contacted a representative for Virgin Australia for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Virgin Australia passenger has criticised the business class meal selection on domestic flights, claiming one element of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,192384,22928,44,3861,12807],"class_list":["post-385386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business-class","tag-flight","tag-news","tag-qantas","tag-virgin-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}