At the opening of the new Qantas London Lounge at Heathrow Airport, CEO Alan Joyce revealed some of the odder requests that staff in the lounge have received, as reported by News.com.
In the years that Joyce has been in the industry, he says that there are three requests, in particular, that stand out:
“Somebody asked for a plate of really small diced up vegetables raw,” he said. “The second weirdest was we had an American that came in and said they didn’t want a burger that was burnt they wanted extra burnt so charcoal nearly.”
“The weirdest one was somebody wanted burger and chips. That doesn’t sound that weird but they wanted it as a smoothie…There are no requests that the staff won’t deliver on.”
Even though Qantas has been flying from London to the Land Down Under for around 70 years, The London Lounge is the Aussie airline’s first Heathrow hub. In March, the airline will introduce a new 17-hour direct service from London direct to Perth in what will be the world’s third longest flight on new 787 planes.
The extra-long haul flight is designed with passengers in mind and includes the ability to experience Aussie culture as soon as they land in Australia with a newly opened lounge in Perth that features an outdoor space and barbecue.
Further, the airline teamed up with scientists to create a better flying experience with improved lighting, seats, humidity and other features, including dishes crafted with Neal Perry.
The London Lounge features a selection of British and Australian dishes and it is estimated that it will go through 50,000 servings of a popular salt-and-pepper calamari dish, 38,000 scones and 200,000 bottles of champagne each year.
The direct flight is a huge change from a route that used to take four days, nine stops and cost four times the average salary when it first started flying passengers 70 years ago.
[Photo: Qantas]