After my seatmate hissy fit incident last week, I thought it would be helpful to review how meal orders are supposed to be taken and prioritized on United Airlines in premium cabins.
Understanding Premium Cabin Meal Order Preferences On United Airlines
United offers snack or meal service in premium cabins on most flights over two hours. Typically, two choices are available (three to Hawaii and on longhaul international flights) and are divided roughly equally. What happens if everyone wants the same dish?
Per official policy, meal preferences are to be prioritized in the following order:
- Preorders
- Global Services members
- 1K members
- All other revenue passengers from front to back
- Non-revs
Two key points to note. First, United now explicitly has informed flight attendants that preorders always take precedence over even the first choice of Global Services members. A memo to flight attendants reviewed by Live and Let’s Fly notes:
Customers with preorders take precedence in receiving their first choice over GS/1K customers. If the customer with the preorder changes their mind, then they will no longer take precedence over our GS/1K customers.
Second, United does not give higher preference to those who paid more a ticket versus those who upgraded. Nor does it give any preference even for MileagePlus Premier Platinum or Gold members over a general member who may be seated a row or two in front.
What Happens In Practice
If you fly United Airlines enough, you’ll note some flight attendants hop around the cabin, taking orders from highest status to lowest status. While this may make you feel special if you are asked early what your meal preference is, this is not proper protocol.
Rather, protocol is taking all orders from front to back, asking passengers for both their first and second choice. After all meal orders are taken, preferences are to be sorted in the galley. Passengers who do not wind up with their first choice are then informed and given a choice of a snack box or other alternative if they do not care for the second choice.
United has recently asked flight attendants to take meal orders using their company-issued iPhones, which have the added benefits of sorting meal orders automatically and providing analytics to United which will help it to load meals more effectively to reduce waste and maximize passenger preference.
I’m a very frequent United flyer and I’ve noticed a couple things. First, flight attendants seem resistant to taking orders by app and most still use pen and paper. Second, flight attendants rarely follow protocol and ask each passenger for first and second choice.
Instead, they tally meal choices as they work their way from front to back and when one option runs out, the remaining meal choice is offered, sometimes with a second choice of a snack box or fresh food item from the economy class buy-on-board menu.
What To Do If You Feel You Have Been Incorrectly Skipped Over
I ran into an incident once this year where a flight attendant did not take meal orders correctly and by the time she reached me in row five said there were only waffles left for breakfast (sound familiar…?)
Rather than throw a hissy fit, I gently asked if every passenger in front of me was also a 1K or Global Services member. She got the message and suddenly eggs were available.
Let’s remember it’s just airline food (though I think United’s domestic food is pretty tasty these days). I’m not going to get worked up over any airline meal and you should not either. If you have dietary restrictions, plan ahead for the worst.
Like with many things in life, honey works better than vinegar. Be polite, be courteous, and you stand a much better chance of scoring the meal you want, all else equal.
CONCLUSION
United’s method of sorting meal preference may seem opaque at times, but flight attendants have been provided a clear protocol. Unless you hold top-tier status, try to sit as close to the front as possible if you care deeply about your meal choice.
As United rolls out the ability to pre-order meals from more stations, this problem should get better. But until that happens, now you have a better idea of what to expect when ordering food in a United Airlines premium cabin, especially if you are an infrequent United flyer.
image: iyd39 via Shutterstock
I’ve been GS for several years (done the hard way through a ton of domestic flights) and have found that the flight attendants almost never take status into account during meal service. If I wind up sitting further back than the 4th row, I’m simply accustomed to being told that my meal choice is not available. It’s why I always try to sit in the first three rows. Matthew, I have never asked them to check if others that ordered my preferred meal choice deserved priority over me as it simply isn’t worth the discussion with a flight attendant who simply wants to get the food out so that they can sit back down and put their face in their phone. Regardless of what Luc Bondar and others at United say about showing appreciation to their best customers, unfortunately it is much more the exception than the norm at United.
You are entirely correct – The old days GS maybe got the choice of steak or chicken and that is about it. They do not realize who pays their paychecks, nor do most of them care at all. There are, of course, exceptions, and I value those attendants who go the extra mile to provide great service to all!
Some are resistant to using the Link to take orders for three reasons. First, it takes a really long time to use the Link. Second, the Link meal order app has a tendency to delete all the meal orders and then you have to go back and take them a second time. Third, when you run out of choices, the app won’t let you put a 1K or GS’s order in. It simply tells you there are no eggs remaining. It’s “prioritizing” skills are a little messed up. Paper is faster and more accurate, then we put the paper meals orders into the Link later so the company gets the information. A GS or 1K who is told there is no meal choice left for them should always question the flight attendant.
jm – thanks for the advice and I might do that next time. Nice to hear from someone at UA that clearly is on their game. Since I fly United so much, I really want to enjoy the experience but I have found that more and more FAs are very uninterested in a providing a high quality service experience. On the flip side, I have seen some awful passenger behavior and I’m sure that it is quite difficult not to become very jaded over time.
I rarely fly United but on Delta that is not the case. FAs come from front to back or sometimes back to front (I think I read somewhere it depends on the last digit of the flight number). Anyway, I was for many years a Delta360 member which is an invitation only status above Diamond and I never had any preference in ordering meals other than pre-orders. On international flights when flying business class I try to seat in the middle of the cabin if I plan to eat so my chances of getting my first choice are higher.
How difficult would it be for an overpaid UA executive to figure out most franchise food outlets thrive with a menu based on salads and sandwiches? Have catering deliver bagged mixed greens, Olive Garden salad dressing, assorted toppings in separate containers and bowls. Toss to order. A bag of bread, deli meats,roasted vegetables and aged cheese heated per request. Zero drama.
I find United’s “food” to be disgusting. Every time I think it’s hit rock bottom they find a way to make it worse. I buy only F/J and always eat before or after a flight (even with Polaris) as I find it all so disgusting. I pay for a seat and as a GS I get just that.
Good to know, thanks for sharing. Now move along.
Read this post after just reading a very interesting post and series of comments on Ann Althouse’s blog site that dealt with all the different ways things can be ordered (in the sense of sorted or sequenced) and the implications of picking any particular methodology. The United plan for taking meal orders is a mish-mash of many different schemes, which in my opinion is why it is evidently so controversial.
The ordering methodologies used are based on location (front to back), chronological (pre-orders first), hierarchical (by status level and fare paid), plus more. All the conflicts arise when folks read more into the ordering scheme being used than is intended. Using a simple scheme based on seat location gets all confounded by people thinking that the scheme is (or should be) really based on a hierarchical scheme of “importance”. This is why United tries to thread the needle from so many different directions and still leaves many dissatisfied.
I find it somewhat odd that they don’t pay any attention to *G status. Sounds like a HON on a LH ticket flying a UA-operated codeshare on one of the transatlantic JV flights would get no priority over someone without any FFP membership. It’s one thing if the approach is simply front-to-back, but having a formal protocol which ignores partner elites just seems wrong.
I love how first class paying passangers are practically last.
It does seem a bit ironic, but it also raises the discussion of how loyalty should be measured – in the aggregate or on a transactional basis?
Having run several businesses in different industries, my answer to that question is that the lifetime value of the customer is by far the most important measurement. Someone who is a one off United passenger but pays top $ for a last minute J fare ticket is a nice immediate pop to the bottom line but simply doesn’t come close to the past and future value of someone who has flown and will continue to fly United regularly.
Agree. As an upgraded 1K I am embarrassed if I get preference over someone who paid several hundred more dollars than me.
Matthew, thanks for the interesting follow-up.
I asked in the original hissy fit thread after everyone moved on, but what value do you place on the food portion of flying in First domestically (regardless of airline)? I’ve argued with coworkers and others, I feel the value is around $25 or so. I’m much more internally aligned with the premium cost is for the seat width/pitch, IFE, alcoholic beverages and early on/early off.
Your thoughts?
Hi Larry, sorry I missed your other question. I’d rate it a bit higher, probably closer to $40. But I’m really into presentation, like real glasses and garnishes. Meal service is very important to me, not so much for the food (I almost hate to eat airline food because it spoils my dieting at home), but because it instills this idea of dignity in travel versus merely being a bus from point A to point B. I realize that this does not matter for many people.
Maybe I’m just a barbarian, because I strongly disagree.
Then again, I’m one of those who (aside from the bigger seat) do not get International F. I have no need for caviar or Dom/Krug, just a nice meal and a good decent nap.
I do the value equation a little differently. I recall the days back when I started flying international economy for work. I hated it. Absolutely hated it. I had so many bad experiences that I won’t recount here, and arrived feeling miserable and resentful. I reached a point where I figured that if I could not improve the experience, I just needed to stop doing those projects. So I looked into how to get discount business class on various airlines, and get upgrades with miles. I quickly realized that these kinds of things turned an often deeply unpleasant experience into a pleasant one. So, to me, the whole package, seat, food, beverage and lounge, are the difference between arriving in a good and productive mood and arriving in a miserable or unproductive one. Anything that furthers that is important to me.
A few years ago I was flying in F LAXEWR, sitting in row 4. Being 1K I expected to get my first choice for breakfast which was an omelet. When the FA got to me I was informed that only cereal was left. While I would have preferred the hot entree, cereal was fine. Once breakfast was cleared away I went to the front lav passing by the galley and noticed the FA who took my order eating an omelet. I didn’t say anything but made eye contact. No sooner had I returned to my seat and the lead FA came over and handed me a card with the contact information for Customer Relations (or whatever it was called at that time), she also apologized for what happened. Customer Relations quickly responded to my complaint and compensated me very nicely for the issue.
@John: Are you sure it was few years ago? Your story was probably true… 25 years ago.
You probably caught the flight attendant eating the meal boarded for her and the lead flight attendant knew exactly what you’d assume…especially given the staredown you describe. They actually do get to eat while working, which I know is shocking. I mean, why should they get to eat food? Often their choice of meals from the company are the exact same options as what’s boarded for the passengers. So there’s a possibility you stared down someone working who was eating their rightfully earned meal
If that was the case, the lead should have explained to me the FA was eating a “crew meal” and not am omelet boarded for passengers.
On AA they have a much simpler formula. Turkey Pastrami Sandwiches for everyone.
Waahh
I had my first “Meal” on a United flight in First Class in 2 years this week. I’m 1K and was in the last row, 4F. Needless to say, I was asked last. In the past 2 years, they only offered “Snack Boxes” in First Class. And several times, “Sorry, we weren’t catered”, so nothing on board at all.
Did you receive your first choice?
When asked for my second choice, I just say it’s the same as my first.
I’m sure the FAs love you! 😉
Clearly in today’s world the real solution is to get as many people as possible to preorder. it wouldn’t take much I would think to weave that into the check in process ideally via the app but even at the airport. By the time boarding starts especially if there are only two choices inflight could have a list of who preordered what and just tell catering they need x of meal 1 and y of meal choice 2.
Unfortunately, United’s preorder process doesn’t work that way. They still cater the same ratio of food, but a certain number of people get to preorder their choice. If everyone who preorders orders eggs, they still cater 50% eggs/50% waffles (or whatever the current ratio is). Preorders don’t change what is catered.
Back in the day, I worked at United’s LAX Flight Kitchen on midnight shift. The chefs were cracking eggs and making omelettes right after the shift started. They were then on low heat the rest of the night until the food trucks picked up the modules to load onto the morning flights. I’ve never eaten eggs on United.
Monday’s return ORD-IAH was in a suite on a 767-300ER. FA went down one aisle front to back, then the other aisle front to back. She both wrote on paper and used a device.
I average four flights per week on UA, and am 1K. It appears First Class meal protocol varies based on whether the departure is from a hub, distance flown, widebody vs narrow body, suites vs old lie flats, regional vs mainline, the amount of turbulence, etc.
On Alaska I always preorder the fruit and cheese plate. I wish United had something similar, with yogurt as an added option. A fresh green salad would also be nice.
Big news today on the Polaris retrofit program as now all but 10 787-9s have Polaris. Effective Dec 16, you are guaranteed to have Polaris and Premium Plus for sale on all 787-9 international routes from costal hubs (EWR, IAD, SFO, LAX).
787-9 routes from DEN, ORD, IAH will not yet sell Premium Plus and will still show the old seat map, however, there is a good chance your plane gets swapped to a new one, it just will have Premium Plus sold as economy plus.
So disrespectful! It should be the other way around. DEN, ORD, and IAH have carried united throughout covid and now they get the sh!tty planes! Come on Patrick Quayle!
789s are almost all retrofitted.
Hi Matthew, first time leaving a comment, I’m wondering what your perception would be if you were offered a combo plate style meal, where instead of two distinct options, every customer in first was given the same meal which included both… that would definitely reduce the number of confrontations FA’s deal with when it comes to meal choice hissy fits.
The other day I was flying from Houston to Orlando with my wife on the same reservation in first class. She’s one K and I’m Platinum because of a fluke this year. The flight attendant asked my wife what her choice was and didn’t ask me. I thought it was kind of weird considering that were on the same reservation. Especially since I’m the Million Miler and my wife only has her status because she started with the Gold she gets as my spouse!.
Now you know why!
As a FA I wish passengers would take the time to find out their particular airline’s procedure before accusing the FA of going out of order. Not speaking of you, but just in general. I’ve had questioning EXPLATS that thought they should be asked first but that’s not our procedure at my airline. Ours goes by flight direction and whether it crossers a time zone.
The app doesn’t work on every route. We are not resistant to using it, but United decides which routes its programmed into our iPhone to work, then it usually still doesn’t work correctly. Technology is great but that meals app is not .
Good to know. Thanks.
Interestingly, in the last few months, since UA started edging out of the pandemic, I have found some of their domestic F food to be better than pre-pandemic. And I have not had to take a second choice, though I usually try to be as close to the front of F as I can be without being in row 1, so maybe that is why. I like the cheese enchiladas, and the spicy chicken and the ragu polenta are surprisingly good compared to what I was expecting. The sandwiches are still subpar. Incidentally, I also like the waffle.
This so ironic as I just got off a United Flight from Chicago to Houston as a 1k member I did get an upgrade to first and was in front row and this group started at the front and work back on food orders. it was done on a 8 1/2 blue piece of paper with squares on it for her to take orders. only once in the last 6 month did I have even thank me for being 1K or doing anything special What was real interesting was when they were hanging up the coats they use a cocktail napkin to put the seat number on the hanger. It works but as someone else mentioned another full flight and many folks upset because they had to check bags and continue to have to remind folks put your mask on, I am sure the staff is stress and tired of being everyone’s MOM !!!
Any time a company creates a ‘class system’ on top of another class system, it makes me cringe. Just speaking as an armchair CEO, it’s amazing airlines haven’t figured this out…simply over cater first class to include the number of crew. Give the leftover first class meals to the cabin and flight crew. Everyone will be happy (almost, anyways), because it would ultimately build significant goodwill with the crew and it’s such a tiny gesture, in my opinion.
Flight attendants get their own meals catered
@Sally. Domestically, F/A’s get meals boarded for them according to their duty day: if they have 2+ hours on the ground between flights (and can buy their own food), then meals aren’t boarded. When meals ARE boarded domestically, it’s rarely the same thing as F/C passengers. Internationally, crews get Polaris entrees that are included in the overall meal count: they eat whatever is left over from taking orders.
Although your concept seems idealistic, crew meals are kept separate from pax meals for a reason. Plus even if a crew serves a meal on all 3 legs of a 3 leg day, the crew doesn’t necessarily always have a meal.
For a time a number of years ago, United boarded enough meals for FC passengers and FAs. (i.e. 12 passengers + 10 FAs = 22 FC meals). Protocol was to give FC passengers their choice first, and the FAs would eat whatever was left over. Soon management figured out a way to save even more money. They boarded two “good” choices, and a “garbage” choice. For example, they’d board 7 steak and 5 chicken dinners, and 10 pasta meals. What do you think the FAs were left with? (The pasta was usually a cheap, mushy cheese ravioli in Prego sauce. Yuck!)
It took vigorous intervention from the FA Union to fix the problem, and even then, it was a months-long battle.
I may sound cynical, but as a 30+ year FA at United, I quickly learned that every decision at United starts with the money. And no matter what decisions are made, you can bet that management will find a way to squeeze a few more cents out of it, usually at the cost of the employees. In my experience, the vast majority of FAs at United truly do want to provide the best possible experience for our passengers, but are often stymied by management who are constantly looking for fat to trim.
That’s a really good point – it’s rather unfair that the crew would be stuck with pasta all day every day.
My favorite, more than once, when the FA says, “For meal service, we have chicken or pasta, but we’re out of chicken. What would you like?”
What is the point of telling me about the chicken if it’s not an option?
Also, I recently pre-ordered a dietary restriction meal during my online booking, and was told on the plane United isn’t honoring restricted meals anymore. Again, what’s the point of asking – surveys???
You ask your kids, “pancakes or waffles for breakfast?’. You and the kids know they’re having cereal, just like they have every morning. The FA with the chicken/pasta must have been a Minnesotan.
When I run out of a meal choice I still tell the customer what options we had that day for the simple reason I will go through the cabin again to see if anyone doesn’t mind switching. While pre orders, GS, and 1K get priority I like to make everyone feel they may have a chance to get their desired choice. If nothing else at least it gives a little more effort in making everyone feel important.
A great policy! Kudos to you.
“What To Do If You Feel You Have Been Incorrectly Skipped Over”
You build a bridge and get over it. It’s not the end of the world.
Great article, Matthew! The only thing you got wrong is that we are not catered 50/50 between the two choices. It’s usually something like (for example) 12 meat and 8 vegetarian options, for a 20 seat first class cabin.
There is the UA policy (which you got 100% right), but there is also what works best in practice. I find that skipping around the cabin and asking GS and 1K customers first ensures that they get their first choice. I can then go front to back and when I run out of a choice I don’t even continue to offer it. It prevents onboard incidents. Asking each and every customer for first and second choices takes long time and invites potential problems. GS and 1K customers are irritated because they know they are supposed to get their first choice, and other customers often say things like, “I don’t have a second choice. I better get the chicken.”
The time thing is a very real issue. Sometimes flight time dictates a fast service, but in general they have told us that surveys show our premium customers want to “eat quickly and be left alone.” Unlike one of the commenters said, we do not try to perform service quickly just to sit on the jump seat and stare at our phones. (Personally, I hate down time on flights. So boring! I’d much rather be working!)
I do my absolute best to get EVERYONE their first choice, and I also do my absolute best to treat everyone with kindness, friendliness and politeness. That said, some days you’re working 4 flights a day during a 13 hour duty day and if skipping around the cabin, taking orders with pen and paper, and writing down one choice and skipping the “what’s your second choice?” verbiage saves time and reduces conflict… that’s what I’m going to do. Keep in mind that the people who make the UA policies sit in an office building and don’t work onboard dealing with customers day in and day out.
Hopefully that provides some insight for your general interest. In reading some of the other comments, here’s a fun fact: I know that on occasion when some FAs do take orders per policy (“Hello Mr. so and so. Would you like to join us for dinner today? We’re offering a latin chicken with rice or a vegetarian polenta with a red sauce. What would be your first and second choice? What would you like to drink? Thank you!”) (p.s. Do that 20 times, repeating yourself several times for those that don’t take out their headphones or can’t hear each other through masks), the FAs will generally make sure the nicest people (and of course GS and 1K) get their first choice. A good way to get your second choice is to say something snarky about your airplane food to the flight attendant taking orders.
Love your articles, keep it up!
Appreciate your comment! Thank you. Your logic makes sense.
I’ll note one thing. I’ve been able to pre-order meals lately, which is great, but last night the flight attendants totally ignored me until they plopped the meal down. They took everyone else’s order around me, but did not even say hello. I think it’s important to still greet the passenger and confirm the pre-order if there is one in place.
Absolutely! It’s completely unacceptable to ignore any customer. I apologize for your experience! There is really no excuse for that. I hope your next flight (and every other flight) is much better!