United Airlines will restore special meals on more routes as the carrier slowly unwinds its pandemic-era cutbacks.
United Airlines Special Meals Available On More Routes
With the exception of Kosher meals, it has been difficult to order a special meal if you have dietary needs and are flying United Airlines. That forced passengers with special needs to pack their own food, even if flying in a premium cabin.
Effective April 1, 2022, three additional special meals will be available, in addition to Kosher meals:
- Asian vegetarian meal (AVML)
- Gluten-intolerant meal (GFML)
- Vegan/strict vegetarian meal (VGML)
These special meals will be available on the following routes:
- All U.S. outbound international flights
- Domestic flights over 2,000 miles
- Premium transcontinental flights
You can request your special meal on either united.com or on the United mobile app.
How to request a special meal using united.com
- Go to My Trips
- Select a trip from the list, or search for one using your confirmation number and last name
- Below the list of travelers, select “Special Meal”
- Select a traveler and enter their meal preference, then select “Send request”
How to request a special meal using the United app
- Go to My United
- Select a trip from the list, or search for one using your confirmation number and last name
- Select “Edit traveler information”
- Select “Edit” for any traveler requesting a special meal
- Choose a meal option, then select “Save to reservation”
And a bit of advice: those special meals are often pretty darn tasty (not the Kosher meals, which are often pre-packaged and over-processed). Asian vegetarian meals and vegan menus will at least result in a bit of variation over the usual chicken or ragu polenta in domestic first class. If you are flying economy class on a longhaul flight, I’d also recommend an Asian vegetarian meal, which often results in delicious Indian food (since that reheats well).
Hopefully over time United will continue to offer a more extensive menu of items when passengers book in advance. That eliminates waste, leads to more satisfied passengers, and helps to move United toward its self-professed goal of being a top global airline.
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CONCLUSION
United Airlines will again offer a number of special meals on many of its longhaul routes. This marks another small step in the return to normality.
I think UA is feeding you a line. I have an April 1 daytime transcon and under “special meals” I receive a message “special meals aren’t available for all flights in your itinerary” (there is only 1 flight) In fact I don’t think UA is even offering meals on the flight as it says “snacks for purchase” under Meals. No kosher, nada.
Very disappointing for a 5-hr daytime flight.
They sure do, even on flights that are only 2 hours. (Denver to Chicago-I was served a hot meal) Theses are options in first class and will be nice to have Vegan and gluten-free meals available on cross country and international flights.
I spotted TULIP LOGO on that tray photo – Miss old days!
Why can’t domestic first class return to normal meals? Remember the days when it was something different every flight, and you would get salad, desert, nuts, and the whole nine yards on a flight as short as LAX-DEN? Will we ever see those days again?
I suppose a lot of it still has to do with supply chain issues and staffing shortages with it’s catering partners.
I’m flying economy plus BOS to LHR and the reservation says no meal service either way. That’s for a 6 hour 35 min flight over the pond and a 7hour 40 minute flight back. How is it that they won’t be serving food on a long haul international flight like that? I love flying United but that seems to fall very short in the service department.
Just a website display error – you will receive a meal after takeoff and snack before landing on both flights.
Leaving for Buenos Aires on Tuesday in Polaris Business Class and returning from Santiago in late April in American Flagship Business. The latter gave me a choice of four count’em, four entrees including Chilean Sea Bass which has had good reviews elsewhere. Come on United. No preorder from your Houston hub. 10-hour flight with yak steak.
what is the big deal on preorder. I do not preorder at a restaurant 30 days out
Kosher meals are that bad and they still haven’t gotten them in all the itineraries they claim. My husband (1K in Business) flew last week BOS-LAX-HNL and got a decent (for kosher) only on the first leg. They gave him a voucher and 10K miles to apologize after he complained. Same in the way back – one leg got a meal and one didn’t.
Jus checked United app for my mid April flight from sfo to Singapore and I was able to choose the special meals
I just checked my booking for IAH-HNL on May 3rd and no vegan option available, only kosher. I think the April 1st rollout might be wishful thinking …
Actually as of today, the United website is also still listing AVML, GFML and VGML as not available, only saying they will be “reintroduced in Q2’2022”. Only Kosher meals available.
Still no gluten-free options on United, and it’s almost mid-May 2022. I have to take my own food. I don’t understand them. If I eat gluten by mistake, I’ll be screaming in pain and hogging a toilet, if I can get to one in time. And they don’t put ingredients on their meals, so I can’t even tell if it’s gluten-free.
I am a United MileagePlus 1K member and have been flying business class between North America and Tokyo about 4-5 times a year for the past few years. All airlines have cut costs on in-flight meals during the pandemic, but United cut costs to the extreme, offering a meal that’s not too different from economy. After recovering from the pandemic, the in-flight meals are somewhat better, but compared to other companies such as ANA, they are extremely inferior. There are very few options and the quality is very poor and the food does not taste good.
The longest flight between North America and Tokyo is 13.5 hours, but the only mid-flight snacks are potato chips, cheesy snacks and cold wraps. I can’t believe this is business class meal service.
It’s 2023 and I’m still unable to request special meal for my 18 hr flight to India from US ! This is beyond ridiculous
UA offers special meals on all longhaul flights – what seems to be the problem?