Has anybody had problems with ordering veggie meals and what are procedures? I booked online and tried to get them for my girlfriend and was told by the F/A that catering did not board them and that I should ask for special meals 48 hours prior because they clear the record out. Luckily, I had enough cheese and fruit in the snacks to tide her over while I got the meat. Later, I asked the gate agent to check the PNR and he said it was in the computer but apparently was not overtly flagged. Since we checked in 6 hours early to visit friends, he called catering and got a veggie bagel on board.

Also what special meals are available? We have a trip with lunch next month.

PS-I like the cold chicken plate.

I often order the low fat/low cal meal, which consists of grilled chicken, steamed vegetables and a salad. The desert is a pear or peach(while others enjoy cheesecake). I almost always order this, especially if I'm in one of the last rows of the F cabin. Even in coach, they do a good job to take care of the special meal orders.

I've never had a problem ordering a special meal in advance, and they always have it for me on board. In fact, when the FA comes around the cabin taking meal orders, he/she is always sure to inform me that "we have your special meal for you today Mr. xxx".

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PHL:
I often order the low fat/low cal meal, which consists of grilled chicken, steamed vegetables and a salad. The desert is a pear or peach(while others enjoy cheesecake). I almost always order this, especially if I'm in one of the last rows of the F cabin. Even in coach, they do a good job to take care of the special meal orders.

I've never had a problem ordering a special meal in advance, and they always have it for me on board. In fact, when the FA comes around the cabin taking meal orders, he/she is always sure to inform me that "we have your special meal for you today Mr. xxx".

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I ordered a fruit plate about four days prior to our SAN-PHL flight and it never showed up...

I order seafood meals often. About 10 percent of the time catering screws up and doesn't load them (almost always PHL). A petty observation. Even with a "special", the plane is normaly catered with the enough appetizers and salads in First, but frequently they don't offer these to you when you have the special. My guess is that's either an oversight....or maybe the crew eats the stuff. Nah.

For breakfast and snack flights I always order the seafood meal. For breakfast, it’s a cold plate of smoked salmon, capers, onions, lemon wedges, cream cheese and bagel. Usually, a small fruit plate is served too. This, with a glass of champagne, makes for civil AM fare.

On snack flights, it’s almost always a cold plate of 6 jumbo shrimp, tomato and cucumber wedges served on a bed of mixed lettuce or harcort verts. This definietly beats whatever half sandwich they’re offering to others. Other passengers will inevitably ask how you got such a great meal. On one of my flights last week, the new f/a actually asked me if I had to pay extra for it!

My success on actually getting this is about 100% at TPA, 95% for PIT; 75% at CLT; 40% for PHL; and 10% for DTW. Bon appetit!

Thanks for the info, connecting through PIT so maybe they'll get it right.

Thank you Tampa the Seafood option for first class indeed seems like a hidden upgrade !!!
I did not know that this option exists.
How far in advance do they have to be ordered ? Is it early enough when I upgrade to First 72 hours before the flight??

I myself did not know this option existed. Is the seafood meal available from every city or just a select few? Anyone have a clue?



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"We are dimming the cabin lights to enhance the beauty of our flight crew" - Actual Quote.

Chairmans: USAir, Gold: NWA, Diners, HH, Gold: Marriott

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">How far in advance do they have to be ordered?</font>

Per rez, 24 hrs. in advance. Also, you may want to double check that the correct seafood meal code is entered; it's very similar to "salt-free meal" and sometimes they confuse the codes.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by eurousair:
I did not know that this option exists.</font>

Eurousair:

I think that I have a photo of one of these meals from my in-cabin photo files. If you (or anyone else)would like a jpeg (shrimp/smoked salmon combo) e-mail me and I'll send it to you.


[This message has been edited by TPA us ff (edited 07-25-2001).]

Thanks for the tip on the seafood meal. I'm going to try it out on my trip to MSY this weekend. Does anyone know what you get if you order the Seafood option in Coach? In fact...what do you get for "snack" or "breakfast" in coach normally? I don't think I've ever been in Y when they actually serve this "meal". http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Two comments:

A. Ordering special meals can reduce your potential for a last-minute upgrade (varies a bit by airline, but I'm pretty sure none will give you an op upgrade if your record shows a special meal).

B. I got the impression that US is lousy at boarding special meals when on an SFO-PIT a Muslim family seating next to me (in coach) didn't get their hallal meal. They were completing a LGW-PIT-SFO-PIT-LGW and said that the whole way from LGW to SFO they had nothing to eat because US forgot to load their meal as well, and this time they had even reconfirmed it with US the day before.

I felt sorry for them as the choice for breakfast was omlette with bacon or pancakes with sausage in between! The FA's were really mean to them too (their sarcasm was unbelieveable) and didn't offer any alternatives (surely they could have brought over something from FC???).
I almost regretted not requesting a special meal as well (as pork is also a no-no for me) until I got an op upgrade to Envoy on the PIT-FRA leg http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif.

Thank you TPA for the insider track to the seafood option.
Ordered it for the first time last wednesday from CLT to PBI in First on a snack flight and it was exactly as forecasted by you.
They had a very nice looking plate with six gigantic shrimps and some smoked salmon and cheesecake for desert. Defenitely the best midday snack I had on a short First class flight (1,5 hours) in a long time. And quite an upgrade to the 4567893499999999 time the cold chicken.
By the way my significant other for the first time understood the value of playing on this board chewing happily on any single shrimp!!!!!!!!!

[This message has been edited by eurousair (edited 08-05-2001).]

An update on my recent trip, the veggie meals were there for my girlfriend and I enjoyed the standard meals. The CP agent got a laugh when I said I even liked the cold chicken plate. I did chose a warm chicken plate for lunch. They also asked front to back and served that way in both directions. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Any idea what the lunch would be on the seafood option?