mgobluetex

It's supposed to be by status but as you can tell from the thread, it's the wild wild west. We, wife, kids and me, flew IAH-FRA and we all received our first choice. We have no status and we were only asked for our primary and not a primary and a backup. Trying to plan where you're going to sit based on meal preference is a crap shoot. Best shot is to sit near the front of the cabin.

WineCountryUA

1. GS
2, 1K
3. All other revenue customers (Paid or miles)

The FA are to take orders from front to back and prioritize in the Gallery.
Bur FAs tend to vary the approach.
Some will hop around & do GS / 1Ks first

SuiteFlyer

Yesterday, flying IAH - SFO, I had pre-ordered a breakfast and it was not loaded - further, the flight attendant did not acknowledge my GS status and I got the second choice - next time I will remind them.

limey1K

Same here yesterday in MSY. I was in 4A when she got to me she said she only had the Thai noodles left. I declined and she asked me if I wanted a box instead

cfischer

did you remind her about 'meal priority'?

Whyme

Yes, on those rare occasions the app was working properly. More likely, all the orders would vanish off the app and he/she would have to retake them using paper and pen. Or the app would just state that there were no more "entree choice" available and it wouldn't automatically populate the orders by status as it is supposed to. I think my app has worked properly maybe once ever from initial beta testing to a couple days ago.

limey1K

I did not. She had asked 4B what he wanted and he took the last meatball meal (my preference) so I would have essentially looked like i was taking his lunch. I just wasn't up for the aggro.

itripreport

Recently flew Polaris BCN-EWR, showed up late to the airport, was one of the last onboard so I can't recall on how preboarding went. Once onboard, only difference from non 1Ks was that during the meal service, FA asked everyone but 1Ks and GSs for their back up meal of choice, while only asking us for our first. On my second leg, EWR-MIA, FAs confirmed/took 1Ks orders first.

unitedbusiness

this is and has been normal procedure on UA…was this something you just noticed ?

Repooc17

Most of my flights are the domestic variety, and based on my data points, 9 out 10 flights FA just take orders by row, no 1K prioritization. Inconsistent at best.

HNLbasedFlyer

Ive never seen a flight without meal prioritization. Just because you go row by row doesn’t mean they aren’t prioritized

Repooc17

So when I am sitting in the last row in F, everyone else in front rows are 1K or higher? Come on now! Just because you haven't seen it, does not mean it does not happen. It happens a lot, actually, call it crappy EWR crew or whatever, but UA is notorious for its inconsistency.

I have had many occasions where they only had the last choice. Prioritization logic

ani90

There is a dedicated thread on this subject. Taking orders from front to back is the standard procedure and meal prioritization is then done at the galley. Taking orders by row doesn't mean prioritization is not taking place. Of course some FAs prefer to first take orders from GS first and then 1K but that can look awkward so front to back is the standard approach as stated by UA Insider.

The question is whether those nine out of ten flights you have not got your meal choice (even if stated as the last choice). If it is indeed happening at such frequency that 1Ks have not received their choice, then that seems unreported or unnoticed by others. There are certainly failures of prioritization reported in the dedicated thread, but not to this degree. Where you have not got your choice did you remind them of your status? What response did you get?

Ophelia

I have had FAs take orders row by row, and in some cases, ask for a second choice, and when they come to me, do not ask for a second choice. (In fact, one time, one was about to ask me for a second choice, and then looked at her list and said "oh, wait never mind, thank you for being a 1K member")

econ

You're lucky they waited until you boarded. They sometimes ask for meal choice during boarding, especially on widebodies. In fact, my last SFO-HNL on the 77W they were down to only one option by the time I boarded, and when the FA got to me all he had left was the egg pastry and sausage dish. I actually kind of like that meal, so I wasn't really disappointed. I did ask what the other choice was, and he said French Toast. I kind of shook my head in disbelief that was such a popular choice, and the FA kind of knowingly responded: "Yeah, you'd be surprised".