Apologies I made the request/choice over a month ago and did not realise that a no beef meal is regarded as a special meal.

When the menu's are given out, I have never been able to asked for my choice there & then (whenever in business, premium or economy). When cabin crew was serving the food they asked me what I wanted, with my mother they just handed her the special meal, when my mother said she would like the pasta they said but you asked for the special meal, not if it's available we can change it for you/hang on and we will see what we can do for you.

BTW although it was CX254 it was not the red eye flight, it was delayed 12 hours plus "due to crew deployment circumstances". I would have expected the cabin crew to accommodate reasonable requests to appease already disgruntled customers whatever cabin class they are sitting in. I know from experience that there is always enough meals to go around but enough choices of meals is a different matter especially if you are sitting in the lower class cabins.

Cost Savings??? I don't know if this happens on Cathay or any other airline but I saw Qantas cabin crew pouring all open bottles (75cl) of wines & spirits down the sink 15 mins before landing.