Originally Posted by
milepig
I find this bizarre.
#1 on the list should have been approached and told "we have a seat in first, but there may not be a meal. Of course, we'll bring whatever you'd like from the Economy menu at no charge." Why would anyone turn down an upgrade to first when there's no meal and then sit in economy when they'll bring you the same snacks in F you'd have to buy in Economy (Unless you're 1K or above). I don't see the logic.
Here's the only problem with that. Typically, the FA will start at the front of the class and walk back, asking pax, in seat order what their meal option is. At some point, they will run out of allocations for the "better" meal choice, which means that passengers asked about a meal later in the process only have the less-desirable choice or nothing. So, you have a pretty high likelihood of getting the less-favorable option if you're in Row 6 versus Row 1, just based upon how the ordering/allocation process goes, and if there aren't enough allocations for meals for all F seats, then the folks queried last are simply out of luck. It's reasonable to assume that a full-fare F pax might be sitting in Row 6, which means that the upgrade, if seated in the first couple of rows is more likely to receive the meal than the full-fare in 6. So, in this case, allocating a seat via upgrade with the stipulation that "you might not get a meal" REALLY means, "if we seat you in F, it's likely
someone in F won't get a meal because we did (and that's not necessarily you)".
All the more reason to request a Kosher meal if you're going to book as an F passenger. That meal then becomes tied to your record, and you'll always get it if they are capable of serving it on the flight.