Yep agree, I like it as a passenger knowing that the meal is in the system. Saved me once on an AA flight, even though I had called them nothing appeared on the boarding pass, I asked at check in if the special meal was on the system - nope. So I bought myself some sandwiches for the 15 hour trans-Pacific flight in economy - where the options were chicken or fish. It also reminds me which special meal I ordered (AVML, VGML or VLML) which I change depending on the time of the flights / meals served, rather than having to check with cabin crew. I am sure some crew find it superfluous but equally if you have people swapping seats etc, it is a useful and easy check.