Originally Posted by
halls120
There is an easy solution to the "who gets their choice of meal first" argument. UA should fix whatever is wrong with their IT to enable F and J passengers to easily make a meal selection, and either hire a caterer who can deliver or pay the one they are using more $$ so that these embarrassing missteps are eliminated.
Basically if what is being said in this thread is correct, there is no pre-ordering like SQ but pre-allocation of what UA planned to have on board anyway. So all this does is essentially change the order priority to give the advantage of first choice to those order online in advance, then GS, then 1K, etc...
(I know, I am slow to figure these things out.)
Before the pandemic Japanese meal selection on flights to/from Japan did not work this way, the whole cabin could pre-order a Japanese meal and get it. Very disappointed to see such a dumb-downed approach.