How often are BusinessFirst menus updated? I've been flying IAH-LAX a couple of times a month now and i'm curious as to how often the menu gets updated. While I'd pick the 3-shrimp salad or tukey sandwich over the "jr high cafeteria style fried chicken product sandwich" any day of the week, it's getting kind of old.

-g

The route you describe is domestic First, not BusinessFirst. BusinessFirst menus are updated monthly.

For domestic First, the soup/sandwich/salad menu has been in place since October for dinner flights. I don't see any chance of it changing in the near future. For a little variety, order a special meal. I ordered a seafood meal last week and it was pretty good!

Generally speaking, BusinessFirst menus are updated once a month. However, no BusinessFirst service is offered between LAX and IAH, even if you fly on an aircraft that has BusinessFirst seating. So, you're being served the regular First Class menu on this route regardless of which aircraft is serving it. I have no idea what the exact schedule is for changing the menus, but I do know they change from time to time. But, they're all variations on the same theme.

Really? I thought Hawaii is considered international, and has full-fledged BF service.

If it is regular FC, shouldn't free elite upgrades work on this flight?

Hrm,
So if I'm a lowly silver, I don't get confirmed upgrades until 24 hours before departure. According to the CO website, I think I need to order a special meal "24 hours before departure". This sounds like I must order it ">24 hours before departure."
So I can't call ~24 hours the niht

If this is true, will ordering a special meal preclude me from being automatically upgraded? Or, if the auto-upgrade me will they just load on a special meal?

Or, can I just call exactly 24hrs in advance, find out if i've been upgraded, and then request a meal then?

I guess the best solutions would be to either fly enough to qualify for gold or just buy an F ticket

-g

Sorry--I was planning my own trip to Hawaii--and Hawaii is clearly on my mind!

I used to order special meals (seafood) and I found that when I was upgraded they would track me down with the economy meal rather than serve me the FC variant of the special meal (as a silver). It seems to work better for golds (my wife) and platinums (my boss)

If EUA runs properly, it will give you the upgrade around midnight of the day before the flight. Unless your flight is in the wee hours of the morning, you will have notice of the upgrade well in excess of 24 hours, and plenty of time to make the call for the special meal.

That's *if* EUA runs properly.

My experience last year as a Silver and this year as a Gold is that if you're upgraded in the 24 hour window, you almost never get the First Class veggie meal. Most often the flight attendant tracks down your burrito from economy, heats it up in the oven, and puts it with whatever FC set up is used. If you're upgraded in the Gold window, the FC veggie meal usually comes (if its loaded).

For me (on any airline), I get a special meal only about 50% of the time. What's weird about this with the CO upgrade is that if my meal doesn't get loaded, and I was upgraded in the last 24 hours, I don't get an apology from the flight attendant. If I got upgraded 3 days before, and the meal isn't loaded, they always move heaven and earth to get me something I can eat, including, actually offering to pick the chicken out of pasta. Go figure.