You should be able to choose a Chinese meal. If it's not showing up, you may need to call.

The pilot on several ATL-Europe outbounds just finished up a few weeks ago. If they keep the same features as the pilot test, pax will be able to select via web/email/text.

Meanwhile, American offers this as do many other airlines, both complimentary and for a fee.

I was told via [MENTION=12946]Delta[/MENTION] on twitter maybe 2ish weeks ago it "was" a test market only. Which is a shame, because yes, I know for a fact AA does it I don't know why DL cannot. First world problems but would be a nice option to prevent running out of your first choice

Reminds of the short-lived test (circa summer 2015-ish, if my memory serves me correct) of pre-departure meals in the Sky Club for business-class passengers. It didn't work because Delta's concept was bad.

Not only were the dining options limited, but some lounges were unsure if was provided to all business-class passengers, including those on partner airlines, or only those flying Delta metal. Plus, the servers in the Sky Club really didn't have any experience as a waiter or waitress. At the Atlanta international terminal Sky Club, the managers seemingly provided the service.

As for running out of choices, I don't mind as much on a 3-hour flight in domestic first-class, but I have gotten furious when Delta has run out of choices in international business-class on flights of 8-14 hours because not all pursers don't give paying/high-status passengers first preference over non-revenue/operationally upgraded passengers.

I have no idea why Delta is taking so long with this concept. It can't be rocket science if American has been able to pull it off (and its now been a few years that they have been at it).

I do not know how the American system actually works, I have heard anecdotally that it basically works like special meal orders, except the catering facility knows that special "chix" meal (completely made up the term), is not a special meal but the scheduled domestic first class meal of Herbes de Provence Chicken Breast With mushroom risotto and haricot verts.

The trickier part is those who do not special order a meal, how are the quantities then determined between the say two domestic first class meal choices?

DELTA maybe doing it exactly the same way or a different way as their main caterer is not LSG SkyChefs but Gate Gourmet and they may have a totally different system than American potentially has.

And according to my personal experience (J flights between NYC and LHR/CDG), 100% of the time, the flight attendant will also ask you if you want your pre-selected entree. So you are given the option of choosing another entree. I remember on some flights, I had forgotten what my pre-selected entree is, and I went with another choice.

That sounds good. Better than what I ate tonight.

It would seem that regardless of the hype about food or what celebrity chef has been paid to lend their name to an airline's menu, most of the airline food -- at least with U.S. airlines -- is the same. Not only in portion size, but ingredients -- right down to the Naturally Fresh salad dressing that's omnipresent in domestic first-class across multiple airlines.

Is there really that much of a difference? It would seem the special meal options are also basically the same regardless of the airline.

To a degree I would agree with you, but at least to my taste DELTA's meals taste head and shoulders above most UNITED and AMERICAN meals.

My last UNITED meal (cheeseburger) was atrocious (and I enjoy airline food) and essentially had the same meal on DELTA (burger sliders) and it was head and shoulders better in taste and presentation, though could have used one extra catsup packet.

While I do believe Delta to be stronger in short and mid haul lunch offerings, I find that United excels in the dinner and breakfast options. Especially for non-premium transcons. AA is without a doubt the worst on average in my experience.

What ever happened to this?

I can preselect in TPAC D1 going in and out of NRT but for some reason not ICN. It kind of works out since the Japanese meal is very good and I like preselecting that. OTOH, the Korean Bimbimbap is utterly forgettable and a waste of space, IMO.

The Japanese meal pre-selection option has been around for years... and yes it only applies to NRT.

The Japanese meal is not really a pre-selection, it's a special meal choice (like kosher, vegetarian, etc). The difference, I think, is that with "pre-selection" you will actually choose the specific entrees you are going to eat. With special meals, you choose a meal style or certain dietary parameters, but you have no idea what the specifics will be.