Will ordering a special meal really prevent upgrades on DL ticketed (KL metal)?
Sep 5, 2019, 7:19 pm
#1
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Will ordering a special meal really prevent upgrades on DL ticket (KL metal)?
I am flying soon on DL ticketed KL metal. I've read in several places that ordering a special meal (in my case, AVML) would prevent me from being considered for upgrades. Is this really true? I checked with Delta on Twitter and they replied "not at all" but prevailing knowledge on flyertalk seems to indicate otherwise. I am DL GM (so SP Elite+). This trip will be in economy. Thoughts?
Last edited by aryan; Sep 5, 2019 at 7:25 pm
Sep 5, 2019, 7:52 pm
#2
Join Date: Dec 2014
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I am flying soon on DL ticketed KL metal. I've read in several places that ordering a special meal (in my case, AVML) would prevent me from being considered for upgrades. Is this really true? I checked with Delta on Twitter and they replied "not at all" but prevailing knowledge on flyertalk seems to indicate otherwise. I am DL GM (so SP Elite+). This trip will be in economy. Thoughts?
Sep 5, 2019, 7:54 pm
#3
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I was hoping a bulkhead or exit row (preferred seat) if not premium economy. Considering my fare class, I know I can't hope for much but the last time I flew this route, I was upgraded and didn't order a meal at the time.
Sep 5, 2019, 8:13 pm
#4
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Bulkhead and exit rows aren't "upgrades" and have nothing to do with meal choices ordered in advance. Are you sure KLM offers premium economy (and not just something like Comfort Plus) on your flight?
The concern with special meals is that if you order, for example, a vegetarian meal in coach, it looks different (including dishes, tray, cutlery, number of courses) from the vegetarian mean in business class. Airlines feel that it would look tacky to serve you the coach meal while you're sitting in business class, plus it would be very obvious to neighboring passengers (who might have paid a lot of money for their business class ticket and "exclusive" experience) that you have received a last minute upgrade. This would apply to OPUPs from coach to business class when a special (coach) meal has been ordered. [BTW, if you were to offer to give up the special meal, it would mean that another coach passenger who didn't want it would be stuck with your vegetarian (or whartever) special meal as your meal would already be loaded on the aircraft and a corresponding reduction in regular nonbvegetarian coach meals would have been ordered.]
The concern with special meals is that if you order, for example, a vegetarian meal in coach, it looks different (including dishes, tray, cutlery, number of courses) from the vegetarian mean in business class. Airlines feel that it would look tacky to serve you the coach meal while you're sitting in business class, plus it would be very obvious to neighboring passengers (who might have paid a lot of money for their business class ticket and "exclusive" experience) that you have received a last minute upgrade. This would apply to OPUPs from coach to business class when a special (coach) meal has been ordered. [BTW, if you were to offer to give up the special meal, it would mean that another coach passenger who didn't want it would be stuck with your vegetarian (or whartever) special meal as your meal would already be loaded on the aircraft and a corresponding reduction in regular nonbvegetarian coach meals would have been ordered.]
Sep 5, 2019, 8:15 pm
#5
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There are no complimentary upgrades to Premium Economy, except Operations Upgrades, in which case I could see how ordering a special meal could potentially be problematic, but I really can’t speak to that.
Sep 5, 2019, 8:22 pm
#6
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Bulkhead and exit rows aren't "upgrades" and have nothing to do with meal choices ordered in advance. Are you sure KLM offers premium economy (and not just something like Comfort Plus) on your flight?
The concern with special meals is that if you order, for example, a vegetarian meal in coach, it looks different (including dishes, tray, cutlery, number of courses) from the vegetarian mean in business class. Airlines feel that it would look tacky to serve you the coach meal while you're sitting in business class, plus it would be very obvious to neighboring passengers (who might have paid a lot of money for their business class ticket and "exclusive" experience) that you have received a last minute upgrade. This would apply to OPUPs from coach to business class when a special (coach) meal has been ordered. [BTW, if you were to offer to give up the special meal, it would mean that another coach passenger who didn't want it would be stuck with your vegetarian (or whartever) special meal as your meal would already be loaded on the aircraft and a corresponding reduction in regular nonbvegetarian coach meals would have been ordered.]
The concern with special meals is that if you order, for example, a vegetarian meal in coach, it looks different (including dishes, tray, cutlery, number of courses) from the vegetarian mean in business class. Airlines feel that it would look tacky to serve you the coach meal while you're sitting in business class, plus it would be very obvious to neighboring passengers (who might have paid a lot of money for their business class ticket and "exclusive" experience) that you have received a last minute upgrade. This would apply to OPUPs from coach to business class when a special (coach) meal has been ordered. [BTW, if you were to offer to give up the special meal, it would mean that another coach passenger who didn't want it would be stuck with your vegetarian (or whartever) special meal as your meal would already be loaded on the aircraft and a corresponding reduction in regular nonbvegetarian coach meals would have been ordered.]
I sort of understand the logic behind this but I am confused because that seems not to be the official stated policy.
Sep 5, 2019, 9:37 pm
#7
Join Date: Dec 2014
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The flights have what are called Premium Economy seats (KLM doesn't have a separate Premium Economy cabin yet) and technically they charged for the bulkhead and exit row seats but I guess they aren't official upgrades.
I sort of understand the logic behind this but I am confused because that seems not to be the official stated policy.
I sort of understand the logic behind this but I am confused because that seems not to be the official stated policy.
Sep 5, 2019, 10:04 pm
#8
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I believe the extra legroom seats you are referring to are called "Economy Comfort" not "Premium Economy." Ordering a special meal has no bearing on which seat within Economy class you are assigned (including extra legroom seats like bulkheads, exit rows, or Economy Comfort).
Sep 6, 2019, 4:19 am
#9
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Even BA has done away with SPML being a limitation. Regardless, it's only an issue forOPUPs (Y->J/F) on airlines that have the policy.
Sep 6, 2019, 1:06 pm
#10
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For most airlines it shouldn't be an issue. I was once paged by an AM gate agent because she wanted to upgrade me but there were not enough meals in J. I accepted the upgrade after signing a waiver and someone ended up not having dinner so I got it. Another time on AF, from PE to J, I was asked during check-in if my meal selection was very important, I asked her if it was going to prevent me from getting an OpUp, she mentioned that in the past it did but now she only had to let me know that the special meal might not be available in the new cabin, which I didn't have any issues with.
Sep 6, 2019, 3:06 pm
#11
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For most airlines it shouldn't be an issue. I was once paged by an AM gate agent because she wanted to upgrade me but there were not enough meals in J. I accepted the upgrade after signing a waiver and someone ended up not having dinner so I got it. Another time on AF, from PE to J, I was asked during check-in if my meal selection was very important, I asked her if it was going to prevent me from getting an OpUp, she mentioned that in the past it did but now she only had to let me know that the special meal might not be available in the new cabin, which I didn't have any issues with.
Sep 6, 2019, 3:18 pm
#12
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A couple airlines (BA IIRC) will do OPUPs with the understanding that the person will get a coach meal as they generally only provide catering for the number of passengers booked on the flight in the premium cabin.
KLM used to do something similar with using the last couple rows of business class for coach passengers when the business class seats weren't needed. People who knew would get to the airport early to request these special seats.
Once on a TATL PMNW flight I was in the second WBC cabin and I realized during boarding that all of the people around me had boarding passes that said coach. The purser sent me to a seat in the first WBC cabin and the flight apparently operated with coach service in the second WBC cabin. There were a lot of " almost OPUPs" on that summer day.
KLM used to do something similar with using the last couple rows of business class for coach passengers when the business class seats weren't needed. People who knew would get to the airport early to request these special seats.
Once on a TATL PMNW flight I was in the second WBC cabin and I realized during boarding that all of the people around me had boarding passes that said coach. The purser sent me to a seat in the first WBC cabin and the flight apparently operated with coach service in the second WBC cabin. There were a lot of " almost OPUPs" on that summer day.
Sep 6, 2019, 4:40 pm
#13
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On KLM (in my times of elite status with Northwest Orient), I was given an Op-Up (AMS-SVO on a 2-class 767) and my co-traveller was NOT, and the reason was specifically because he had requested a Special Meal. Once in Moscow, we called KLM and deleted his special meal request for the return, and we were both subsequently upgraded. That route was apparently often oversold in those days in economy.
Granted, this was the 1990s. But, to answer the OP, blocking upgrades for SPML used to be a thing
Granted, this was the 1990s. But, to answer the OP, blocking upgrades for SPML used to be a thing
