I got the e-mail and my interpretation is catering will only deliver the exact number of fresh items pre-ordered. And no extras. IRROPS or same-day flight change? Prepare to choose a snack box or buy something on the concourse. I guess one might get lucky if there are no-shows who pre-ordered, but then how do the FAs allocate those? And you certainly don't want to count on potential no-shows for a chance at a bistro item.

No email for me yet. Agree IRROPS / flight changes are going to be an issue. At least for F when preordering there are still the right number of meals catered even if it isn�t what you preordered.

that�s also my big concern, because I often use the 24-hour SDC benefit, and if my , for example, EWR-IAH changes within im in that time period, I guess I�m out of luck for the burger, or fresh food item. That�s a major disadvantage, and hopefully United has a work around for this particular issue.

But isn't that a very, very small percentage of customers?

While I think UA should have a small amount for purchase onboard, so small it would sell out 99% of the time, and UA is leaving money on the table not too, the purpose of this pre-order is to minimize waste from unpurchased fresh items. So having items available onboard will led to some waste.

My very anecdotal experience is that they sell out of the popular fresh items anyway. Maybe that was due to UA cutting back on quantities catered to reduce spoilage. Saw them sell out of both the burger and the cheese plate on every transcon I flew last year for example.

Yet UA's claim excessive wastage or is that a feign under the cover of doing good?

�Big devaluation� is a little bit of an overstatement don�t you think? Just how often do you experience IRROPS or changes inside 24 hours? Compare that to how often they don�t have what you wanted by the time they get to your row under the current system.

Yes, it�s not perfect if it runs as they stated but I maintain it�s still an improvement over the current situation.

I am curious if this means that we'll start seeing way more cheese plates -- it's not gourmet by any stretch of the imagination but I've always been puzzled that we couldn't order it ahead of time. Maybe this would be a good demand signal!

I will only speak for myself. I don't know what others do, although I don't think I'm a singular case.

I think it will be a big devaluation. Out of the flights that I might use this benefit on, I do change or even book a majority of them within 24 hours. Beyond that consideration, I would prefer to eat before the flight, but sometimes I don't get a chance, and having the bistro option as a fallback is actually how I prefer it.

To me, this looks like greenwashing of a cost-cut measure.

Me personally? Fairly often. Maybe 25% of my itineraries. Last year, it felt like more than that, but running down my flights, it's right around 25%. A lot of times where I changed itins to avoid irrops... and yeah, getting to my destination closer to my original schedule is more important than a fresh meal item. But it feels annoying to give up a decent seat on a transcon already and have the snackbox. That's assuming the preorders actually come through as well, given even in F I had them not load my preorder on a handful of flights last year.

I'm already going to be paying for my wife's meals when we don't clear upgrades (she as a 1MM companion used to get 1K status; I'm neutral on the MM status changes already announced, I suppose, but it still is a devaluation to us). Now I'm going to be getting snack boxes a lot more often and no fresh items.


I don't know; as I said, my anecdotal experience was that as someone who sits as close to the front of Y as possible when I'm in Y that they ran out of the burger and cheese plates (which seemed to be the most popular) pretty frequently.

Which was part of my point: if they usually run out of what you wanted before they got to you anyway, getting it 75% of the time is still a positive.

I suspect as well.

As I�ve shared before, we did KOA-SFO on a 772 last Nov, and they ran out of the cheese plate by the time they got to us in row 26, which is like the 12th row in Y. I was told that it was their most popular option, that they ran out, and that they only boarded 8 total. On a fully loaded 777 (to boot, on a flight leaving right after lunch time, from an airport that, ahem, doesn�t have a plethora of dining options on the terminal). A week later, we got the last bagel dots, in E+ I think, on DEN-YYZ (my kids wanted one each). To boot, we�re vegetarian, so those are the single options!

i realize small sample size, but seems crazy to me that they cater so few to run out like 1/4 of the way through the cabin. So yeah, wastage seems like it�s not an issue. I�m pretty surprise given the drive to earn revenue, which they can�t do if they can�t make it to most rows with actual options.

For some of us, quite often. I'd estimate more than half of my United flights are either booked or SDC'd inside 24hrs. Would be nice if they loaded just a few extra of the bistro options than what is pre-ordered, but I understand this defeats the whole purpose of reducing cost/waste.

-FlyerBeek

You�re both missing the second part of what I wrote: compare your IRROPS rate to the frequency in which they ran out of what you wanted before they got to you. You�re claiming a negative when (in my experience), they often ran out of fresh food options by the 4th or 5th row of Economy regardless � in which case you weren�t getting what you wanted either. The preorder option makes it far more likely (probably not 100% certain since miscaters happen) you will actually get something you want on those flights you don�t change as opposed to them running out before they even get to you.

No, not really. I frequently get a buy-on-board option on the economy flights that I've booked/changed at the last minute (and those are typically not IRROPS, just normal last minute travel). Of course, I'm normally seated in the first few rows of Economy Plus - which is what really matters for buy-on-board food options. So, I'd say roughly half the times I'm typically successful with buy-on-board, I'll no longer have that option (besides a snack box). Overall, I don't doubt this will be a positive change for many (including United's bottom line), but you're missing the point if you think there won't be some who are negatively affected by this change.

-FlyerBeek