expressboy

I would not mind this at all if the buy-on-board vegetarian selection was not so pathetic. I still cannot get over them getting rid of the Spinach Salad.

UAGuy2

Honestly, I don't order special meals so this doesn't cause me any issues. I'm probably mildly pleased as I appreciate a tough love approach to all the requests for special treatment. If you choose to follow a diet with unique requirements, I think it's unrealistic to expect the world to accomodate you. From UA's perspective, if this drives away a few high maintenance customers, so be it.

Now if that "meatatarian" meal had been implemented and then taken away, I might be more sympathetic.

MBS MillionMiler

What you, and apparently COdbaUA don't understand is that it's not always a CHOICE. My wife, for example, was born with a disease that affects her body's ability to process gluten, an ingredient found in wheat, oats, barley and rye. It's not a CHOICE for her to want to give up mainstream bread, pizza, pasta and other things that you don't think of that are made with raw materials that contain gluten...Many vinegars are wheat-based. Soy sauce contains wheat, as does Worcestershire sauce. If there's even a trace of any of these ingredients in a prepared dish, she's sick for days. If they top an entree with breadcrumbs, or if a bun or roll even touches her food--the result is the same.

And it's not like it's a 'rare' condition. Statistics estimate that 1 in 133 Americans have Celiac Disease...That's over 3,000,000 people in the US alone. So, odds are, one person on every A320 flight will have it. 2-3 people on a 777 or a 747 will have it.

Not to mention those other special meals, dairy free (lactose), diabetic meals, etc. I'm sure those that are lactose intolerant don't CHOOSE to not eat pizza or cheeseburgers or a nice slice of Vermont cheddar.

I personally have no food allergies, but I've become more sensitive to them since meeting my wife. I don't look at her as a high-maintenance customer. She just wants something to eat on her 4-hour flight, and providing a $6 meal for her when she drops $600/week on her flights shouldn't be too much to ask for. The snack boxes might have 1 or 2 GF items in the box, and none of the 'fresh' options have anything gluten free in them.

Not equating my wife's condition to someone with a physical disability, but by your logic: "I think it's unrealistic to expect the world to accomodate you. From UA's perspective, if this drives away a few high maintenance customers, so be it." Why not stop offering wheelchairs to disabled customers? They're high maintenance. What's UA giving up by driving them away?

SEA1K4EVR

If I had a condition that serious I wouldn't trust any airline food and would always bring my own on board if I wanted to eat during a flight.

donnerparty

how many of you actually read the post? most types of special meals will still be alive and kicking. just a certain few are going to be gone. Less options always suck but it seems like you're smart you can order carefully enough to still get low calorie or low sodium, etc.

channa

They will be gone domestically and to/from Latin America.

fsfsfsfs

Yes, buy-on-board vegetarian selection now consists of:

- Fruit & Cheese Plate

That's it, unless you count the Tapas Box, which is usually what I end up eating when there is no special meal in F.

exerda

I don't order the special meals, either, but the post above still gets a big IMHO.

goalie

Bolding mine: Does "high maintenance" mean someone who drops $50k (or more) in full fare tix every year and flies 75,000-200,000 miles each year but needs (n.b. needs) a special meal for either dietary-health or dietary-religious needs or is it the once/twice a year non-status flier who buys the $1.98 special fare with the same dietary reasons?

MBS MillionMiler

Well, in probably 75 special meals on UA for her in the last 2 years, they've gotten it right every time. Now, they're not even going to give her the option.

DBCme

Think of how many e-certs they will be saving by not handing them out like candy when a special meal didn't get loaded on the flight.

Joking aside, I have mixed feelings about it, but generally speaking - unless riding up in the front, people should not rely on UA for in-flight comfort. They took the pillows, they took the blankies, audio/video is hit or miss, plus food cutbacks -- all of these items can be brought on board by the passenger -- and will probably be of better quality than what UA might offer.

ColoBill1

While doing some frequent flying during Jan, Feb and the first week of Mar, I was repeatedly offered the VERY SAME two meal choices on dinner flights, i.e., the Meditteranean Chicken or lasagna. Could not believe UA would retain the same two choices into a third straight month.

I had not ordered a single special meal in quite a number of years of flying. Anticipating the worst after booking two subsequent trips, the same two lame dinner choices, I ordered a special meal for those dinner flights. On one of these trips, taken with the wife, I ordered each of us a differently titled special meal....but they turned out to be the very same meal.

Sometimes special meals are ordered for other than a medical reason, rather just to ensure you have some variety in your in-flight meals.

Considering this "enhancement" and a multitude of others announced, Smisek's "changes I think you'll like" statement goes way beyond simply being laughable.

craz

Im not a CO defender but if Im correct till now the EWR-LAX-SFO flights didnt have Special meals, seems going forward they will as will HI which I think also didnt have them. So they taking away a 747 and throwing an RJ back at us, and only since they cant take the meals off of the ps flights , so it wont look good if theres meals out of JFK and not EWR, but if AA & DL didnt fly premium service out of JFK neither would Jeff, Im positive he tried everything to even rid the ps flights of them but had no choice which means ahving to have them to/from EWR as well

UAGuy2

Agree. Anyone with a serious medical issue should be bring his own food or be prepared to go hungry.

Given all the special meals that aren't loaded, I am hard pressed to believe anyone relies on UACO.

And while celiacs might not have a choice, vegetarians do and frankly so does anyone following a religious dietary regime.

If it keeps costs down for the rest of us, I'm all for eliminating this perk for special meals or, alternatively, charging a reasonable premium for the additional service -- say $30. Pity UA isn't offering the latter as a choice, but I think perhaps the reason is they know that flyers wouldn't pay. They would just bring their own food. Which is what they will do now anyways.

exerda

The above is quite frankly insulting to those with religious restrictions on their diet (I'm not one, and if you browse OMNI/PR, you'll see I'm not exactly a fan of religion, either). But to imply they have a "choice" in their diets belittles their beliefs.


$30 is "reasonable?" If UA spends even $15 on any meal they serve, they're getting ripped off by the caterer, big time, and the real savings which would keep costs down for the rest of us would be in finding a new caterer or renegotiating the terms with their existing one. @:-)

I could see them asking a premium, sure. More on the order of $5, perhaps, or at most $10--about what the priciest of the fresh items offered in economy goes for, sans a meal discount (as UA would be providing their meal regardless of whether or not it was a special meal--we're talking pax in F, after all).