Jenniferpa

It's been a while since I flew UA, but I'm traveling PIT-IAD-LHR (in Y) in the near future. When I booked the ticket I also booked an Asian Vegetarian Meal. Now I see no record of it on my itinerary. Actually what it says is "No special meal offered" which I hope is just "we don't have a record of your special meal" rather than "sorry we're not offering a special meal on this flight". Every thing seems to have got changed around with the merger so I'm hoping it's just a glitch - is that probable? I tried to call today (hollow laughter) - I think I'll give it a few days before I try that again.

Oh and I have another question - my daughter is joining me on the IAD-LHR legs - when I call can I get our itineraries linked?

TIA

FlyerChrisK

I would strongly advise calling to make sure there's a vegetarian meal loaded for you. In the past, meal requests had to be made 24 hours in advance (but I wouldn't risk pushing it)

"Linking" two separate PNRs amounts to a human readable notation on the record.

Jenniferpa

That's what I thought (about the PNR). Oh well - I'll ask them to make a notation, but we're adults - we can sit (even fly) separately if we had to.

No one with any insight into the "No special meal offered" notation? I mean, if I'm not going to get a vegetarian meal - well I can buy something at the airport, provided I know in advance. I'm not flying until the 17th so I can afford to let the merger flurry die down before I try calling again, being mindful of the 24 hour issue.

FlyinHawaiian

UA eliminated special meals for most domestic flights a few months ago, but I am fairly certain they still exist for Transpac and Trans-Atlantic flights, even in Y.

If this is so, I suspect this is one of many bugs related to the system integration and if prior experience is of any help, you should call UA to confirm the meal at least 24 hours before departure.

It may be prudent for you to bring some extra snacks with you "just in case."

Jenniferpa

Thank you all - I will do as you suggest.

Jenniferpa

Just to close this up - I finally managed to get through to reservations (3rd times a charm, although that's 45 minutes of my life I won't get back), I discovered that despite what my itinerary says (no special meal offered), in fact my reservation does have a special meal notation.

I'll believe it when I see it, to be honest.

vvortex1

They eliminated special meals in domestic and Canada flights many years ago, even in F! Flights to Europe and Asia still have them, and I'm not sure about South America.

The UA/CO websites never shows special meal requests, but the system nearly always works (at least in the past...) The only potential glitch I'm aware of is that you need to confirm the request with each operating carrier if you didn't specify it when you booked the ticket. I'd also double check it if you've got multiple people on the reservation and it gets split, e.g., due to an upgrade. But when something goes wrong, it's usually just because of a reroute or a flight attendant giving the meal to the wrong person...not much you can do about that.

Jenniferpa

Between the two of us we have one asian vegetarian and one gluten free meal booked. I'll post again when we get back with results.

Incidentally - am I going deaf? When I spoke to the agent she was so quiet I could hardly hear her. I kept saying speak up and she'd get louder for a few seconds and then fade out. Anyone else noticed this? I didn't even bother to ask about getting a notation on the PNR record because frankly, it was just way to painful to try to communicate like that.

Further very unimportant question - why is it that when everyone knows the dates that various countries are going to change their clocks, airlines don't seem to be able to recognize this: my arrival time has moved and is now an hour earlier because the UK don't put their clocks forward for a couple of weeks. This isn't just United. Air Canada did the same thing to me last year at this time. It does rather seem clueless though.

dsgtc0408

Jenniferpa, would you please let us know whether or not you get the two meals you ordered? AFAIK all special meals for international ended back in December. Given where I live and where I go to I fly TPAC more than I care to think about. So when I was at the UA Singapore city ticket office (one week before UA closed it for good) to ask for a LFML (low fat) the staff told me that it was no longer available. (BTW I fly in Y.)

Aluminum tubing

LFML / Low Fat is gone

For the OP on your IAD-LHR your SPML(s) s/b boarded. When you check in with the agent be sure to confirm with them that it's on their paperwork/your pnr.


As of October 1. 2011

In North America, premium-cabin special meal requests will be honored only on the following flights:


EWR/JFK to/from SFO/LAX
U.S.Mainland to/from Hawaii


In all other markets, trans-Pacific, intra-Asia, trans-Atlantic, and deep South America (Argentina/Brazil), special meal availability remains unchanged.
In addition, we will discontinue select special meal types. Special meal types that will still be available to customers and those being discontinued are:

Available Special Meal Types

Gluten Intolerant (GFML)

Hindu Vegetarian (HNML)

Vegan (Strict) Vegetarian (VGML)

Kosher(KSML)

Muslim(MOML)

Asian Vegetarian (AVML)

Child’s (CHML)

Japanese (JPML)

Discontinued Special Meal Types

Diabetic meal (DBML)
Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian (VLML)
Low Calorie (LCML)
LowFat/Cholesterol(LFML)
LowSodium(LSML)


************************************************** ************
For those that order special meals. Bring snacks for long flights (goes for everyone) many times what catering boards to meet your special needs may still contain something you still don't like to eat ie mushrooms, peppers...

Or what is given for the arrival snack to the other pax has more items that you can eat and is better then what the spml has. On my last few TATL flights the arrival breakfast snack for Y pax is a Banana,danish, & yogurt. But the specials had apple sauce, and a piece of rye bread.


Also once you board your flight if you have swapped seat please let the crew know so they can deliver your spml to your new seat

wbs

I just tried to order a special meal on a trans Atlantic flight. The reservation agent on the 1K desk was surprised to discover that no special meals are offered on the flight. I then looked at other flights from Europe on that day and every flight indicates "No Special Meal Offered." Is this yet another product of integration? Upgrades for 1k look iffy; no special meals.

eeebee

Just a data point... a couple weeks back, post-3/3, I flew LHR-ORD, and had requested a special meal (Asian-veg). Like you, I noticed that my itin now said "special meal not offered". However, the special meal was, in fact, on the flight, just as I had requested.

Jenniferpa

Just to confirm - they did have the special meals loaded (both outbound and inbound), even though all the confirmations said "no special meal offered". The asian vegetarian was OK, the gluten free was just barely adequate (at least outbound - it was much better coming back).

I don't think it's accurate that they no longer offer special meals (at least on the transatlantic routes). They had at least 10 special meals on my return flight yesterday that I saw and that was just on one side of the plane.

I suppose it's possible that they are phasing them out - if you made the request a while ago, you'll still get them but no new requests will be allowed, but it seems unlikely.

JB123

I was able to upgrade my wife and kids (who are traveling without me) from EWR to ORD. I put in a request last month for my kids to get a kids meal for the dinner being served in first. The flight attendant told my wife that United has no such thing and they have not had kids meals for a couple of years. This is not a big deal. I am curious though why they would let me reserve this on the phone - does anyone know if there are kids meals that can be requested in first?

FlyinHawaiian

Specials are now only available on certain routes and I believe EWR-ORD isn't one of them; sorry!