What happens to catering / meal type for delayed flights?
 

Friday night, UA 938 (ORD-LHR) was delayed eleven hours and forty five minutes to the following morning. What was catered as a dinner flight became a breakfast flight. Or did it? I was going to take the flight then cancelled out for trip in vain as I was coming home Sunday. Just curious what is the United protocol in that situation?

that's what I meant. Thank you.

I have gotten breakfast before on a re-scheduled flight leaving in the p.m. Not sure if that was SOP or whether it would have been different at a UA hub.

There was a thread recently (can't find it) that said on one flight delayed overnight like this the FAs served breakfast first and then dinner just before landing, but they included the sundae with the breakfast (presumably because it may have melted by the end of the flight). Also apparently on that flight the FAs left only a short amount of time for the pre-arrival meal, which would have been sufficient for the small breakfast but felt rushed for the whole dinner meal, and also many pax were hungry because they had a long daytime flight with only a small breakfast at the beginning, rather than eating a big dinner and falling asleep for most of the flight.

All depends on the aircraft, the catering carts, and the length of the delay.

If it is long enough, the food is all tossed and the aircraft is recatered. If the new schedule can make even remote sense for the food catered and the catering is not "past" it can be repurposed.

Carriers watch this carefully, particularly when it is warm and the aircraft will be without shore power or AC over night. Other aircraft are set up for return catering and that may mean that the food can be stored a bit longer (usually insulation).

This was my first thought. I was in Y and I thought about the UA fake croissant and sugar yogurt being served first would make it a LOOOOONG flight to LHR.

The situation varies, namely based on type of flying, the amount of delay (and to an extent, creeping vs long post), and the kind of aircraft used (some aircraft have chillers, the 737 does not). Also may vary on the catering company (United Catering Ops vs. LSG Sky Chefs/Gate Gourmet/other 3rd party).

A short creeping delay for domestic flights will likely see the food placed on dry ice in the carts to keep it safe. A lengthy delay may see the galley equipment being deplaned. A very length delay (read: cancellation in all but name) may see new catering.

In the OP's case, I would imagine the galley was taken to catering and stored overnight, but returned to the plane in the morning. 11 hours overnight is not enough time to cater a new set of meals.

If there was bread loaded on the flight, it simply goes back into the bread-pool for further distribution on other planes.
Don't forget, it has a minimum age of 10 days, but there is no maximum age set by United, nor an expiration date. As long as it's rock hard & stale, it's good to go.
:cool:

Indeed, the harder the exterior crust of the bread, the more it could resist contamination and infiltration by ambient germs around it.

I ignored dinner last week on an overnight TranPac and the next morning eyeing off some bread, I was rebuked when I enquired if there was any garlic bread remaining from the dinner ten hours earlier to be told: " Oh no, that doesn't keep very well."

I was not too upset about missing out - the sleep was far more enjoyable.

Many years ago, on a NRT-ORD flight, something malfunctioned in the galley and the food was completely ruined. I think that some sort of heating/chilling system failed and was told that all of the food items were scorched beyond recovery. Supposedly, everything had been ruined or judged to be unsafe to eat. There was some bread available, but no butter. I remember paying some young Japanese girls, seated across from me, 1,000 Yen for a bag of chips-and that was all I had to eat until we got to ORD.

Given that it was now a daytime flight, is there any reason (rule or other factor) that they couldn't have started the dinner service a little after the halfway point in the flight? Most people would have slept the night before, and this would have off-set the lighter first meal.

The simple reason is that it would require common sense and a degree of initiative which has been trained out of most of the staff.

I don't think so, either the flight made up more time than expected or they just didn't plan well. Once you are off-script and making first-time choices it's easy to make mistakes like this that you wouldn't make twice, so I don't hold it against them.

Always pack a couple of protein bars and some nuts/trail mix. Even when flying J/F. Especially on UA.

meals on delayed flight?
 

My 9am flight from LGA is now scheduled for 3pm due to weather. My question is: The original flight was "breakfast". Do you think they will still serve that meal, substitute lunch or dinner? Nothing? PS if anyone is stuck at LGA right now and wants to be guested into amex lounge, PM me.

Thank you,
BJFly

They won't serve breakfast - but practically anything you can eat at the airport will be far better than what is available on the plane

My experience is that they cater the meal that’s appropriate for the time of departure.

Some of my experiences have been different. If the delay is posted before the aircraft has been catered, perhaps UA will adjust the meal type. But other times for 2-3 hour delays, I have been served the original designated meal.

first class meal that wasn'y
 

Update: what actually happened is this: The 9am flight finally boarded at 6pm. As soon as the door was closed, the flight attendant told the first class cabin that the catering was still breakfast, that it was no longer edible, and that hence there would be no meal service at all. We were offered free snack boxes, but of course they didn't have all of the options stocked. So it wasn't the best experience after a 9 hour delay. If they had just made an announcement, I could have at least bought something before boarding, So if a 9 hour delay didn't make me grumpy, well this did. Oh well.

BJFly

They should have provided each F passenger an ETC (miles or money) for this. If they didn't, I would call or write in.

However, a voucher later or even a destination airport food coupon upon arrival isn't a substitute for a real FC meal on a 6 pm departure.

My most recent experience with this was a TPAC delayed by about six hours, from a late morning to a late afternoon departure. FAs served the main meal "dinner" at the usual time relative to wheels up and the midflight and prearrival meals were also exactly as usual. In this case, there was an aircraft swap that was announced to be delayed as we waited for catering to be swapped, although amenity kits, menus, etc. weren't transferred to the new aircraft (but there were enough wrapped pillows and blankets, so the lesson learned is that if you deboard, think about taking the small items with you.

Compensation
 

Update: per suggestion above, I used the website to contact customer service and I was given a voucher for approximately 1/2 of the amount of the cost differential between first and economy for that segment of the trip.

BJfly

Does it actually matter? It seems that no matter what flight I take in Y, SFO-HKG or HKG-SFO, regardless of direction, or the time of day, dinner shows up first, followed by a little ice cream, then a sandwich half way through the flight, and then breakfast before landing.
What I want to know is what happens to the food when I almost never eat it anyway? That is I decline the service. Does it re-appear in the next flight for some lucky passenger?

Many countries quarentine certain inbound foods, and that includes any uneaten food served on the plane. I'm assuming that the USA does it, since you're not allowed to bring any produce or red meat into the country. I'd imagine it's easier to just burn everything arriving rather than pic through the rubbish. I don't know about the prepackaged items, such as the snack boxes though.

I'll defer the answer regarding domestic flights to someone else.