Feb 3, 2024, 12:18 am
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
This is an archive thread, the active thread is UA preorder premium cabin meal, Y snacks/drinks - all >800 (900?) mile
united.com/preordermeals
Fall 2022 -- Only rare occasion widebodies and still hit or miss on narrow bodies.
Anticipated 1 June enhancements - UA bringing back hot meals to domestic first class -- 800 mile threshold, preorder still narrowbody only
uncomfirmed but source of earlier changes
UA is offering pre-order first class meal selection for selected domestic departures.
You receive, 4-5 days in advance, an individualized link to a selection of meals (with a caution these are not guaranteed)
generic link -- https://united.com/preordermeals
You have up until 24 hours prior to the flight to make a selection.
Note if the FA does not look in the right place on their iPhone, they may not see the pre-selection.
You can change your mind on the plane and make a different selection
If you change flights, the request is canceled and not transferred to the new flight
Initially offered on select departure from LAX (in Aug 2019) and then IAD
Some x-DEN flights started to appear in Jan 2020
Sample email
united.com/preordermeals
Fall 2022 -- Only rare occasion widebodies and still hit or miss on narrow bodies.
uncomfirmed but source of earlier changes
UA is offering pre-order first class meal selection for selected domestic departures.
You receive, 4-5 days in advance, an individualized link to a selection of meals (with a caution these are not guaranteed)
generic link -- https://united.com/preordermeals
You have up until 24 hours prior to the flight to make a selection.
Note if the FA does not look in the right place on their iPhone, they may not see the pre-selection.
You can change your mind on the plane and make a different selection
If you change flights, the request is canceled and not transferred to the new flight
Initially offered on select departure from LAX (in Aug 2019) and then IAD
Some x-DEN flights started to appear in Jan 2020
Sample email
Hi there,
We're happy to offer a variety of meals that you can preorder for flight UA XXXX on YYYY ZZZZ from AAA to BBB. Visit our meal selection page at united.com/preordermeals to choose your meal preference* from our menu of available options.
You can select your meal preference starting five days before your departure and up to 24 hours before your flight(s). If you don't want to choose a meal right now, you can let us know what you'd like to eat when you're on board.
Thank you for flying with us.
*After you select your entree, we'll do our best to reserve it for your flight(s). We try to serve you the meal you chose, but we can't guarantee it since availability of meal options may change. If you choose a meal and then decide that you'd like something different, we're happy to offer other meal options on board.
We're happy to offer a variety of meals that you can preorder for flight UA XXXX on YYYY ZZZZ from AAA to BBB. Visit our meal selection page at united.com/preordermeals to choose your meal preference* from our menu of available options.
You can select your meal preference starting five days before your departure and up to 24 hours before your flight(s). If you don't want to choose a meal right now, you can let us know what you'd like to eat when you're on board.
Thank you for flying with us.
*After you select your entree, we'll do our best to reserve it for your flight(s). We try to serve you the meal you chose, but we can't guarantee it since availability of meal options may change. If you choose a meal and then decide that you'd like something different, we're happy to offer other meal options on board.
UA preorder premium cabin meal, Y snacks/drinks {Archive}
Jan 2, 2020, 8:32 am
#106
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: United Premier 1K 1MM; AA Plat Pro; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Platinum; Avis President's Club
Posts: 2,530
I pre-ordered for a flight from IAD-DEN but when I flew I got a blank stare from the FA who indicated she saw nothing about a pre-ordered meal. Flight was back in early December.
Jan 2, 2020, 9:25 am
#107
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 1.9MM
Posts: 6,459
Jan 2, 2020, 12:08 pm
#108
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Washington, DC
Programs: United Premier 1K 1MM; AA Plat Pro; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott Platinum; Avis President's Club
Posts: 2,530
Jan 16, 2020, 7:17 am
#109
Join Date: Aug 2002
Programs: UA 1K & 1MM/AA Gold & 1MM/HH Gold/Marriott Titanium
Posts: 2,930
Jan 16, 2020, 7:31 am
#110
Join Date: May 2011
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 721
Got an email offering preorder on my DEN-SFO flight. The choices were the usual soba noodle salad or tandoori chicken. Ill find out later today if my selection took. Didnt know DEN was part of the program.
Jan 22, 2020, 5:47 pm
#111
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: CLE
Programs: UA Platinum, Starbucks Gold, PF Chang's Warrior, Wine Century 100
Posts: 1,110
I took the TOD offer to upgrade DEN-CLE tomorrow and was shocked to get an email a couple hours later offering meal preorder. Unfortunately it's inside 24 hours of departure, so when I click through to the meal preorder site, the message is "Meal selection is not available"
Feb 13, 2020, 12:42 pm
#112
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: YEG
Posts: 186
I have the option to preorder one of the below meals for an upcoming flight from DEN-IAH:
Arugula salad; with bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and parmesan cheese, served with grilled chicken
Buffalo macaroni and cheese; served with grilled chicken
I am vegetarian so I imagine I can order either then just ask for the chicken to not be served by the flight attendant, right? I am bit surprised that only two options are available for preorder and no vegetarian options.
Arugula salad; with bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and parmesan cheese, served with grilled chicken
Buffalo macaroni and cheese; served with grilled chicken
I am vegetarian so I imagine I can order either then just ask for the chicken to not be served by the flight attendant, right? I am bit surprised that only two options are available for preorder and no vegetarian options.
Feb 13, 2020, 2:59 pm
#113
Join Date: Apr 2015
Programs: United Global Services, Amtrak Select Executive
Posts: 4,118
I have the option to preorder one of the below meals for an upcoming flight from DEN-IAH:
Arugula salad; with bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and parmesan cheese, served with grilled chicken
Buffalo macaroni and cheese; served with grilled chicken
I am vegetarian so I imagine I can order either then just ask for the chicken to not be served by the flight attendant, right? I am bit surprised that only two options are available for preorder and no vegetarian options.
Arugula salad; with bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and parmesan cheese, served with grilled chicken
Buffalo macaroni and cheese; served with grilled chicken
I am vegetarian so I imagine I can order either then just ask for the chicken to not be served by the flight attendant, right? I am bit surprised that only two options are available for preorder and no vegetarian options.
Feb 13, 2020, 3:06 pm
#114
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: SBA
Programs: UA Gold 1MM, Marriott Gold, IHG Plat, Hertz PC
Posts: 949
I have the option to preorder one of the below meals for an upcoming flight from DEN-IAH:
Arugula salad; with bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and parmesan cheese, served with grilled chicken
Buffalo macaroni and cheese; served with grilled chicken
I am vegetarian so I imagine I can order either then just ask for the chicken to not be served by the flight attendant, right? I am bit surprised that only two options are available for preorder and no vegetarian options.
Arugula salad; with bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and parmesan cheese, served with grilled chicken
Buffalo macaroni and cheese; served with grilled chicken
I am vegetarian so I imagine I can order either then just ask for the chicken to not be served by the flight attendant, right? I am bit surprised that only two options are available for preorder and no vegetarian options.
Feb 13, 2020, 7:29 pm
#115
Join Date: May 2011
Programs: UA GS, UA 2MM, HH LT Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 1,817
My last two flights that offered the pre-order were greeted with the same response from the FA. They both told me theyd do their best to accommodate my first choice.
Feb 13, 2020, 8:02 pm
#116
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: YEG
Posts: 186
Thanks for the reply. I hope they start rolling out more options as they work out the issues with this trial.
Feb 13, 2020, 8:50 pm
#117
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: SFO/SJC
Programs: UA 1K & 2MM, Bonvoy Titanium & LTP, HH Gold, Accor Silver, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 2,357
Forgot to post two weeks ago -- I pre-ordered tandoori chicken on DEN-LGA in response to an email, and as it turned out, so did my seatmate. FA came around to ask which meal choice we'd like. Both of us noted that we had pre-ordered, and the FA's response was "oh? Would be nice of them to tell us about that. I'll make sure you get your choice." We were 1K and GS so likely wouldn't have been a problem anyway on that route, but points to a shockingly slightly less than perfect rollout...
Feb 13, 2020, 9:14 pm
#118
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: DEN/OGG
Programs: UA GS
Posts: 1,483
I had the pre order offer for 3 of my last 4 flights out of Denver.
always dinner
1st Time, pre ordered and blank stare later
2nd time, pre ordered and blank stare later
3rd time, no email offer
4th time, preordered and approached by FA, Mr. XXX I see you preordered the buffalo Mac and cheese is that still your choice? Reading it off the iPhone.
My conclusion, the technology is there but like most of the time, the majority of FAs can’t be bothered.
always dinner
1st Time, pre ordered and blank stare later
2nd time, pre ordered and blank stare later
3rd time, no email offer
4th time, preordered and approached by FA, Mr. XXX I see you preordered the buffalo Mac and cheese is that still your choice? Reading it off the iPhone.
My conclusion, the technology is there but like most of the time, the majority of FAs can’t be bothered.
Feb 13, 2020, 10:22 pm
#119
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: USA
Programs: 1K 1MM; Bonvoy Ambassador; Nat'l EE; Hertz PC; Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,465
THIS! Id be willing to bet the other two times the FAs were using the manifest and not their iPhone. Ive seen very few FAs using IPhones for managing meal orders, which seems really dumb. It keeps track of how many are left, who gets priority, etc, seems like way less work than writing stuff down.
Feb 20, 2020, 9:55 am
#120
Join Date: May 2011
Location: SFO
Programs: UA 1K
Posts: 721
ORD to ORD? I guess the flight is long enough for meal service.
Btw the choices are buffalo mac and arugula salad.