Obento "for first class only" ?
 

I called to pre-order Obento for SFO-NRT, and the agent told me Obento is only available in F, not C.

Has something changed, or is this a hang up and call again situation?

Edit: Called back, tried again, answered own question. Yes, the first agent was mistaken, and I was able to order the Obento in C.

[This message has been edited by pynchonesque (edited Jan 20, 2004).]

Please let us know how many bottles of champagne you drink...

OT, does United serve plum wine on board their Asian flights?

I had the same thing for a flight this Saturday..

I told the agent to re-check... It appears that there might be (any UA folks want to jump in) a designator for F Obento and C Obento, right?

I was told last year by a reservations agent that I would not be able to order this meal on my SFO-NRT flight because obento "is only available on flights from Japan." I thanked the agent, hung up, and called back to get the correct answer http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

This doesn't sound right to me - -- I just worked sfo-kix and we had obento boxes for C class passengers. I'd say try again. Sorry for the misinformation.

-IFLYUA

Is the obento first much different than the obento in business. My wife and I are flying in first from JFK-NRT at the end of February and I was considering ordering the obento, I didnt know if it was a good choice in first but I always try to get them in business. Any suggestion? Thanks.

I had Obento in both directions in Business class LAX-NRT & NRT-LAX just a few days ago. I also had the Obento on my trip to BKK (on the LAX-NRT & NRT-LAX legs) this past November.

When I called 1K res to preorder, the res agent said the Obento is not on her list of special meals. Call back & tell the res agent that it is one of the menu items on the Biz class menu & it says it can be preordered.

I do not think it is worth ordering Obento in the F. From what I understand it is a same meal for C Obento. At least there is a difference between F western meal and C western meal.

Obento Japanese meals Obento meals are available in all USA-JAPAN-USA markets, in United First and United Business class on lunch and dinner flights. Obento meals are also available in the NRT-HKG-NRT market in United First on lunch and dinner flights.

from: http://www.united.com/page/middlepag...4,1066,00.html

I just got off UA881 (LAX-NRT) and obentos were loaded. The menu still suggests to preorder. It was necessary on this flight as I heard 2 people being turned down on the upper deck.

This might get us a litte bit off-topic, but how often are other 1K flyers being asked for their meal request ahead of others? I used to always be able to get a bento since they came to me first, but now it seems lately that they are just going down the aisle without regard to status... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

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The black art of how to gift UA North America Upgrades is revealed here.

I am a menu-collector so I always snag F menus on my way out the door - from my extensive research http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif it looks like the F and C Obento meals are identical. However, I think in F one could have a more "customized" meal with an extra Western-style appetizer and dessert/cheese without having to accommodate the rest of the cabin.

Sometimes on full flights in C it seems as if the dessert/cheese may "run out." If you order the Obento you are not "officially" entitled to dessert/cheese but I have always been accommodated. Nothing against that little sweet-paste tidbit that counts as dessert in the Obento, but it just isn't enough to satisfy my Western-style sweet-tooth. One more reason to bring back the Godivas!

LAX-NRT asked first
NRT-SIN asked in seat order
SIN-NRT asked 3rd or 4th from last
(sent note to CS about FA attitude)
NRT-SFO asked first

According to Liz, as posted in this thread, the proper way to take meal orders is: "Front to back (or back to front if you feel like switching things up) asking first and second choice (if needed). Do NOT skip around. Go to the galley and prioritize it out according to status."

I have only seen this done twice, but it does seem to make more sense then zipping around the cabin. Does it seem like FAs are doing this or are they ignoring this new procedure?