I looked at the timetable but don't understand what I'm seeing. The meal code for the early AUS-DEN flight is G. That's not a listed code. A search produced that it's likely code for BOB food, but what's that mean for F? Will they serve breakfast in F or should we buy in the terminal? It's a 2.5 hour, 779 mile flight.

Any advice appreciated... and I'll post a trip report/pics of the meal on my blog (it's an AA thing... since I normally fly them I'm used to following that thread in the AA forum here).

Any advice on what to pick from a given set of meal options? On AA, the steel-cut oats are the way to go. What's decent on United?

It depends on which aircraft you are flying -- you seem to be referring to the morning flight which is probably an A319.
F Breakfast on a mainline flight (UA612?) will be likely an Omlett or Fruit Plate.
If it is one of the regional jets -- there is no hot breakfast.

It is the morning/seasonal A319 service (upgauged, which made me happy!). Thanks for the quick response! How are the omlettes on united? On AA, the eggs are good but the cheese is either a very creamy American or a cream-cheese/chive mixture, hence my affinity for the oats when I can get them (when they're not serving cold cereal as the second option instead).

This flight shows "breakfast" in First. The best way to confirm meals in F is to do a dummy booking; that information is pretty accurate in my experience.

Breakfast on mainline UA domestic is very standardized. Eggs (lately for me it has been just eggs, no cheese), cubed pototoes (all "regular" potatoes or sometimes a mixture with sweet potatoes), sausage. A small fruit bowl (melon, pineapple, grapes), a croissant, butter and jelly/preserves. I never order the fruit plate but it is usually a larger serving of fruit, plus yogurt and the same croissant. Not sure if cereal is offered.

I don't think Austin has catering for UA, so most likely the food will come in with your aircraft from IAD the night before and be kept refrigerated overnight. Not sure what this does for the quality of the meals!

The "Let's Eat!" thread has many photos of this meal; check it out for more information.

It's usually Corn Flakes�.

There's the reason why I never order it. It's what I have for breakfast at home!

For those who care, it was breakfast, and there was no choice... just "breakfast."

Small cheese omelet, a sausage patty, some sort of broccoli casserole and a bowl of wheat bran flakes. The caterers loaded wheat rolls instead of croissants, and the only choice of fruit on the side was from a bushel of bananas.

It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't tasty like I'm used to on AA. And, it was "free" so I didn't have to buy in the terminal.

One thing I will say - I very rarely see PDB service from AA. UA, however, asked me as soon as I stepped on board and had everyone else in F served and cleared before we pushed back.

Thanks to everyone for their help and feedback.

That's interesting; the "broccoli" casserole sounds like what I was served on a CO flight DEN-EWR last week. And I see that CO has an AUS-EWR nonstop, breakfast flight. Maybe what you got was CO catering on a UA flight.