Hm. My understanding was that BOB is cash only currently as the pocket pc machines were failing to work properly... on DEN-SEA in May they were having a ridiculous time getting the machine to start working; when they turned it on it spit out about a six-foot long batch of thermal receipt paper to get started.

I think the primary reason they aren't taking CCs is that they didn't come up with a good backup way to receive the data, and when the CC machines were failing as much as they did, they decided to rollback.

I believe this is also what's delaying the prepay-on-the-web that has been promised by UA's vendors in the BOB space.

hamburgler

Thanks for the info KVCT ( how are thing in Ridgefield, by the way!) I haven't even heard the new markets.
One thing that strikes me odd is that we ALREADY have BOB on ORD-SFO. So it's been here since day 1! So some accuracy is incorrect in that memo.
I am surprised that we would also do it to SNA.

This is 100% correct.

:-:

No BOB of any kind on mainline flights under 1440 miles.

I've yet to be on a Buy-On-Board flight, but I see that my LAX-ORD milk runs are about to be graced with BOB's presence.

So, I guess the question is: Is this a good thing or a bad thing? What are the meals like? How much do they cost?

Reports say it is better then what UA was offering. Breakfast runs $7 and Lunch $10.

I had an Eli's breakfast SEA-DEN in F back when they first started testing, and I was impressed.

I'm not a happy camper, because I bought lots of BOB on SEA-DEN flights. DEN-SEA can be up to 3 hours long, so I don't think it's unreasonable to expect to be able to buy some food. On many DEN-SEA flights, they would sell out of BOB. Bad, bad, bad. But I guess the profit margins are too slim on the alacarte selections to make the economics work for Gate Gourmet.

Tangent: DEN-SEA must be a low-rev or low-competition route for United or something. I've found that, for a flight of its length, the F service leaves a lot to be desired. Are they even serving full meals in F these days on that route?

SEA-DEN and LAX-DEN are both shorter routes but benefit from fuller service.

I haven't had the breakfast, but found the lunch/dinner to be substantially better than what was otherwise offered recently. However, about 25%-30% overpriced. If the lunch was $6-$7 instead of $10, I'd be thrilled and use it often. Instead, I try to get something better at the airport for a dollar or two less unless it is a super-tight connection.

Please feed me!
 

I've been very fortunate this year to almost always get an upgrade but failed to last Thursday night on an ORD-DEN flight. I mistakenly assumed that some kind of food would be offered in coach, at least BOB. The flight boarded at 5:00, departed at 5:30, and arrived in Denver three hours later at 8:30 p.m. CDT. (There were storms in Denver; the flight was in a holding pattern, so it was longer than normal). What's with this? A three hour flight smack in the middle of dinner time and no food? Geesh!

I miss BOB!
 

I was frequently flying through DEN from PDX. I was impressed with the quality of the BOB items. A bit overpriced, but hey, convenient. Kind of like buying beer at 7-11. However, at some point, they sporadically stopped boarding the full meals and just had the entrees ala carte. I also found the service to be unpredictable. Sometimes BOB was there, sometimes BOB musta missed the flight. Sometimes a full meal BOB, sometimes an ala carte BOB. When will this airline learn that consistency sells! If I got on the 5:01 DEN-PDX and KNEW what to expect, I would have bought BOB. But 3 hours on an empty stomach is too much to gamble on!

May I presume only drinks and snack mixes now on ORD-DEN?

Re:BOB
 

I don't fly domestic very often, so I've only used BOB twice. The first time was in the try-out phase when credit cards were accepted and the lunch price was $7.00. I was very favorably impressed. Yesterday, I had BOB on a similar ORD-SFO flight. No credit card machine, $10.00. My salad was smaller and not as interesting as previously. The roll and cookie are unnecessary. A la carte was not available.
I hope this is not the beginning of a trend.

Just a quick update.. It is now September and on ORD-SNA this morning still no "BOB". The same old breakfast burrito, banana and mints.