The facts are fully paid F...no upgrade involved....not award travel....fully paid F with $$$$$$$

So that includes awards?:confused:

Very interesting indeed!!! That perfectly explains why I was recently skipped over in F class as a 1K (in row 1) and was given the only remaining meal choice. While I was not the LAST one served, nonetheless I was not the FIRST served and did not end up with want I really wanted.

Oh well...at least I now know why this happened.

Is it really full F or F with corp discount?
Where do you draw line? F w/ corp discount may be less than A. So in this case, who should be served first? Let's not get the things too complicated here.

I am a little confused here. You do realize that meal orders are taken by status, so you should be pretty high up as a 1K, and are completely independent of fare class. The fare class argument is just what some people are proposing as an alternative, but is in no way the system that is currently in effect.

Hard to believe that many GS's on one flight.

Ok full F, no corp. discount..I am an individual and fly as an individual...there is no discount of any kind involved...I paid top $$$$ period.

And again..between the Asian business persons and the energy corp. guys...7 of 8 were GS..I asked them all personally and the FA in the back confirmed this....I talk to FA's a lot and in general am very sympathetic to their plight as I have done the homework.....but rude is rude...no excuses there! I am not a shy man!

Kudos to the poster who suggested advance meal reservations for those who book into F (or C) in advance, whether using miles or paid tickets -- that idea is long overdue! This way, only those who upgrade at the gate or purchase at the last minute would not have an advance reservation, and would have to divide up the remaining, non-selected meals.

After all, wedding invitations commonly come with an RSVP form that asks for one's choice of meat or salmon (or whatever) at the wedding reception and/or rehearsal dinner. Caterers like this, as it maximizes personal choice while minimizing waste and leftovers. So why not the airlines?

Agreed. That would be my fear as well.

I also have mixed feelings on trumping status based on fare class. One one hand, that one guy that trumps an upgrader might be that once a year flyer who happened to pay 4 digits to get premium service that day. On the other hand, the upgrader likely spent well in excess of 5 digits over the course of the year for the privlege to sit in C or F. Which customer is actually more valuable to United?

Perhaps a couple of employees "accidentally" included in that group.

Well I can believe 7/8 UGS on this flight in F. Monday morning flight after all.

For the record, I would have no problem with paid (including award) F getting meal choice before upgraders, regardless of status. I'm not flying in F for the culinary experience, and do think that the "trip of a lifetime" pax, or regular F pax deserve their choice of food. I can't imagine creating a scene if I didn't get my choice of food on an upgrade (other than knowing thats not the current procedure). FWIW I routinely offer to take whats left.

i'll be in first on that flight this morning with mr kk on our way to asia--love those swu's--will see if i can sneak a peek at the manifest or chat up a friendly fa and report back.

(mr kk is a 1p, so we know at least one person in first won't be ugs/1k.)

Honestly, I think the best serving order is UGS members first, followed by taking orders straight from front -> rear or vv.

By Fare class is just silly, let's give the FA's another reason to be rude?
You want a choice? Order a special meal in advance, most are very good.
I prefer the Kosher meal or Halal. If you a vegetarian you have a few options.

UA should just load more food so that they can in most cases satisfy all meal requests.

SmilingBoy.

In an industry where cutting a small pack of pretzels seems to make all the difference, I highly doubt this will happen for some reason.;)

I've always thought that meal choices by status alone is bad approach. IMO, it should be very simple:

* If you have "paid" for F, that is, F/A/P/C/D/Z or award (std/saver) then you should get priority over the upgraders.
* If you have paid for Y and upgraded, then you get second choice.
* Non rev/UA employees deadheading or whatever. You get last choice.

Within each bracket, going by status isn't a bad thing though. I think it is silly that a 1K on an upgraded L-fare gets priority over someone with no status who bought a walk up F ticket. The 1K probably doesn't even cover the marginal costs on that flight...

Jeez, and I was worried that UA was turning into the peasant bus ride. :rolleyes:

UA imitating SQ and offering BTC? Hah! I don't think so.

Yeah, simple idea. Most world class airlines do this--UA is no longer a part of that club and hasn't been for a long time. :(

Meal orders should be taken by fare basis. Within fare basis, status is OK.

I recognize that my approach would not have a difference in a situation where 7/8 pax in the cabin are UGS, but I do think it would help put an end to the unprofessional show of FAs bouncing around the cabin or having to ask for two meal choices.

We should be looking for ways to simplify things, not to make them more complicated... the average reservations rep doesn't fully understand the fare system, let's not expect the FA to do so...

I have been on the SFO-IAH non-stop when 16 1K's didn't clear their first class upgrades. As far as I'm concerned, you got lucky and you should darn well appreciate it!

:rolleyes:

The computer can sort the list and print the order on the manifest.

While it may be shocking to some, some people, such as the OP in this case, actually pay for F.

I would be willing to bet the computer can NOT do that in its current manifest setup and dont really think it makes sense to configure it to do so.

I don't think all the FA's have this memo yet.

I flew SMF-ORD yesterday morning in F (upgraded, not paid) and was in 6A. The FA simply started in row 1 and went row-by-row until he got to us in row 6. Status played no part in meal choices. Luckily for me, what I wanted was still available so it was no big deal in the end, but going by status does not always happen.

It is my experience that taking orders by status is the norm and this row-by-row is the exception, but I have seen this row-by-row system a few times over the past year, so meals by status is not a 100% lock.

For the record, I agree that paid F should get first choice regardless of status.

I find it strange that someone who paid for a full fare F ticket is complaining about a $10 meal. :confused:

If I was that worried about what I eat aboard a plane, I'd probably stop in the airport and bring food on board. Maybe if I asked nice enough the FA would even heat it up in the galley! :eek:

The flip side, of course, is why would UA begrudge a $10 meal of choice to pax paying 3 to 4 times what Y->F upgraders are paying...

Keep in mind also that (a) many pax go straight to the airport from work and don't have a lot of time, and (b) airport food tends to be pretty bad.

VT2K....I am not complaining about the $10 meal....I am complaining about the way I was referred to as "only a 1K"....the ongoing theme has been about the shrinking status of 1K members and how GS has become the new 1k.....cheers...

How does 1K differ from UGS? How does one become UGS?

What's so hard about having a handout with the bc list (you could even copy it from the coc...) or (heaven forbid) actually have people memorize a string of characters!

Have you ever used .bomb?

What makes you think internal UA computer systems are any better? ;)

My take is that anyone on paid F should get served ahead of an upgrader. I don't think they need a crazy algorithm - just make sure the people who really paid for their F seat get served first. Then do the rest of the cabin by status, and finally the nonrevs.

As someone who rarely flies paid premium classes, I agree that paid F should give priority over upgraders such as myself. I recently flew FRA-SFO on an upgraded Q fare and my seatmate was full fare with no status. I was asked only about my first choice, he was asked also about a second choice (he finally got his first choice). I thought that was rather unfair.

In the particular case related by the OP, it's likely that the 7 UGS were also on paid F, and since status would then be the tie-breaker, he wouldn't have had his meal choice either.

The problem is the attitude of the FA (You're just a 1K so you get what's leftover), not that on this particular flight the OP didn't get his meal choice.

I understand the meal choices are taken by status, but it seems like a truly full fare F class ticket should be able to get some sort of preference on his meal. Although who's to say the other passengers were not full fare as well?

Here's a plan that would add a lot to goodwill and not much to cost.

Pack enough FC mealsto give each FC customer a choice. Reduce the number of E meals by the number of extra FC meals packed.

Now you can tell everyone that in UA FC they always get a choice of meals. And, you can give out a few FC meals to E customers, likely by status. And the cost? That equals the cost difference between a FC meal and and E meal (maybe $5 each, if that) times the number of FC seats.

My guess is if they got 1 extra FC customer every 10 flights from this, they would break even or make money.

Interesting meal selection process WEN KOA-LAX. I am in 5B and the FA passes me a post-it "Welcome aboard Mr. Hawkxp. Your meal choice will be X or Y". I point at one and she knods. As far as I could tell, I was the only pax to be passed a note. The only 1K out of 24?????.

They had run out of first choice by row 5. I heard her apologize to row 6 and ask if they had diet problems with the non-choice, with the offer to work out an exchange

Mountain Trader, interesting idea, but how would it work on domestic flights? Y gets BOB or nothing, so would they dish the FC meals out for free or sell them? At what price? Same as BOB or more? I think your suggestion could solve the meal choice problem in F and/or C, but it would create new ones too.