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Ual Screws Up Special Request Meal What Should Compensation Be?

Ual Screws Up Special Request Meal What Should Compensation Be?

 
Old Jul 5, 2008, 11:47 am
  #31  
 
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Originally Posted by sindhiguy
So if UAl screws up your special meal request due to religious reasons and also doesnt have baby food on board especially when its on the stewardess roster what compensation should I demand from ual and what number should i call to get a us call center isntead of the overseas people.
any help would be appreciated
Did you pay extra for your religious meal? I also don't recall United being required to have baby food onboard, but I don't deal with meals and stuff so just wondering if that is normal. Unless you paid extra for these amenities, I think you are relegated to just writing customer service and in a nice way state how it inconvenienced you. Maybe you can get something in return. But it is a good reminder to all passengers that if you need something special for medical or dietary reasons, you should take care of it yourself versus leaving it to a corporation that is moving a quarter of a million passengers a day worldwide to handle for you.
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Old Jul 5, 2008, 1:06 pm
  #32  
 
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Originally Posted by aluminumdriver
But it is a good reminder to all passengers that if you need something special for medical or dietary reasons, you should take care of it yourself versus leaving it to a corporation that is moving a quarter of a million passengers a day worldwide to handle for you.
Providing special meals on board that are requested in advance is something
that UA advertises. So, should passengers not rely upon what UA advertises ? Or is this just another example of misleading advertising, like UA's "truly luxurious" description of their current Intl F seats ?

Also, there is no charge for a special meal. The OP reserved one and he rightfully expected to receive one. UA wasn't going to do him a favor by loading his special meal on board. They were supposed to do it.

In comparison, many Intl airlines, which handle more meals than UA, don't botch special meal requests as often as UA. The problem is with UA, not the passenger. Total UA passenger volume is of no consequence. A large number of UA flights offer no meals or just BoB snackboxes, so they should be excluded.

Having said this, the OP should have brought his own baby food on board, and not rely upon the airline for this. We always bring our own when traveling with our infant on SQ/UA/EK/TG in C, because there is a good probability our infant child will not like the brand/flavor offered on board. Having said that, something is always available.

The problem is that UA has known about these problems for years, but does nothing but hand out miles/vouchers instead of fixing the problem.

Last edited by CommittedLurker; Jul 5, 2008 at 1:15 pm
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Old Jul 5, 2008, 1:17 pm
  #33  
 
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I too wouldn't leave it up to UA for the supply of baby food - however, .bomb DOES advertise it:

http://www.united.com/page/middlepag...3,1064,00.html

ask for a voucher or some free similac...
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Old Jul 5, 2008, 1:39 pm
  #34  
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A few thoughts...

1) I will assume Sindhiguy ordered a Halal, Hindu veg or Kosher meal. IME, meal choices are constantly missed on domestic UA flights. Better chances on international flights.
2) It's not easy to get food one can eat past the security checkpoint.
3) It's virtually impossible to find acceptable and Halal/Kosher food on the secure side of the checkpoint. Vegetarian meals are not so difficult to find but the blandness is a problem for those hailing from places like South Asia.
4) Often, there is no time to purchase food airside anyway due to delays at security or tight connections.
5) Flying into the US on a non-US carrier, one is generally well fed, but one is going to get hungry if it's a two hour interval between being fed a pre-landing snack and landing, then a four hour interval while one slogs it through immigration, baggage claim, customs, re-checking bags, passing through the TSA checkpoint and finding one's gate. THen there's another hour to board one's connecting flight, taxi out, take off and climb to the correct altitude for cabin service to begin. That's when most international passengers who have not flown much in the US get the nasty surprise - 12 fingernail sized pretzels packaged in a lovely foil bag.
6) Many times, when the purser notices my meal choice was not loaded, they apologize profusely and try to pull something together. I am perfectly happy with a fruit plate and I usually have a protein shake in my bag anyway so it's not been such a big deal for me, but for many people not being able to get the food choice right can be a real inconvenience.
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Old Jul 5, 2008, 1:43 pm
  #35  
 
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Originally Posted by coplatua1k
Don't mean to be harsh but they have some very grave and serious issues to contend with skipped meal not being one of them. Next.
Wow! With that "Next" the only thing missing is the audible snapping of fingers!

Don't mean to be harsh, but what grave and serious issues? Did someone die? Oh, you mean tough economic times. Yeah, things suck all over. Does this mean that the whole company so busy dealing with these "grave and serious issues" that they don't have time to pay attention to service and meals? UA can't get it right because the ground caterers are busy worrying about the high price of petrol? Mmmmkay.

UA offer and advertise ('promise') that special meal service. Then they don't deliver it. If they never plan on honoring their promise because of the company-wide focus on "grave and serious issues," then there's a simple solution: Take away the offer of catering a special meal. Set the expectations low, and then when you deliver nothing, nobody is disappointed! Get it? Neato.

In the meantime, UA needs to solve its service lapses, or re-set service levels lower and say so. High fuel prices don't equal the right to break a promise. Next.

Will
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Old Jul 5, 2008, 2:53 pm
  #36  
 
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You might *nicely* request a skykit. UAL recently missed a special meal on a flight KOA-LAX and without making a fuss, the purser offered a skykit voucher. It was worth $100 domestic discount or 2x500mile e-certs or 10% off any flight or 8K RDM. I felt that was more than fair and reasonable. As mentioned earlier...not usually the right way to get anything by "demanding" it...

TT
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Old Jul 5, 2008, 8:31 pm
  #37  
 
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Originally Posted by aluminumdriver
Did you pay extra for your religious meal? I also don't recall United being required to have baby food onboard, but I don't deal with meals and stuff so just wondering if that is normal. Unless you paid extra for these amenities, I think you are relegated to just writing customer service and in a nice way state how it inconvenienced you. Maybe you can get something in return. But it is a good reminder to all passengers that if you need something special for medical or dietary reasons, you should take care of it yourself versus leaving it to a corporation that is moving a quarter of a million passengers a day worldwide to handle for you.
Jeez, am I tired of this freaking attitude. Listen, buddy, your company advertises certain product features. Nobody forced them to offer hindu meals, gate to gate audio, or a website, but they made a commercial proposition to the consumer: "buy your ticket on us instead of brand Q and we'll offer these things" and we took them up on it. There's an obligation by us to pay, and for them to deliver what was advertised. If those obligations are onerous or unprofitable, they're free to dump them as part of their offer at any time. But, as long as they say they're part of what's being sold, they better be in the box.

To put it another way, if I buy a Ford and the stereo is missing, even though Ford is in serious financial trouble, they fix the car to conform to what they sold me. I don't have to listen to ten bitter assembly-line workers tell me how Ford has bigger problems than my radio.

United gets this. We the consumer gets this. The friendly local regulatory bodies get this (especially in the EU). Why employees don't seem to get that delivering on what was sold is an essential part of the transaction is beyond me. Perhaps it's the same workers who decide that doing the bare minimum required by their job description and satisfying that minimal obligation is acceptable. Ultimately, any other employee of any company with a high likelihood to kill people should employees be negligent needs to realize that consumer perception of the entire company's attitude towards their business is shaped by how they meet their obligations. If they're taking a lax attitude towards financial obligations (refunds, for example) or customer service obligations (call center quality), it's easy to assume they're taking a lax attitude towards everything.

Even those things that can result in the horrible, flaming death of hundreds.

But I'm sure that's nothing that aluminumdriver ever would want, so it's sufficient to say that I've experienced issues with special meals, it annoys me every time, and ultimately confirms my fear that UA is burning the furniture to heat the house. Which is exactly where all my worst fears come from.

Here's hoping that the worst thing that happens as a result of this attitude are a few hungry customers.
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Old Jul 5, 2008, 8:41 pm
  #38  
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Originally Posted by jmr50
To put it another way, if I buy a Ford and the stereo is missing, even though Ford is in serious financial trouble, they fix the car to conform to what they sold me. I don't have to listen to ten bitter assembly-line workers tell me how Ford has bigger problems than my radio.
A very good analogy and point.
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Old Jul 5, 2008, 8:45 pm
  #39  
 
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For a number of years, I ordered a special meal on UA. I batted 100% request being met. Stopping ordering because it was almost always the exact same menu.

Yes, TSA does permit baby food through security.

I have ordered special meals on other airlines and have not had them loaded. As a person with diabetes, I always come prepared with some food. Too often on flights too short for service, but combined equalling 5-6 hours the connecting time vanishes. OR there are ground delays. Lesson learned.

Even on international flights, I have backup food. I don't know about the specifics of religious meal but I have heard the crew offer the vegetarian option.

The food service is almost always sub-contracted. And honestly, lately it has been hit and miss. Deli plate - no bread loaded. Rolls - no butter loaded. The list goes on.

United often puts the request in - contractor may not load. That is why I try to fly prepared.
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Old Jul 6, 2008, 12:01 am
  #40  
 
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We experienced special meal problem LAX - LHR with Vegetarian meal having Chicken inside. While for us this was not a problem, our flight attendent was really upset by this & subsequently the purser came by & gave us a skykit $100 discount code - totally not necessary, but much appreciated.

Nice to see the crew caring so much.
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Old Jul 6, 2008, 12:32 am
  #41  
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Originally Posted by CommittedLurker
Providing special meals on board that are requested in advance is something
that UA advertises. So, should passengers not rely upon what UA advertises ? Or is this just another example of misleading advertising, like UA's "truly luxurious" description of their current Intl F seats ?

Also, there is no charge for a special meal. The OP reserved one and he rightfully expected to receive one. UA wasn't going to do him a favor by loading his special meal on board. They were supposed to do it.

In comparison, many Intl airlines, which handle more meals than UA, don't botch special meal requests as often as UA. The problem is with UA, not the passenger. Total UA passenger volume is of no consequence. A large number of UA flights offer no meals or just BoB snackboxes, so they should be excluded.

Having said this, the OP should have brought his own baby food on board, and not rely upon the airline for this. We always bring our own when traveling with our infant on SQ/UA/EK/TG in C, because there is a good probability our infant child will not like the brand/flavor offered on board. Having said that, something is always available.

The problem is that UA has known about these problems for years, but does nothing but hand out miles/vouchers instead of fixing the problem.
Exactly. If UA doesn't want to provide these meals then it shouldn't offer them. If it does decide to offer them, then it needs to actually deliver. Over promising and under delivering is never the right move.
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Old Jul 6, 2008, 12:50 am
  #42  
 
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chalk it up to a lesson learned...bring your own food next time...

seriously, compensation for a missed meal...what have people come to...always wanting something...so when they run out of my beverage of choice, i should ask for somthing?

we are a society of wants not needs...

you dont deserve anything otuside of a sincere apology

stop the fleecing of this airline!
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Old Jul 6, 2008, 12:56 am
  #43  
 
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Originally Posted by PhlyingRPh
...the nasty surprise - 12 fingernail sized pretzels packaged in a lovely foil bag.
CBS radio reported yesterday that UA announced they will charge for all snacks "on a trial basis" except... you guessed it, pretzels. (I know, what else is there for free, Biscoff? They were saying that there will be some new $3 level.) They had Ms. Urbanski talking about airlines, fuel and snacks...

Where will the Phillips Curve shift to at the airside shops when the airlines charge for all drinks too, since, of course, we can't bring our own? (Say... a RCC membership could come in cheaper on an annualized basis.....)

Last edited by Firewind; Jul 6, 2008 at 1:04 am
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Old Jul 6, 2008, 1:09 am
  #44  
 
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Originally Posted by ckidder331
you dont deserve anything outside of a sincere apology
I have to agree. And maybe this is a great example of why I have few to no onboard service complaints with UA, while FT runs rampant with them.

I would never in a million years even think of asking for compensation for a missing special meal. No food at all on a transpac? No water or other beverages? I would be upset and would complain, but if for whatever reason I could not handle one of the standard inflight meals, I would make sure I had back-up plans.
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Old Jul 6, 2008, 2:37 am
  #45  
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Originally Posted by ckidder331
chalk it up to a lesson learned...bring your own food next time...
even though special meals are offered?

Originally Posted by ckidder331
seriously, compensation for a missed meal...what have people come to...always wanting something...so when they run out of my beverage of choice, i should ask for somthing?...
Does your belief system require you to have a certain beverage and only that certain beverage after every meal? If so, and if you actually lived the tenets of your belief system, and if the airline agreed to have that beverage available for you, you would have cause to be upset.

Originally Posted by ckidder331
we are a society of wants not needs...
If you live by your beliefs, and the airline offers to make a religiously compliant meal available and then there is nothing you can eat on the aircraft, it's a need rather than a want isn't it?

Originally Posted by ckidder331
you dont deserve anything otuside of a sincere apology!
Perhaps. OTOH, how's about a class action lawsuit? It would probably have some merit too. Of all the airlines I have traveled on, I have found UA domestic flights to have the worse record of loading special meals. On occasions when changes to itineraries are necessary it's often the case that both meal options have meat of various types embedded in the meal such that one would not be able to make the meal religiously compliant if one tried.

Originally Posted by ckidder331
stop the fleecing of this airline!
LOL. How is it fleecing the airline when the airline has promised to provide the religiously mandated meal that OP requested? It is easy to have the type of attitude you exhibit when you don't have any special needs.

Long live the fruit plate!

Last edited by PhlyingRPh; Jul 6, 2008 at 3:05 am Reason: content was a bit OTT to be honest - used words like nob end, etc
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