GordonGordon

Beside my seat almost got poached by a selfish guy in the SFO-HKG UA869 flight (744 new config, C-class), then later I didn't receive my 1st choice of main course; this is the very first time I didn't get my 1st choice since being 1K for 10 years in a row. I achieved my one million mile status last year in November.

The even more ridiculous thing was, my employee who flew with me (1K only, not MM flyer, and he sat on the other side across the aisle with seat facing backward, so that I could see him from my seat) ordered the same 1st choice, and he managed to get his 1st choice!

The 2nd choice of my meal I received was the pork filet wrapped with bacon. The meat was cooked like medium rare with blood in the middle. They are supposed to cook the pork like well done, not medium rare!!! It was totally inedible!

Later I complained to the gallery guy who took my order and distributed the main dish. I asked him why I didn't receive my 1st choice of meal. The female flight attendant heard my conversation and tried to explain to me that there was like 90 something % of the passengers on upper deck who were 1KMM or global service members, so I asked her why my employee could get the same 1st choice even though he was only 1K. She was a kind of speechless and kept apologizing to me for overlook my status.

After a sleep for a while, I decided to bring up the issue to the purser. She apologized to me and gave me a voucher with one of the options for 7,000 miles to be deposited to my MP account. She told me she would find out why the gallery guy overlooked my status.

The reason why I complained was because I noticed the service of the international flight and even domestic flight has been going downhill recently. The flight attendants no longer address you by your last name and a lot of them were being lazy to take order of your main course by your status. Some of them don't even bother to ask your 1st and 2nd choice of meals and they only go for seat rows. If you are sitting at the last row, then it is more likely that you don't get your 1st choice. Some of them even randomly selected who they want to give out the popular dishes to. It is such a shame!

GoingAway

Wirelessly posted (goingaway's phone: BlackBerry8900/4.6.1.114 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Meals are no longer solely by status - you must have missed that change. I think its more than a year since they started assigning stars. You and your employee are equals, sorry to say along with other 1Ks and full fare passengers trumped by GS alone. Although I am sure there have been service issues on occasion, I can't say you are coming off here as someone who doesn't ensure they are well aware of your dissatisfaction

jef7

First time in 10 years? That's a good streak. I would be thankful.

I hope you asked to return the pork for further cooking.

I think we all know the fact that service on UA can be inconsistent. However I wouldn't generalize that service are all downhill. Simply untrue.

climmy

Wow, a half page dissertation on not getting a first choice meal?

As the above poster mentioned, the status ranking doesn't take into account MM status at all.

My wife works for a company with a million TLA's, so here's her favorite: GOI. Get over it.

FWIW, pork can be eaten quite safely medium rare.

6am at ORD

deleted

sfo

One of lifes big disappointments.

GordonGordon

I have no idea which part of the world you are originally from.

Meat is often contaminated with bacteria such as salmonella and listeria which can be killed by cooking at a proper temperature. Rare meat may still contain living bacteria which can cause infection resulting in intestinal discomfort and in rare cases, death. If prepared safely, some red meat can be eaten rare, while white meat ,including poultry and pork, should never be eaten rare.

Akulashark

Actually, with advances in farming and food preparation Pork is more and more considered to be safe at lower temperatures. I am not saying they shouldn't cook it correctly, I am just saying more and more people are eating pork rare.

climmy

And from the exact same search criteria:

For many chefs and for many of us, medium-rare pork has been the norm for many years now. It’s not what the sternest health experts would recommend. It’s not anything that the U.S. Department of Agriculture would officially endorse. But trichinosis isn’t as much of a concern as it was decades ago — I don’t think there’s much dispute about that. And if medium-rare pork is a game of Russian roulette, well, I’m a lucky man who has never, ever encountered the loaded chamber. And I know many other diners just like me.

kkjay77

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but does UA distinguish 1K and 1KMM for meal preference?
IIRC, doesn't both get 3 stars?

Fredd

As jef7 said, you should have requested to have it heated further. While your information on pork is outdated, it's understandable that you wouldn't like it with "blood" in the middle. Are you quite sure your impression of the pork wasn't colored by your angst at not getting your first choice?

It's all airplane food to us, and you've given me a better idea of why we're rewarded with sincere and sometimes emotional thank-yous and even the odd bottle of wine after telling the FA that we're "flexible" about meal choices. One purser told us about having a young businessman the previous week tell him that not getting his first choice was the worst experience of his life. We agreed the pax in question must have led a charmed life up to that point.

Cheers,
Fredd

qasr

No. Yes.

GordonGordon

Who knows, probably your stomach is full of tapeworms. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to curse you, in fact they might help you losing some weight

Yes, I did miss the change even though I make more than 6 trans-pacific roundtrip flights per year. I guess I had been very lucky that I always got the 1st choice of my main course for the past 10 years till this flight.

BlissWorld

+1

mahasamatman

I've never gotten my first choice on a plane. I always end up with airline "food" instead.