I previously wrote about how to pre-order American First Class meals and how to pre-order Delta First Class meals. In this post, I wanted to write a guide on how to pre-order meals in United first class based on my recent flight experience.
It’s nice that United offers a meal pre-order system, but be aware that this isn’t entirely seamless. Due to the limited quantity of each meal that can be pre-ordered, items may be “out of stock” even if you select them several days in advance. Anyway, let’s see how it works…
Book your meal before you fly to United
United Airlines is tech-savvy, but they’ve only recently introduced pre-ordered meals in their premium cabins. Admittedly this can be confusing though, so let’s discuss everything you need to know about the process.
On which flights can I pre-select meals?
United lets you pre-select your main course when traveling in First or Business Class. This includes domestic first class flights, short-haul international business class flights and United Polaris flights (where long-haul business class is marketed this way).
Please note that the pre-selection of meals is only available on flights with a full meal service and is not available on flights where only snacks are served. In-flight meals are generally served on flights of 800 miles or more during the in-flight meal period.
When can I pre-select my meals?
United Airlines has the shortest window for meal selection among the “Big 3 Airlines”. Specifically, you can choose your meal from 24 hours up to 5 days before departure. So if you book further than that, don’t expect him to be able to select meals until 5 days before departure.
How do you choose your meals in advance?
So how do you choose your meal when flying in United’s premium cabin? There are several ways to go about this. The most consistent option is to visit United Airlines’ dedicated webpage to select meals. at this link.
Alternatively, eligible passengers will receive an email from United Airlines 5 days prior to departure prompting them to make meal choices.
Clicking on that link will give each passenger on the itinerary the option to select a meal.
Food quality may be questionable, but United typically offers passengers five options on domestic flights. This is very impressive as you may have more options than what is available on board.
A third option to access these selections is to log into your itinerary through united.com or the United mobile app. Scroll down in your itinerary until you see ‘View pre-ordered meals and snacks’.
Why are some meal options showing as out of stock?
Here’s a very disappointing aspect of United Airlines’ meal pre-order system. First, I would like to mention how pre-ordering meals in the US is not cut off. In other words, airlines just adjust their catering if more people than usual order a particular dish. Unfortunately this is not the case for United.
Let’s take United Airlines’ pre-order system as an example. Airlines also don’t offer all specific meals in advance. For example, a first-class cabin has 20 seats, 5 meal options, and United typically carries 4 of each main course.
- Airlines may allow pre-ordering of only 10 of the 20 meals to provide in-flight options for senior elite members.
- This means airlines may only pre-order two of each dish
As a result, options are often shown as out of stock, even if you have booked the option in advance. I’ve heard many reports of not being able to access all options after 5 days, so it’s very frustrating.
What is United’s priority for in-flight meal orders?
Not all meals can be pre-ordered, so how does United prioritize in-flight meal orders? Prioritize meal orders. Meals are usually ordered from front to back.
Conclusion
It’s good that United has a pre-order meal program, but unfortunately there is still a lot of room for improvement in its implementation. If you are flying First Class or Business Class on a meal-inclusive flight, you can choose your meal from 24 hours before his departure up to 5 days before his departure.
The problem is that there are a limited number of options that can be pre-ordered. Only a portion of the total catered meal may be pre-ordered, and United will not adjust the meal proportions if demand for one is greater than the other. . So even if he is out for five days, he may not be able to choose his preferred diet in advance.
The program is noteworthy, but I think United could work a bit on execution…
For those of you who have used the United Airlines meal pre-order program, what was your experience like?