UA Perks for status pax in J include getting the last steaks!

[markis10]

Had to laugh when I read this letter in the SMH travel section

Letters: Good Tiger, bad Tiger

We travelled recently from Sydney to the US in business class with United Airlines. Imagine my disappointment when served a tasteless ravioli instead of the ordered fillet mignon, which had "run out". I was then horrified when the next two passengers were served fillet mignon. When I questioned the flight attendant, he said: "We were running out and so I gave it to the couple with a higher flight status." I was humiliated.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Had to laugh when I read this letter in the SMH travel section

Letters: Good Tiger, bad Tiger

I am tempted to add. 'serves them bloody right'........but seriously long haul J needs to be better than that.

I am glad they wrote and published the story. The cost in publicity would now out weigh two fillet mignons!!!

 

[anat0l]

I am tempted to add. 'serves them bloody right'........but seriously long haul J needs to be better than that.

I am glad they wrote and published the story. The cost in publicity would now out weigh two fillet mignons!!!

One less naive customer? Woo hoo....

Such a complaint may be no different to a status customer fronting up check-in at a hotel or airline counter queue, then being attended first before a non-status customer (i.e. sometimes the status counter helps other customers when there are no status customers waiting). In this case, the non-status customer may be waiting a long time and especially can't understand why they could've just stood where the status customer was standing and got faster service, but even more so that the reason comes back that because they don't have status they were "pushed aside".

And believe me there have been plenty of claims and complaints of that kind before. I've been in a few of them myself (i.e. people accusing me of "pushing in").

Now back to the story... considering that UA allow upgrades pretty much willy-nilly and there's always a strong possibility that UA have instituted overselling, I wouldn't be surprised if this UA J cabin was full. For a 744 that's 52 J seats. For dinner there are usually at least 3 choices on the menu (and knowing UA menus none of them are for special diets - these need to be ordered separately). In order to guarantee everyone gets their preference you would need to stock 156 main meals, of which 104 of those would go to waste (unless some people want seconds). I suppose from historical trends you might see that one dish is very popular (e.g. on Japan routes, the Japanese selection is usually very high on demand, but you can preorder these in advance, although people never do), so you would stock say 52 of these and perhaps 15-20 of the others, thus cutting wastage and cartage by a third. In reality I think that they are limited to stocking 52 meals give or take a few more, which means they can't just stock all of one meal and a handful of others; they need to guess and proportion them out.

In any case, the point is that UA will have to look into their meal selection trends on that route in order to gauge better their cartage needs. I know that when I flew UA J I was asked for my selection and an alternative, since I knew I selected something that was very popular. Thankfully (probably due to a not-so-full cabin plus having *G status - though quite insufficient given the 1K population - helps a bit) I got my meal choice; not sure about others. But using status as a discriminating factor as to who gets what meal and who doesn't I don't have a problem with. It's no different to status customers being afforded other things or priority compared to regular customers, even when they are in the same class (or sometimes when they are not in the same class, e.g. a J customer with no status can only use the J lounge, whereas a Y customer with appropriate status can use the F lounge).

What I don't get about this story is the line

I was humiliated.

Now apart from being 'horrified' that the next two pax got their filets (how does one possibly feel 'horrified' about that? Horrified would be the said pax being served filets and being most disappointed about it because they had made it clear that they were vegetarian! That's a reason to be 'horrified'!), in what way, shape or form does one feel humiliated about this situation? Disappointed - fine. I would be, too. But humiliated? I can't work that out, really. When that line was put in the letter, the writer pretty much lost all credibility in my eyes.

Now of course there could be possible circumstances where UA would definitely be at fault here. If the cabin was not full, then it gets harder to say that 'we ran out' unless everyone happened to order the same dish. Someone on the catering side might have stuffed up the stock proportions meaning much, much less steaks available than what should be. Then there is the elusive conspiracy that crew eat the leftovers from these meals, and thus removed some from the stock for their personal consumption later.

Finally, this doesn't happen on all flights, even UA (witness reading some of the UA forums and people saying they missed their meal choice even if they were a 1K). I haven't heard many stories (read: some, not none!) about the same thing happening in Y, for sure, where they often just choose to start serving when they please and then it's luck of the draw from there. (And I know at least one notable forum member who will very much chime in on this note.)

 

[RB]

I used to enjoy & benefit from that section of the SMH. There was often good feedback on places & activities that people had enjoyed. Now it seems to have slipped to a spot for people to write in and whinge.

 

[pshepvic]

One less naive customer? Woo hoo....

Such a complaint may be no different to a status customer fronting up check-in at a hotel or airline counter queue, then being attended first before a non-status customer (i.e. sometimes the status counter helps other customers when there are no status customers waiting). In this case, the non-status customer may be waiting a long time and especially can't understand why they could've just stood where the status customer was standing and got faster service, but even more so that the reason comes back that because they don't have status they were "pushed aside".

"I'm sorry sir, this line is reserved for members of our Matterhorn program"

 

[serfty]

I believe UA stock the cabins with just enough meals and maybe a few more. As indicated their standard process is to ask of those PAX with a status lower than 1K for first and second preferences. Then meals are allocated by status (out of sight of the PAX). 1K and above are generally not asked for two options as they normally get their preference.

AA use the front/back to back/front for "preferences", referred on FT as FEBO.

US walk around the cabin asking the highest status passengers first.

 

[lovestotravel]

I do chuckle at the letters in there at times!

Lots of idiots flying around!

 

[Hvr]

I am tempted to add. 'serves them bloody right'........but seriously long haul J needs to be better than that.

I am glad they wrote and published the story. The cost in publicity would now out weigh two fillet mignons!!!

I don't have much sympathy for them. The meal would always be popular and someone has to miss out if they run out. Therefore status is the fair way to determine who gets the most popular meal. The same way we get to choose our seats etc.

On a recent CX flight in J (as a WP) the CSM came to me and very discreetly asked for my breakfast choice to ensure I got it. This benefit confirmed to me that status is worth it and I will do all I can to retain it whilst flying.

And in this instance they wouldn't have known except for the fact they sat beside the people who got their first choice. The FA answered honestly and has effectively been berated for telling them the truth.

If there is a shortage how would the affected pax make the choice?

 

[Homer]

I think for most people, a trip in J is such a rarity that they can build up some very high expectations. The solution, of course, is to pick a better airline than UA and/or stump up for F. As an inexperienced F flyer I asked an EK CSM last year, as he took my order, whether he thought they might run out of anything. He looked surprised and said “Mr Simpson, we take enough on board so that everyone [in F] can order each dish on our menu.” Now that’s the way to do it.

 

[dajop]

After all the hysteria and emotion, I think the real issue here is the perceived poor quality alternative to the meal that had run out. I've flown SQ, QF, CX on more than just a few occassions in J, and really give or take personal preferences and the odd "light meal option" nearly all the mains on the menu are adequate substitutes for other mains, and on the odd occasion of missing out on first preference, option 2 or 3 is usually more than OK (and sometimes pleasantly surprising). I am not sure if that is the case on UA, but ravioli doesn't seem to be in the same league as fillet mignon.

Also, as Hvr suggested there are subtle ways of taking orders. SQ usually seem to first take orders from Solitaire PPS members, then PPS members before taking orders from rest of pax. Thus would have already "runout" of an option before someone with status even gets a chance to order it, irrespective of where seated in cabin.

 

[drron]

Not every airline thinks status is the best way of determining meal choices.I well remember flying BA F(On a pay for J,fly F promotion).Before take off the purser approached me saying-"Drron I was wondering whether you would like the lobster for dinner tonight."As a QPNB and prior to even hearing of Aadvantage I enquired why he was asking this early.
"Well drron,you and the gentleman seated behind you are the only premium fare paying passengers today and there are only 2 serves of lobster."
So me and the gentleman behind dined on lobster.
But if all else is equal status should prevail.

 

[moa999]

I think its also in the delivery...

If you are doing the ask first then tally... then when you run out you tell the customer - would you like the ravioli or the ravioli, unfortunately we are out of the beef.

whereas from the article the customer has said the beef, but then got served the ravioli,

 

[samh004]

I would have taken the ravioli

Agree with drron, all else equal, status should prevail.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I think for most people, a trip in J is such a rarity that they can build up some very high expectations. The solution, of course, is to pick a better airline than UA and/or stump up for F. As an inexperienced F flyer I asked an EK CSM last year, as he took my order, whether he thought they might run out of anything. He looked surprised and said “Mr Simpson, we take enough on board so that everyone [in F] can order each dish on our menu.” Now that’s the way to do it.

Agree Homer, whatever you think of EK you will never lose weight flying them!

 

[Sprucegoose]

Firstclass to the lifeboats!!!

 

[SYD]

Having flown UA quite a lot, I can tell you the Filet Mignon is overrated, but I can't image that the ravioli was fine dining... But at 30,000ft, there isn't a lot fine dining choices around these days.

On UA domestic three class 777/747 flights, it's actually quite funny to watch the FAs run around the cabin ticking down 1K, PE, P and pure plebs. I used to be one of the plebs - just when you thought they were going to take your order, they look at you, smile and move on. I think I've had a few "raviolis" and Seizure (sic) Salads in my time...

US airlines really have a lot to answer for when it comes to taking away what's left of the glamour of being in the pointy end. Especially for first timers or people who actually spend their own money and not travelling on the companies "dime".

 

[Moopere]

Firstclass to the lifeboats!!!

hahah. I laughed out loud. Good comment.

 

[anat0l]

I would have taken the ravioli

Interesting how UA stumped this as an option. On my latest flight in UA J (Japan route), there were two "Western" choices (probably "standard") and the Japanese selection. None of those were vegetarian. (The Japanese might've been, but you couldn't eat everything given to you.)

OTOH with my flight in UA Y on the reverse (almost) route, the choices in Y were one of two: one was chicken, the other was pasta with napoli sauce and broccoli. It actually looked more like a microwave meal, and heated up much like one (plenty of water). Now that is vegetarian (not vegan, however), but again I would've thought they'd just have two standard options + anyone else who needs it orders SPML (which admittedly are very hit and miss, but if you need it, you need it...)


Now F there are at most 16 pax. It can't be too difficult to stock a few options for everyone, but (with possible exception of EK and perhaps others) if everyone in a full F cabin ordered the same thing, someone would get hosed (i.e. unless you load 48+ meals, and even more since F gets more choice than that). With F you could stock more ingredients rather than pre-set meals, though (e.g. QF probably have a huge tray of sides where sides can be added to many main meals), which changes the loading dynamics. But being shortchanged in F isn't remote - I know someone who BTC'd on SQ F before, but it turned out that SQ F that day was only to have that pax as a passenger. Said pax wanted to try something apart from the BTC but was told that since they were the only one expected and they'd BTC'd, there was no additional food loaded. Work that one out......


Note that catering getting shorted (i.e. people missing out) is only likely when the cabin is completely full. But for the US-based airlines, filling up J is a cakewalk thanks to hand-me-out upgrades; F is not too difficult either. Probably explains why product is not quite up there on the world stage.

 

[drron]

Though I would think it easier to overstock F meals as the leftovers could be the crew meals.
Though I do remember a post here about having a request for a salmon meal on a J flight(?QF) being turned down and then seeing the dead heading crew being served said dish-now that could be horrifying,,but still not humiliating.

 

[Sprucegoose]

There only time said OP issue has happened to me on Qantas was a late points UG and they explained to me that I could have the leftovers, which was printed on the BP....CATERING CANNOT BE ASSURED.

I got what I wanted in anycase. That was J domestic, not long haul.

UA is rated a three star outfit, why would anyone have high expectations?