sriki
Level 2 Member
I took a United flight from ORD to PEK in business class on an award ticket today. The flight took off an hour later than scheduled but the official delay was only listed as 35 minutes.
An hour into the 13.5 hour flight, lunch was being served when one of the flight attendants came by and asked for selection. We told her that we had special meals selected. She came back saying that they did not load any special meals we asked for. Unfortunately, this flight did not have a single vegetarian or chicken dish on the menu (which could have been ok for us). I was surprised that it could be so. The flight attendant said the purser would come by and talk to us later about this. Well, she did not show up then and at least not in the first 4-6 hours. After that, I went to sleep and woke up 4 hours before landing. She came by after we landed and taxing to the gate and apologized for "dropping the ball" (her words) on the meal issue. She mentioned that she did not want to disturb us as we were sleeping which makes me think she must have come by atleast 3 hours ( potentially more) after the meal service. I expected her to come by and talk to us when they realized that they messed up. But, I do not know all the responsibilities of a purser and how high of a priority that messed up meals order with no alternative is on their list.
I am disappointed by the overall flight and reinforces my trust in some asian carriers more than American. I think I can make this statement in this forum without having to worry about coming across as a snob. How often did anyone experience a special meal issue and how was the followup response by the crew? What did you end up doing about that?
An hour into the 13.5 hour flight, lunch was being served when one of the flight attendants came by and asked for selection. We told her that we had special meals selected. She came back saying that they did not load any special meals we asked for. Unfortunately, this flight did not have a single vegetarian or chicken dish on the menu (which could have been ok for us). I was surprised that it could be so. The flight attendant said the purser would come by and talk to us later about this. Well, she did not show up then and at least not in the first 4-6 hours. After that, I went to sleep and woke up 4 hours before landing. She came by after we landed and taxing to the gate and apologized for "dropping the ball" (her words) on the meal issue. She mentioned that she did not want to disturb us as we were sleeping which makes me think she must have come by atleast 3 hours ( potentially more) after the meal service. I expected her to come by and talk to us when they realized that they messed up. But, I do not know all the responsibilities of a purser and how high of a priority that messed up meals order with no alternative is on their list.
I am disappointed by the overall flight and reinforces my trust in some asian carriers more than American. I think I can make this statement in this forum without having to worry about coming across as a snob. How often did anyone experience a special meal issue and how was the followup response by the crew? What did you end up doing about that?
