UA Insider

Hi Everyone,

You may have seen some of the buzz about our buy-on-board menu refresh a few months back—and now we are ready to launch the newly redesigned Choice Menu with significant updates to our fresh food options. Here are some of the highlights:

• ‘Bistro on Board’ – Completely redesigned fresh food menu: We’re introducing chef-inspired choices available on select flights over 3.5 hours. New breakfast items include an ‘energy’ selection with a hard-cooked egg, cheese, grapes, wheat roll and almond butter. For lunch and dinner, we’ve retained popular items such as the artisan cheese selection and Asian-style noodle salad, and added new ones including a vegetarian caprese baguette.
  
  
• More hot items and consistency between aircraft: Select items at breakfast, lunch and dinner will be available either hot or cold—meaning there will no longer be menu differences between aircraft types on the same route. To help further close this gap, we’ll be installing ovens in United Economy on certain aircraft (like ex-Ted A320s). And on longer flights to Hawaii, we’ll offer hot items like a chicken stir-fry.
  
  
• Seasonal menu changes: The Bistro on Board items will change seasonally, with new menu items coming in October.
  
  
• More efficient and sustainable packaging: We’ve streamlined the packaging, allowing us to board more fresh items when demand permits, using more recyclable materials and creating less overall waste than before.

Along with Bistro on Board, we’ll continue to offer Snack Shop snack boxes (Tapas, Classic, Savory) and popular snacks (e.g. granola bars and hummus with pita chips) on most North America and Latin America flights over 2 hours.

The full menu will be uploaded to united.com today, and there is also an expanded placement in this month’s Hemispheres magazine. Enjoy!

Aaron Goldberg
Sr. Manager – Customer Experience Planning
United Airlines

bob_the_d

i've actually never really had an issue with BoB and this is welcome news (i've had enough noodle boxes to last me a lifetime).

the only criticism i have is on the 3 hour flight minimum thing for food on LGA/EWR-ORD. it's a route i personally take very frequently for work, and the planes are consistently packed and i can't speak for everyone, but there's lots of times i'm arriving at the airport hot off the heels of a meeting and didn't have a chance to eat or grab something to eat, and i'm stuck for a couple hours on hummus packs and pringles. and if it's happening to me, i can't imagine it's not happening to many others on this route. it's pretty frustrating when you're tired and hungry, and it just seems like a big missed revenue opportunity. happened to me just this monday, had a noon flight EWR-ORD, i was in a rush and i landed in an awful mood because i hadn't been able to eat for pretty much half the day.

blueman2

Sounds like all positive changes to me. The "consistency" angle is the most important to me. I want to know what I can expect. Up until now, you never know what meal (if any) will be provided until you get on the plane. Good example is RJ flights from ATL to DEN. They mostly provide no meals, even BoB, in F even though by UA rules they should.

So +1 for consistency.

goodeats21

Hate to break it to you, but I really doubt anything that UA Insider announced here will apply to RJ flights.

Seasonal menu changes are a great idea. Wish we could get that in First Class...., along with completely redesigned fresh foods

dsquared37

When will drink chits be allowed for BoB offerings?

milesmuncher

Looking forward to trying out some of the new options ^

mherdeg

Cool. Any word on whether F passengers who decline the meal will be offered a free bistro-on-board item?

What I'm really asking is whether we should expect to see F passengers saying "the meal available for purchase in coach is better than what I'm getting in this premium cabin" in the future.

rch4u

Most other carriers update BOB selections quarterly - we're all excited that United has changed the options it's been serving for 2+ years. I'm glad there appears to be some commitment to a more regular rotation going forward.

How about some inspiration in domestic F too?

TWA Guy

RIP cheeseburger :-(

belynch

More like with the operational performance so low and the frequency so high between this city pair that elites are often chasing down the next flight they can get on, making the 20 min. investment in a tortas not feasible.

I've come close to gnawing my arm off more than once on that route. Thankfully there's a 5 Guys at LGA. :-:

milepig

Sounds like good changes, overall, and I agree that the key is consistency along with sufficient amounts on hand. How many times have I heard "today we only have the snack items on board". Or, by the time they get to my row "we're out of the boxes, would you like some Pringles??"

FriendlySkies

Now you just need to change up the items served in domestic and international F and C...

JetAway

I'll often ask for one of the BOB items even when I'm in First. Sometimes it's comped, other times not. But I personally like many of those options better than most of the First offerings.

LongingForORD

Yes, please inquiring minds want to know???

exerda

These all seem like good changes to me. And kudos for adding a vegetarian fresh option.