crnk

No, LAS is about the same distance as SLC (and DC area, too), so they get the "half-assed" menu option and don't follow the guidelines exactly.

Kacee

Has anyone ever had one of these "light and refreshing" snacks? Because nothing I've ever been served on United fits that description

avi8tir

One other note.... if there was a choice last night, i certainly wasnt offered one. I thought I saw some salads come out a little later, but that wasnt even a choice for me. Nice to be a GS member!

anc-ord772

That would cost money. UNITED has taken the position that it's not their job to feed you.

I was surprised to be served a snack during what I assumed where dinner hours on IAH-LAX in November. I had just come off FRA-IAH and was hungry. Oh well.

PTahCha

If you eat the stale lettuce on the bottom of the cold cut plate, it's somewhat light and refreshing.

OMAguy

isnt this chart the old chart? i remember a recent change from 700 miles to 900 miles. This is what is on united.com right now although it does not give specific meal times [see http://www.united.com/web/en-US/cont...st/dining.aspx]:

Onboard Meal Service

Less than 220 miles
(Approximately 1 hour or less) Biscoff® cookies or pretzels served with the beverage of your choice

220–899 miles
(Approximately 1–2.5 hours) Warmed, all-natural breakfast scones or a selection of premium snacks and fresh fruit
Note: United will serve meals or snacks on flights longer than 700 miles in the following markets:

Chicago O'Hare to/from Boston, Denver, New York LaGuardia and New York/Newark
Denver to/from Houston Intercontinental and Los Angeles

900–2,299 miles
(Approximately 2.5–5 hours) Full meal service during traditional meal times or a light and refreshing snack in between traditional meal times

Longer than 2,300 miles
(Approximately 5 hours or longer) Full meal service followed by a pre-arrival snack or a light and refreshing snack on late night departures followed by a pre-arrival warm scone

On United Express® flights longer than 700 miles (approximately two hours), United First® and United Business® customers will enjoy complimentary snackboxes featuring high-quality, brand-name foods.


I have been on SLC-IAH quite a bit recently - a lunch time departure just had the snack plate instead of the full lunch (the twitter team said it must have been a catering mistake) and a 9pm departure just had the snack basket.

IADFlyer123

If your flight was after 7pm, you would get a snack basket. I remember in April last year, same case. I was hoping for food and ended up with chips or bananas!

GregMM

IAH-BOS in December, dinner was served for departures up through 1914, snack (cold plate) for 1915 and later. Unfortunately, my flight was 1920. The same flight the previous day was 1910.

goalie

And THAT is how they cut the cost of a full meal down to the cost of a snack plate

dcpdxtrans

Actually I find the food service in F on the last IAD - SFO flight to be good.

micmcguire

Was on a 7PM departure from DEN today in F and got the mediteranian cold plate instead of a dinner. It was good, I did enjoy it but it was not enough food! Had I known I would have brought a meal on board with me.

flyingnosh

Check the Flight Status page before departure. You'll see one of these:

United First: Dinner
United First: Snack
United First: Refreshments

"Snack" means the cold plate or something similar. "Refreshments" means chips and candy bars from the basket. I agree that the Mediterranean plate is tasty. Combined with a yogurt/granola/fruit Parfait from one of the stands in the terminal it makes for a pretty good meal.

Hartmann

At this point I buy a meal to bring onboard in almost all cases. I take the meal that UA offers but if it's inedible or not enough food, I always have a backup.

To me, F on UA is now simply about the bigger seat/more space. And that's why UA can sell upgrades for $100 on a PDX-EWR flight.

username

Just got off a 2000 mile west bound flight out of IAD that departed 7:20 PM. Wow, snack plate only Website does not say what "traditional meal time" is but I guess from this thread, the cutoff is 7 PM. I wonder why UA does not say the 7 PM on the website. I think many would still think 7:20 PM is "traditional meal times".

lensman

I'm of two minds here:

1. On the one hand, I'd like to see F meals improve to the point where they are comparable in quality to food I eat on a normal day. I don't care about quantity, just quality.

2. On the other hand, I think there are a couple of negative influences. For one, food in the airline terminal is an order of magnitude better than it was 10-15 years ago. Airlines may just not be able to compete with this. The *choices* available in the terminal is also a factor. The limited choices available in the air will never be enough to provide "what I'm in the mood for", at best, it will be "something I could be satisfied with".

The other factor is that on average, passengers have a lot more time in the terminal. This means that they have the time to eat a superior meal in the terminal. This reduces the utility of the onboard meal.

I'm not happy with these changes, but I can see why they might be happening.