Originally Posted by blueman2

OK, UA has just reached a new low in terms of International First Class service. UA 900 SFO-FRA July 26. Here are the highlights, from the trivial to the ridiculous:

- No pre flight drink. When I requested one, the FA said not on this flight.

- When I asked for a drink after take off, the FA informed me that due to the LH strike there would be minimal food or drink service on this flight. Never mind that this is UA 900 from SFO-FRA and there is no strike in SFO. Also, never mind that the LH strike was slated to start Monday. Our flight arrived Sunday morning in FRA. No strike yet.

- I wanted to get some work done for a bit, so asked for my meal to be served about 3 hours into the flight. FA said no. Due to the limited food supply, I had to eat now or risk losing my food. So I ate when she told me to eat. So much for eating on your own schedule.

- Meal was typical of Y class. Single tray. No courses. No linen at all. Wilted salad, rubber fish, terrible vegetables. Plastic utensils. Plastic glass. Mind you, I really do not eat much on flights, but after eating this, I was still very hungry. It was more a snack than a meal. I asked for more, she said that was it. No ice cream, no cheese plate. Nothing.

- Drinks for the meal (and the entire flight) were in plastic. No glasses the entire flight. When I asked for one firmly, the FA firmly said I had to live with plastic or not drink. She was not smiling when she said this.
- I was limited to 2 cans of diet coke. Yes. International First Class. 11 hour flight. Limit of 2 cans of soda. I offered to buy more, and they said all passengers were limited. I was told I could have all the water I wanted. But not bottled water. Just tap water.

- I was still very hungry after dinner, but I figured I would be able to get a snack mid flight. Wrong! No mid flight snacks. I asked, and the FA said “Be happy you got dinner at all, some in back got nothing”. She was not smiling when she said that.

- FAs pretty invisible the whole flight. Given the terrible catering, I guess I can understand why they did not want to ‘hang’ with the passengers! Believe me, it was not pretty in First Class cabin. Several of us were pretty upset with the service.

Now I sympathize with the fact that a strike can cause operational issues. But hell, I would have been happy to bring my own food on board if just given warning! The storage bins in F were pretty empty. Plenty of space to put snacks or food. So I do not buy the ‘strike’ as the only root cause. And the strike is not planned to start until 12 hours after my flight gets into FRA. The failure to board any snacks or sufficient food for F class is just laziness or cost cutting by UA.

I had planned to move this flight over to Jet Airways (I am going on to India after FRA). It was a big mistake not to. Just when you think UA cannot sink any lower, they do. Much lower.

by the way, as I type this, I am sitting on my next flight FRA-MAA on LH758. They have pre-flight drinks. I just asked, and they said full meal service as usual. I told the FA about the UA service in 1st class. She laughed and said she was told UA was using the strike as an excuse. There is no disruption for LH at all.