thebakaronis

I strongly disagree. As someone who often flies for over 20 hours (once 42 hours) including tight connections, onboard food matters a lot! There's only so much food you can carry on board with you and access in tight spaces during a flight. I fly UA a lot, but I'm no fanboy. Their food is terrible. Not only is it unappetizing, it's also terribly unhealthy: full of carbs. Those of us who have dietary restrictions for health or cultural/religious reasons, can and do order special meals. But these special meals are often worse, and sometimes never arrive. So I've stopped ordering them. Instead, I get the regular meal and leave out all the carb-filled foods (which is, unfortunately, most of what's served) and complement it with food I bring on board. And, no, I'm not avoiding carbs due to some new-age fanciful diet, but because I have to (I've ended up at the end of long flights being sick; once the ground-staff had to call medical personnel to attend to me).

If it weren't for the fact that UA has E+, I'd always fly their partners on international flights. Even LH, which has deteriorated over the years, serves far better food. Almost every major international carrier -- including oft-maligned ones -- serves better food than North American airlines.

In int'l business class, however, that's a different story. I like UA's service: hard as well as the soft product. The food is very good too. You get plenty of choices in terms of taste, dietary restrictions, etc. I prefer their service over LH, LX, CA, for instance. I've never flown business on SQ or EK, but would like to experience that one day.