Fill 👏 out 👏 the 👏 surveys
You have no idea how much companies obsess over survey scores. My manager harangues the team and asks individually (results anonymized on delivery) if we don't fill out the 2x a year survey about my sentiment at the company.
I'll actually share a couple examples. I worked (previously) at a company that prioritized user experience. One of the things that we helped collaborate on was to integrate survey submissions when we otherwise lacked knowledge of who the person was or what they were trying to achieve.
A major mobile prepaid US service provider revamped their website. We get a 1/10 survey result with the simple description "your site sucks". Luckily thanks to the software at my (then) employer, we can see what the person tried to do. They went to a bookmark to pay their bill. The landing page for the old billpay page was still there, didn't work. Redirected the old pages that were still up to their new equivalents.
Another didn't even require our software to find the cause. The survey software alerted a low score. The person was of Ukranian descent living in North America. They begged the airline to implement a page with resources for people affected by the Ukranian war. Someone saw this and that airline (at the time) created a detailed page on travel waivers, information on how to repatriate people who were abroad, information on getting relatives without current status out of Ukraine, etc... it was acknowledged as an effort that was doing the right thing as human beings for the sake of it, not profit.
After I left that company I'm still impacting by surveys and being impacted by surveys.
Hertz in RIC became terrible in September. Ultimate Choice was not honored. No real upgrades. No walk to the car as a Gold member and drive to the gate. Negative surveys hit and by mid-October the changes were apparently undone (I haven't been back but I've heard from coworkers who have traveled that the experience got better again, also
this FT thread.
I myself have to average 8.5/10 across surveys that are given in an IT job. If I get less than an 9/10 on the service my company provides, it becomes a discussion point. A result of 8 or less on a single one is not necessarily anyone's individual fault, but it is discussed very seriously on why the customer feels that way and is there a rectifiable thing, if so, what are we going to do about it.
If people continue to pay for Polaris and never complain about it in a quantifiable way (e.g. don't complain to the employees serving you the apparently increasingly worse quality food in Polaris Lounges or on flights, that isn't tracked by corporate at all and is a vague anecdote vs a data point) then nothing will change. They will assume the changes are accepted and continue to lower the bar.
It is possible for United to ignore the survey feedback, but in my experience working with large customers in many industries, generally these changes are not made out of malice but belief that the changes are acceptable products. Oh, travel demand is up. Oh some people complain about the food but they still fly in Polaris.
If you give feedback that the decline in food quality is noticeable and that it you have experienced Y food on another airline that was much better than what you experienced in J I would bet if that is a consistent feedback from multiple members that it triggers some alarm bells.
Also, in terms of surveys, one of the annoying things about their length is how long they are and the slice and dice... you get an overall rating to bin the survey, but you also get subsections. Okay, you were satisfied with your flight. Were you satisfied with the airplane condition? Were you satisfied by the friendliness and service of the flight crew? Were you satisfied by the food and beverage quality?
Even if you give a positive survey, they will sometimes slice and dice on the categories to get sentiment... HOWEVER... if a single factor (or combo of a few factors) was so bad that it drags your survey results below an 9/10, that's neutral on an net promoter score. If it drags below a 7, then you're considered a detractor.
I'm not saying to review bomb United surveys for the sake of hoping to improve the food. If the food was below expectations but everything else was fine give it an 8/10 or 9/10 overall.
And if you are actually considering switching airlines or just not being as loyal to United and just consider what's cost effective/convenient... say it. I can guarantee you that for $$$ purchase businesses that the freetext fields are paid attention to way more than the average person thinks.
But fill the surveys. They are worth your time.
Whoops, I'm rambling again!