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Snack in F on UA means something different than Snack in F on CO

Snack in F on UA means something different than Snack in F on CO

Old Apr 3, 2011, 7:23 pm
  #1  
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Snack in F on UA means something different than Snack in F on CO

Flew ORD-DCA today in F on UA. Last time I flew UA in F has been over 10 years.

I did not expect that food would be served, however I checked with an agent at the ORD RCC and she said that a snack was served and that meant either a sandwich or salad. I still wasn't sure - so I checked united.com and it said domestic snack is either a "snack basket" - ie bagged potato chips server in a basket and passed around the cabin if less than 7xx miles or a sandwich/salad if greater.

Being used to CO - who ignores the foods rules for time of day or distance based on high revenue routes - I thought maybe the RCC agent was right.

I then checked at the gate and sure enough the gate agent indicated a sandwich/salad was being served. I still did not believe it and I notice the monitors showing a "snack basket" (potato chips) being serverd in F.

Checked again with a different agent at the gate - and he indicated sandwich/salad - but I questioned him on the monitor sign - then he backed down to the potato chip basket.

Hence, I ordered a sandwich at Wolfgang's near the gate to bring on board.

Of course the potato chip basket was served. The FA commented (positively) about me bringing my own food in F. She indicated the GA before the flight closed, asked her what was being served in F.

The point here is that agents don't know what their company serves on the flight. Best to look at the monitors.

UA and CO need to get together on the definition of an F snack. CO is always the cold plate - a few slices of lunch meat, cheese and crackers, plus fruit and brownie. At least when CO says it is a snack F flight - you know what you are getting.
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Old Apr 3, 2011, 7:45 pm
  #2  
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Originally Posted by cova
At least when CO says it is a snack F flight - you know what you are getting.
On the timetable, in the reservation or on the PDA site? The details can vary on CO, too, for the same flight.
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Old Apr 3, 2011, 8:32 pm
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I agree with OP's general point, but I would not a expect a sandwhich on ORD-DCA flight in F. It seems like in recent years, the quality of the domestic F experience on UA continues to decline.
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Old Apr 3, 2011, 8:45 pm
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Originally Posted by 808 Flyer
I agree with OP's general point, but I would not a expect a sandwhich on ORD-DCA flight in F. It seems like in recent years, the quality of the domestic F experience on UA continues to decline.
Huh?

It's like a sub-600 mile flight. What would you get on CO in F? Certainly not a sandwich. If anything, UA's product has improved - it used to be just the premium snack mix on these flights less than 750 miles (ok, during the Business One days it was a meal...) Now, at least it's the snack basket with chips, cliff bars, nuts, etc.

I wish CO would adopt such a basket - I recall an IAH-SLC flight a few months ago (at over 3 hours) where all they served in F was a bag of pretzels.
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Old Apr 3, 2011, 9:13 pm
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Originally Posted by pagotto
Huh?

It's like a sub-600 mile flight. What would you get on CO in F? Certainly not a sandwich. If anything, UA's product has improved - it used to be just the premium snack mix on these flights less than 750 miles (ok, during the Business One days it was a meal...) Now, at least it's the snack basket with chips, cliff bars, nuts, etc.

I wish CO would adopt such a basket - I recall an IAH-SLC flight a few months ago (at over 3 hours) where all they served in F was a bag of pretzels.
The CO 5pm today from ORD to EWR (712 miles) gets:

First Class: Light meal featuring a hot sandwich
Main Cabin: Assorted packaged snacks available for purchase

Not a lot farther than ORD-DCA (612 miles).

The ORD to EWR distance would still be a bag of potato chips in F on UA. The UA cut off is 760 miles.

---------------------------------------------------
I might add that this flight violates CO's meal policy:

Continental Flight 281
Chicago, IL (ORD - O'Hare) to
New York/Newark, NJ (EWR - Liberty)
Sun., Apr 3, 2011 at 7:14 PM
Boeing 737-800

Food
First Class: Light meal featuring a hot sandwich
Main Cabin: Assorted packaged snacks available for purchase

Since the cut off time is 7pm. But I guess ORD-EWR is hi rev - so CO breaks the rules.

Originally Posted by pagotto
Huh?

I wish CO would adopt such a basket - I recall an IAH-SLC flight a few months ago (at over 3 hours) where all they served in F was a bag of pretzels.
IAH-SLC is a low rev route for CO. Also it has lots of non-rev'ers since CO has a big call center near SLC.

Last edited by iluv2fly; Apr 3, 2011 at 10:07 pm Reason: merge
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Old Apr 4, 2011, 7:53 am
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It's really not acceptable that the GA didn't know better. The change was announced almost a year ago:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...d-dca-iad.html

I always found the cheese plate to be a pleasant surprise and a nice touch. I was sorry to see it go.
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Old Apr 4, 2011, 10:10 am
  #7  
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I had a similar experience with a gate agent...Frankly, I don't blame the G/A, but the whole process of them being in the dark...

Flew ORD-LAS on an 9PM departure a few weeks ago. Because I connected into ORD, didn't have a chance to grab dinner before my travels commenced. Asked at the RCC, they didn't know if there was a true 'meal' or not. Went down to the gate about 20 mins before boarding, asked again, "It says here, 'refreshments' will be served in F". I assumed and pressed further, "So, that means no meal, just the PopChips and Cliff Bars, right?...No salad or sandwich or the like?" He countered, "Uhhhhh...It's something between those two".

I FIGURED it was just the snack basket, even though the G/A was less than helpful...So I grabbed something. Glad I did, it was just the basket...Surprising for a 4+ hour flight, even with a late departure.

Yet another negative byproduct of UDU, IMhO...I'm sure management's take is, "We're giving them F for free! Why should we have to feed them properly?"
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Old Apr 4, 2011, 3:39 pm
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Seems folks accustumed to CO travel will see a downgrade in domestic F catering as we transition to the new United. I was a heavy traveller of UA (1K for three years) until about 2001. UA domestic F catering at the time was superior to AA, which was the other carrier I travelled with allot in those days.
I finally gave up on UA as a result of three things: Summer of discontent pilot strike, not getting upgrades due to employees in premium cabins (employee class on UA), and a run-in with the station manager at GRU which just irked me to no end. UA paid the price and lost my business. Will have to see how they are now. If the employee upgrade situation had not improved (ie employees stop trumping paying passengers on upgrades), I guess I will be an AA only flyer.
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Old Apr 4, 2011, 5:22 pm
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Originally Posted by MBS PremExec
I had a similar experience with a gate agent...Frankly, I don't blame the G/A, but the whole process of them being in the dark...

Flew ORD-LAS on an 9PM departure a few weeks ago. Because I connected into ORD, didn't have a chance to grab dinner before my travels commenced. Asked at the RCC, they didn't know if there was a true 'meal' or not. Went down to the gate about 20 mins before boarding, asked again, "It says here, 'refreshments' will be served in F". I assumed and pressed further, "So, that means no meal, just the PopChips and Cliff Bars, right?...No salad or sandwich or the like?" He countered, "Uhhhhh...It's something between those two".

I FIGURED it was just the snack basket, even though the G/A was less than helpful...So I grabbed something. Glad I did, it was just the basket...Surprising for a 4+ hour flight, even with a late departure.

Yet another negative byproduct of UDU, IMhO...I'm sure management's take is, "We're giving them F for free! Why should we have to feed them properly?"

ORD-LAS is a very leisure heavy route, hence they didn't serve a red eye meal. I've had other late UA flights of 3-5 hours to non leisure destinatons and the red eye snack du jour (wrap, sandwich, or whatever else they think of) was served.
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Old Apr 4, 2011, 8:33 pm
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Originally Posted by MBS PremExec
Yet another negative byproduct of UDU, IMhO...I'm sure management's take is, "We're giving them F for free! Why should we have to feed them properly?"
exactly. there's absolutely no reason to pay for a domestic F ticket at UA now that the mindset is the same as CO where they think everyone in the F cabin is flying for free on a status and cheap ticket

Front cabin of Continental is absolutely awful and infuriating if you've actually paid for F. A Denny's on the Jersey Shore is not high-class.

Hopefully there will be a fundamental retraining of the CO FAs before they start mixing flights.
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Old Apr 5, 2011, 6:40 am
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Last year Q4 I was on ORD-DEN a lot, which I always assumed was a high rev route. Same flight each week, and I used my 6 remaining SWUs every week because UDU never worked for me on this route.

Sometimes I got dinner, sometimes it was the snack that consisted of a flat bread sandwich, other times it was the snack basket with chips and cliff bars. Mind you, this was the same flight, same mileage, same time!

I was on the same flight last week on a CR1, it was labeled as "Snack" and it was a huge, fancy, and tasty pasta salad with soup and bread sticks.

I just hate the lack of consistency!

Last week I also heard the following conversation.

PAX to FA, "Wow, Ive never flown first class, this was worth the $150 to upgrade, how much is it normally."

FA to PAX, "It costs about $500 to fly first class, but I guarantee you not a single person up here paid to fly first class, no one actually pays, United even give free upgrades to all of their frequent fliers, they just started doing that, they all fly for free."

I can't tell you how much that pissed me off.
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Old Apr 5, 2011, 9:08 am
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Originally Posted by cova
The ORD to EWR distance would still be a bag of potato chips in F on UA. The UA cut off is 760 miles.

---------------------------------------------------
I might add that this flight violates CO's meal policy:

...........

Since the cut off time is 7pm. But I guess ORD-EWR is hi rev - so CO breaks the rules.
UA also breaks the rules on some high revenue routes.

ORD-LGA, UA's primary Chicago-New York route, gets a light meal, not just the snack basket, based on my experiences flying the route last year.

(Guess I am really glad my frequent BOS-ORD is 862 miles, so my meal will probably stay. I enjoyed my dinner last night on UA.)

Last edited by wanaflyforless; Apr 5, 2011 at 9:13 am
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Old Apr 5, 2011, 4:39 pm
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Originally Posted by emanon256
Last week I also heard the following conversation.

PAX to FA, "Wow, Ive never flown first class, this was worth the $150 to upgrade, how much is it normally."

FA to PAX, "It costs about $500 to fly first class, but I guarantee you not a single person up here paid to fly first class, no one actually pays, United even give free upgrades to all of their frequent fliers, they just started doing that, they all fly for free."

I can't tell you how much that pissed me off.
Ouch.

To be fair, this is not terribly distant from the language we've seen from the union:

Originally Posted by http://www.unitedafa.org/news/details.aspx?id=5433
Good Bye First Class

In November last year, we informed you about Uniteds decision to give elite status flyers unlimited, complimentary domestic upgrades. This new policy went into effect at the beginning of March, and applies to domestic upgrades to first class and preferred economy seating when space is available. Upgrades are handled by customer service representatives on the ground prior to take off and do not require any action on the part of Flight Attendant crews.

As if pass travel hasnt become challenging enough, with the implementation of this program we can effectively say good-bye to most opportunities to NRSA in the first class cabin. This is another erosion of a benefit once enjoyed by employees, and is even ironic that United makes a decision to give anything away and not contemplate a way to increase passenger productivity in exchange for the complimentary upgrade.
Originally Posted by http://www.unitedafa.org/news/dearafa/archives/details.aspx?id=5257

Fly With Your Pet for Free? Dont Buy It
United announced yesterday, a change to their travel policy for NRSA that allows the employee to be accompanied by a pet with no associated charge. Beginning next Tuesday, December 1, employees, retirees and their travel eligibles, excluding companions, will be able to fly with their pet, in the cabin to a domestic location without paying a fee.

The process and procedures remain the same as they have been, but a fee that has previously been charged is no longer being assessed. This news comes on the heels of the announcements made by United, first about their unlimited domestic upgrades for their own elite customers and subsequently those of code-share partner Continental as well. We reported to you on this change coming in March 2010 last week.

The news of the elite upgrades has understandably resulted in frustration from those of us who have first experienced diminished ability to even fly NRSA because of reduced capacity and full flights, as well as now dealing with the loss of one of the perks of our job to enjoy the first class cabin for pleasure travel.

Because both the NRSA and the elite upgrade policy are both governed by United policy, the fight for Contractual improvements we are currently waging becomes even more important. The ability to travel NRSA, with or without your pet flying for free is arguably at least part of the reason most of us became Flight Attendants in the first place. The reduced general availability of NRSA travel, the demise of travel in the first class cabin on domestic flights, the reduced staffing we all experience on a daily basis, and the diminished system-wide flying, all contribute to a degradation of our careers. So while it is nice that United is waiving the fee for traveling with your pet, what is not at all nice are the proposals they continue to make which seek to further erode our work life.
Originally Posted by https://www.unitedafa.org/news/details.aspx?id=5239

Unlimited Elite Customer Upgrades Say Goodbye to First Class

As a result of the Antitrust Immunity granted to United and Continental, the airlines are allowed to coordinate products, services, schedules and other business related practices. Today, United and Continental announced that members of each carriers frequent flyer program who have earned elite status will receive unlimited, complimentary domestic upgrades and preferred economy class seating on either airline when space is available. United had previously announced their intention to implement this program last month to Uniteds elite customers, and is just another kick in the teeth to Flight Attendants and other loyal employees. These upgrades will be handled by the customer service representatives on the ground before the flight takes off, and Flight Attendants are not responsible or required to implement this new policy once the plane leaves the gate. The upgrade program becomes effective in March, 2010 and applies only to domestic flights on a space available basis.
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Old Apr 5, 2011, 8:41 pm
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Originally Posted by emanon256
Last year Q4 I was on ORD-DEN a lot, which I always assumed was a high rev route. Same flight each week, and I used my 6 remaining SWUs every week because UDU never worked for me on this route.

Sometimes I got dinner, sometimes it was the snack that consisted of a flat bread sandwich, other times it was the snack basket with chips and cliff bars. Mind you, this was the same flight, same mileage, same time!

I was on the same flight last week on a CR1, it was labeled as "Snack" and it was a huge, fancy, and tasty pasta salad with soup and bread sticks.

I just hate the lack of consistency!

Last week I also heard the following conversation.

PAX to FA, "Wow, Ive never flown first class, this was worth the $150 to upgrade, how much is it normally."

FA to PAX, "It costs about $500 to fly first class, but I guarantee you not a single person up here paid to fly first class, no one actually pays, United even give free upgrades to all of their frequent fliers, they just started doing that, they all fly for free."

I can't tell you how much that pissed me off.
It's amazing how bluntly-presented facts can piss people off!
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Old Apr 5, 2011, 9:15 pm
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Originally Posted by cova
Flew ORD-DCA today in F on UA. Last time I flew UA in F has been over 10 years.

I did not expect that food would be served, however I checked with an agent at the ORD RCC and she said that a snack was served and that meant either a sandwich or salad. I still wasn't sure - so I checked united.com and it said domestic snack is either a "snack basket" - ie bagged potato chips server in a basket and passed around the cabin if less than 7xx miles or a sandwich/salad if greater.

Being used to CO - who ignores the foods rules for time of day or distance based on high revenue routes - I thought maybe the RCC agent was right.

I then checked at the gate and sure enough the gate agent indicated a sandwich/salad was being served. I still did not believe it and I notice the monitors showing a "snack basket" (potato chips) being serverd in F.

Checked again with a different agent at the gate - and he indicated sandwich/salad - but I questioned him on the monitor sign - then he backed down to the potato chip basket.

Hence, I ordered a sandwich at Wolfgang's near the gate to bring on board.

Of course the potato chip basket was served. The FA commented (positively) about me bringing my own food in F. She indicated the GA before the flight closed, asked her what was being served in F.

The point here is that agents don't know what their company serves on the flight. Best to look at the monitors.

UA and CO need to get together on the definition of an F snack. CO is always the cold plate - a few slices of lunch meat, cheese and crackers, plus fruit and brownie. At least when CO says it is a snack F flight - you know what you are getting.
So, I don't mean for this to sound as snarky as it does, but ...
You asked three different employees AND checked the website concerning what type of snack/meal you would get on a 1.5 hour flight? REALLY? Were you just bored or what?

Originally Posted by emanon256
Last year Q4 I was on ORD-DEN a lot, which I always assumed was a high rev route. Same flight each week, and I used my 6 remaining SWUs every week because UDU never worked for me on this route.

Sometimes I got dinner, sometimes it was the snack that consisted of a flat bread sandwich, other times it was the snack basket with chips and cliff bars. Mind you, this was the same flight, same mileage, same time!

I was on the same flight last week on a CR1, it was labeled as "Snack" and it was a huge, fancy, and tasty pasta salad with soup and bread sticks.

I just hate the lack of consistency!

Last week I also heard the following conversation.

PAX to FA, "Wow, Ive never flown first class, this was worth the $150 to upgrade, how much is it normally."

FA to PAX, "It costs about $500 to fly first class, but I guarantee you not a single person up here paid to fly first class, no one actually pays, United even give free upgrades to all of their frequent fliers, they just started doing that, they all fly for free."

I can't tell you how much that pissed me off.
While certainly tactless in how she said it, she was not incorrect. Very few people actually pay for F domestically on any airline anymore. Why did this piss you off?

Last edited by redheadtempe33; Apr 6, 2011 at 12:29 am
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