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[RUMOR] New Beverage offerings at United Clubs (Coming September 2013)

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[RUMOR] New Beverage offerings at United Clubs (Coming September 2013)

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Old Aug 22, 2013, 7:17 am
  #61  
Ambassador: Alaska Airlines
 
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Originally Posted by cblaisd
As far as alcohol goes, I usually have my Black Russian onboard, but it's always hit or miss as to whether a particular aircraft will have had Kahlúa catered. Vodka and Baileys is the usually offered substitute. Do the UCs have Kahlúa?
Yup, the UC does, I was pretty vocal about having Kahlua when the PC and RCC products were merging PC had them for free, RCC didn't. To this day, I am glad they grouped Kahlua with the comp selection.

Originally Posted by LarkSFO
You do? You must be seeing the last few bottles of Kahlua...
Thanks for the clarification, I must have missed that thread. Sucks Kahlua elected to stop producing minis, I cannot possibly imagine that it was unprofitable for them.
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Old Aug 22, 2013, 7:25 am
  #62  
 
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I rarely drink the free stuff now, so less concerned about that than potential changes to the 'Fine Wines' program. Being able to drink $40/bottle wines with little / no markup is a nice benefit of membership that I use often.

If they start downgrading those wines to start taking a margin...what's the point.

Delta serves $10 / bottle swill for $10 a glass. Go to an airport bar if that's what they're going to do.
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Old Aug 22, 2013, 7:51 am
  #63  
 
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Originally Posted by LASUA1K
Why do people pay for this? Overcrowded cheap drinks. I'd rather pay 11 bucks for a grey goose at the airport bar where I can buy food.
This. I would much rather pay $$ for much better drinks at an interesting airport bar and get some real food then pay for overpriced drinks in a crappy "club"
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Old Aug 22, 2013, 7:52 am
  #64  
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Originally Posted by cerealmarketer
Being able to drink $40/bottle wines with little / no markup is a nice benefit of membership that I use often.
Pray tell what wines are you drinking that cost $40 retail.

I'm sure we're not the only ones to desire this knowledge.
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Old Aug 22, 2013, 7:57 am
  #65  
 
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Originally Posted by dsquared37
Pray tell what wines are you drinking that cost $40 retail.

I'm sure we're not the only ones to desire this knowledge.
They sell the Jordan cab for around $10/glass and I believe it retails in the $40-50 range
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Old Aug 22, 2013, 8:06 am
  #66  
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Originally Posted by iahkid2014
They sell the Jordan cab for around $10/glass and I believe it retails in the $40-50 range
Stag's Leap Karia Chardonnay is in a slightly lower category ($30).

Charging the same for Conundrum ($20) is pretty tacky though.
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Old Aug 22, 2013, 8:20 am
  #67  
 
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Originally Posted by iahkid2014
They sell the Jordan cab for around $10/glass and I believe it retails in the $40-50 range
A rather generous pour, as well. Once they got rid of the CC discounts on liquor (especially the 15y Glenlivet, best deal around) I knew we were heading down a slippery slope to turn the premium wines/spirits program into a profit center. Increase markup, decrease quality... all while packing as many people into the clubs as the fire marshal will permit.
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Old Aug 22, 2013, 8:30 am
  #68  
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Originally Posted by cblaisd
Yes, had a couple on flights last month. Don't know if those were from bottles that had unaccountably been hanging around for months on the plane or whether there are some provisioning stations that still have stocks.
Don't know in this case, but we do know that the people who stock the beverage carts just recycle anything they have left over as they fill them back up, so it's entirely possible that random minis of discontinued stuff would appear. I've had a random can of Russian Tonic Water on a ORD-LGA flight and also got Japanese Coke once.
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Old Aug 22, 2013, 8:37 am
  #69  
 
Join Date: May 2011
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Originally Posted by villox
Well there goes getting Bailey's neat and putting it in my coffee.

Will they really go below Smirnoff for Vodka? Popov perhaps?
I would love to have Smirnoff in the Skyclub! They went from Skyy to Gordon's and the Gin (my drink of choice) went from Tanq to Gordon's.

My wife loves Bailey's and they charge $7 for a MEASURED shot at the Delta clubs now.
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Old Aug 22, 2013, 8:38 am
  #70  
 
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Originally Posted by aacharya
Stag's Leap Karia Chardonnay is in a slightly lower category ($30).

Charging the same for Conundrum ($20) is pretty tacky though.
Yeah, all three cabs they serve (Jordan, Stags Artemis, Chateau Montelena) are in the $40 range. Once in a while you find a bartender who still does the tasting portions of 3 wines for $12. That's a good day.

The whites are where they get spotty. Which I suppose is reasonable - most people looking for something to savor will go for a bigger red and want the quality there.
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Old Aug 22, 2013, 8:50 am
  #71  
 
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Originally Posted by EWR764
Once they got rid of the CC discounts on liquor (especially the 15y Glenlivet, best deal around)
I agree completely, the 15y Glenlivet with the CC discount was my favorite part about going to the UC
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Old Aug 22, 2013, 9:12 am
  #72  
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I haven't been drinking in the clubs in a while. What they're serving, I'm not drinking.

A few of us UA flyers were whining about the loss of the chit program because those at least enabled you to get the premium liquor for free, albiet in limited quantity. I stand by my opinion at the time, I would much rather have 1 glass of good liquor/wine/champagne than 10 glasses of swill.
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Old Aug 22, 2013, 9:28 am
  #73  
 
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If this is true I'm not sure how much lower they can go on the well drinks. I'm not sure you can get much worse than Dewars as the well scotch. I hope they start serving martinis and real drinks if they do improve the "premium selection". We'll see if this is true....
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Old Aug 22, 2013, 9:33 am
  #74  
 
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Originally Posted by entropy
A few of us UA flyers were whining about the loss of the chit program because those at least enabled you to get the premium liquor for free, albiet in limited quantity. I stand by my opinion at the time, I would much rather have 1 glass of good liquor/wine/champagne than 10 glasses of swill.
+1. I'm a UA flyer who actually preferred the free drinks policy to the chit program, because while the complimentary pours weren't uniformly great, there were enough diamonds in the rough (Campari, Beefeater, etc.) that one could drink reasonably well. If UA downgrades its free booze, then count me in the pro-chit camp. I'd rather have chits for two glasses of decent bourbon than an entire bottle of Early Times.
salesna is offline  
Old Aug 22, 2013, 9:39 am
  #75  
 
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Originally Posted by mh3265a
If this is true I'm not sure how much lower they can go on the well drinks. I'm not sure you can get much worse than Dewars as the well scotch. I hope they start serving martinis and real drinks if they do improve the "premium selection". We'll see if this is true....
You can go lower. Delta downgraded to Scoresby scotch. Which as the author of this points out, is comparable to 'Sherwyn Williams', or 'Glydden'

http://angelsportion.wordpress.com/2...-years-old-40/

What United is missing about the value proposition is that at Delta, all top tier elites get complimentary membership to the club. Which is a large portion of those using the clubs.

At United, members are all paid access.
cerealmarketer is offline  



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