2014 Let's Eat - Domestic/Canada/Latin America First, BusinessFirst, & Business Class
 

This thead is ONLY for:
This thread should have the Domestic First, BusinessFirst, & Business Class meal information.

Domestic is defined as flights within the USA (states and territories), Canada, and select Latin America destinations.


For the curious folks, the 2013 thread is here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...ess-class.html


With that, Let's Eat 2014!

The intro 2013 post listed the meal types available by time of departure and distance of flight (e.g. whether a flight had breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack).

Is this information still accurate for 2014?

Last night (1/1), DEN to MSY. Dinner options were the chicken calzone (only four available on flight) or shrimp salad. FA asked ahead of time if we wanted the tomato bisque (I did not). Chocolate chip cookie for dessert.

Disappointing diinner, but FAs were spectacular.

1/1 UA 1012 CLE-IAH, 6AM flight, 3h 8m scheduled flight time. Options were sausage/egg English muffin or Honey Nut Cheerios. Both options came with fruit bowl and plain yogurt.

1/1 UA 225 IAH-ONT, 9:39 AM flight, 2h 38m scheduled flight time. Options were scrambled eggs or Honey Nut Cheerios. Both options came with fruit bowl and strawberry yogurt. They were out of scrambled eggs by the time they got to me, so the FA offered to get me the warm sandwich sold in Y (ham and cheese pretzel baguette). I got the last one on the flight, and she gave me Cheerios anyway, being very apologetic the whole time. I actually preferred the baguette anyway.

Flew UA 1206 MCO-CLE in F 6:00PM departure 2-1/2 hr. flight serves only refreshments basically the F come around with a basket with chips and raisins. I fiqured this would be a dinner flight like the FLL-CLE flight I took a few weeks back. At least a snack, a sandwich CO would serve that to Y at one time.

MCO-CLE is 895 miles below the 900 mile cutoff
FLL-CLE is 1062 miles, in meal service catogary

ORD-PHL 1/4 last night. Only the snack basket but I noticed the selection was different. Not sure if it's new for this year. "Cape Code" brand kettle chips. Walkers brand shortbread chocolate chip cookies. I was on a dark 739 with 20F and was last so that's all that was left when they got to me.

I can report a slight upgrade in the meal service on PS flights...

They are now serving the main course on the Global First plates - the large ones with the concentric circles around the rim. And the presentation of the main is similar to that in Global First. Just a touch more sophisticated.

They also added an extra shrimp to the appetizer - 3 instead of 2. Salad greens were slightly better, but still in the tiny bowl.

Oh so slight improvement, but noted. If only they would upgrade the wines.

And wouldn't it be nice if they put the salad on a small plate (they could save money with a smaller portion) and offered a vegetable based soup along with it and the app.

Little to no additional cost and a long way toward showing they care about the soft product. As would getting more creative the way Delta has. I don't think Delta is spending all that much more on catering on these transcons.

Always amazes me how much people like soup. Highest pleasure to cost ratio in the food business!

Is United now sourcing its snacks through the auspices of Wacky Packages? :p

1/5 UA 406 DEN-LGA
Nuts
Salad
Salmon/Capers/Lemon
Chicken/Rice/Beans OR Pasta/Red Sauce/Veg
Bread
Oatmeal Raisin cookie

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BdT8qt3IAAA2gox.jpg

UA1575 last night no chips in the snack basket at all. Another cost cutting effort?

Just booked EWR-SXM-EWR in business, and when ordering the tickets the web page says that there will be served Lunch on the flight from SXM (UA1631) which has a STD at 1304. But on the e-ticket receipt is says that they will serve Snack, so which one should I trust? The web page or the receipt?

Cheers

My rule of thumb w/UA is, unless you're flying a TCON or int'l BF, you're not getting a meal, you're getting "some food". "Some food" will tide you over, but it won't be that tasty IMO (not like AA's meals ;)). So I'd supplement if I were you.

Someone posted a few days ago that their flight to SXM (I believe from EWR) was just a snack on the ~4.5hr flight.

Ahh. I think I see pattern on this forum ^ We`ll be sure not to get on our flights hungry :D

After 1300, I believe you get a snack instead of lunch. Snack should be better than a refreshment though.

As stated earlier, I took SXM-ORD departing at 2:27pm-flight blocked at over 6 hours- and received the snack plate and nothing more.

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This doesn't particularly excite me, but United just tweeted this out.

@united: Delicious news: We now serve #glutenfree soups on domestic lunch and dinner flights in United First and United Business.

"Delicious"-unlikely. "Glutton-free"-certainly.

..or Glutton free?

So 1) soup is now available with both lunch and dinner?

And 2) nothing like gluten free soup to go alongside a calzone or burrito...

Hoping there is some change on that front too.

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Wonder if the dinner thing was a mistake - though on shorter flights like Den-sfo "dinner" is really lunch

Don't forget the delectable side of bread roll instead of salad or fruit. :D

Flight/Route: UA1689/DEN-SFO
Aircraft/Seat: 737-800/2B
Departure Time/Duration: 7:00 a.m./2:47
Meal: Breakfast

Basic UA breakfast of late; I chose the croissant instead of the cinnamon roll. The fruit bowl was a bit more generous than some I've had recently.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a4...D720/ry%3D480/

Flight/Route: UA720/SFO-DEN
Aircraft/Seat: 757-200/5E
Departure Time/Duration: 2:44 p.m./2:29
Meal: Lunch

Nuts and some red wine to start; an sUA aircraft but an sCO water glass.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a4...D720/ry%3D480/

Choice of a shrimp salad or a "chicken club wrap" that turned out to be the burrito-type offering. The shrimp (six of them) were served separate from the salad.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a4...D720/ry%3D480/

Not a bad salad once it was assembled; the mushroom bisque was above average.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a4...D720/ry%3D480/

After lunch, the crew served warm, cranberry white chocolate cookies.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a4...D720/ry%3D480/

I'm looking at ORD-DEN flights in F. Given the new meal policies and exception for this city pair, one would think that the 8:29p departure (UA1177) would be a Snack, but United.com shows Refreshments. Does United provide Refreshments on later flights that usually get meals?

old news
 

The introduced the gluten free soups back in November. They still only offer soup during domestic F lunch flights and while it would be nice if they offered them with dinner like in the PMCO days, I highly doubt they would improve anything. I mean they still have the same menus from two years ago so since someone at UA is under the impression that the food is "well received" why change?

I was served soup with my domestic mid-con (IAH-DCA) cheeseburger dinner (5:55pm departure time) in late December 2013. It was a sUA A319 if that matters.

Let me rephrase that....the longer mid-cons that get more than salad/sandwich option such. I would have thought that DCA got a proper dinner, given the market, but there seems to be a lack of consistency in which routes get what.

Me too, BWI-IAH in July on a sCO 739. Dep time around 5:30pm. Rest of the meal was that inedible burrito. Soup was good though.

Just to be clear- the Burger and Burrito are both considered "lunch" entrees by UA, but often times (^^) get "miscatered" onto dinner flights. The dinner entrees are the Beef with noodles, chicken cacciatore, spinach filled pasta etc and are served with a tiny appetizer and salad bowl.

I would not call it "miscatered". It seems the new norm (for at least the last year) has been what we used to call lunch (burrito/hamburger/calazone or salad with soup) is standard for dinner on short hauls and on some former mid-con routes that used to have the heartier dinner service.

In most cases, I actually prefer the "lunch" to the "dinner".

MatthewLAX is correct.
I've fly PHX-IAH very frequently dating deep into the pmCO days.
This "shorter" market has never had the "dinner" options during dinner time flights, always the "lunch".
It used to be that the cheeseburger/burrito/pita (now calzone) "lunch" would differ in that lunch flights had a fruit bowl while dinner flights had salad. Now they're both the same with soup and dinner roll as the only sides.

Flight/Route: UA1152/IAD-DEN
Aircraft/Seat: 737-900/4B
Departure Time/Duration: 8:12 a.m./3:34
Meal: Breakfast

Pre-departure beverage of choice. Orders taken front to back but I did see that 1K and GS was written next to names on the order sheet. Choice of cereal with fruit or cheese omelet. Yogurt serving seemed smaller but fruit cup seemed larger. FA also came around with basket of cinnamon rolls and croissants. Great service throughout the flight.

http://i1332.photobucket.com/albums/...psprugnlfv.jpg

ORD-SMF
UA310
Airbus 320
Meal: Lunch

Choice of Chicken Wrap or Shrimp Salad
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0...255B1%255D.jpg

What can I expect?
 

Just wondering if anyone knows what I should expect for my FC "Snack" on an 8:00 pm departure - IAD to LAS, a 5 hour flight. Thanks for your help.

That looks horrible - not a vegetable or fruit in sight. I can't believe the FA would serve the cookie with the meal on a flight that long. :td:

I can't either. I'm guessing the poster just let the food sit there until the cookie came out, in order to get the full meal in one shot to post on FT, rather than actually eat it. Mind you, this would not have been an unreasonable choice, given that lame meal that's been around for months and months. :p

Cold plate. Most likely vegetarian with pita chips, hummus, cheese, couscous, olives, artichokes.

http://i.imgur.com/O7HBj6Ql.jpg