JVPhoto

I didn't have a problem with what I was served.

1kBill

You forgot the soup! Int'l F gets soup, Business does not.

flybit

No new food. I fly Jan 6th in F, so that might be a bit early.

worldtrav

You are correct, there has been no announcement about improving the catering in the international premium cabins.

MBS MillionMiler

...And I don't think domestic breakfast has been touched either.

I've had the EXACT same meal on midcons to ORD that I've been having for the last 4-5 years...

Inedible turkey sausage patty, powdered eggs, some sort of potato broccoli casserole and under-ripe fruit. It has not changed in the SLIGHTEST in, well...Forever. How about some pancakes or eggs benedict or ANY sort of variety?

Thank God I ate in the AMEX lounge before departure and had an delicious (even beyond airport standards) breakfast. (OT--the day they open one at ORD, I'm gone from the UC).

channa

FWIW, if you flew CO before the merger, you could have had this breakfast for over a decade.

N1120A

On EWR-HKG in Business(not)First, the food was still poor on 12/27 and the EXACT SAME bad omelette, turkey puck and inedible potato/broccoli muck was boarded. Similarly, Chex was the other option. I had the Chex. Even the crew was embarrassed.

manstein58

Sorry- how could I have forgotten that? A liquid salt lick!

MBS MillionMiler

LOL.

Conversely, my dad...In his 70s, semi-retired, 1.8MM flyer and lifetime Gold with UA. Good amount of disposable income.

He booked a paid F ticket to Vegas last week. His outbound went mechanical at MBS and they rerouted him on DL through DTW in F. He said it was THE BEST airline meal he's ever had...Some sort of enchilada thing "that actually tasted good...And REAL apple pie for dessert, not this nasty cookie that UA gives me!"

When he got home, he asked me if I had the same "dreck" that United gave him on his flight home..."I couldn't even eat that egg thing. I should have gone with the cereal--and, what? Cereal in first class? What am I, a third grader?"

What did he say that stuck with me? "Screw United...I think I'll just pay for F on DL now. I really liked their food."

So, to those that don't think meals make a difference...They do to some. Not sure about lunch/dinner, but breakfast is embarrassing...And is driving at least one customer away--I'm sure my dad's not the only one.

spin88

+1 [Have your dad fly VX, he will be really impressed ] Here is my salad, mid-con flight on DL from a few days ago:



Portion was bigger, and it had a lot of Quinoa (the UAL folks would probably say "Keen-what?") which made it filling. Of note, Delta gives you a double size container of dressing - twice what UAL gives you (see its bigger and taller) - so its enough to actually cover the salad - which again is bigger to start with. Even for the small UA salads, the dressing is never enough. My guess is Delta has to spend another 5-6 cents for that dressing...

And the Cheese was good, and the grapes were fresh and taste, not partially rotten on the bottom with the skin turning white like UA serves.

And the red-wine was actually drinkable: A good probably $12-13 retail bottle, and the coffee is SBC, which is two billion times better than freshbrew.

JVPhoto

Wow...it's come down to elitism and snooty comments about grains?

SEA1K4EVR

In the past week or so I flew my first flights of the year and all of these were in F: SEA-IAH-PIT-IAH-SFO-OGG. Of these:

SEA-IAH: Breakfast, standard omelette with watery sausage circle and slimy spinach/potato triangle plus a tomato. There has been absolutely no modification of this meal in at LEAST 7 years if not more. Every single time it's the same and it just isn't good. I don't want cereal. I want some eggs and meat prepared differently...and a different kind of side. Or, 3 choices... I would order french toast once in awhile.

IAH-PIT: Lunch... had a new cobb salad wrap with egg that was quite good along with tomato soup..I liked it. Salad the other choice. Came with good tomato soup.

PIT-IAH: Menu said dinner, it was a 5:30 pm departure, but it was no different than a lunch..they offered a warm wrap of some sort and an Asian chicken noodle salad. Had the salad.. I liked it..but I don't think there was anything new about it. There was also soup.. I do like their soups.

IAH-SFO: Snack.. 9+pm departure...standard snack with cous cous, salami, buffalo mozzerella. It was good but nothing new

SFO-OGG: Breakfast. Exactly the same omelette, watery sausage circle, and slimy spinach triangle.

Oh.. and where is the Myers Rum floater in the mai tais? They had pineapple sticks to put in..but the mai tais were pre-mixed Trader Vic's. This was a PMUA 757.. I commented on it...the FA had been around awhile...had a flower in her hair.. we both remembered when they actually had special tumblers that were even different from the regular drink tumblers PMUA used..and they actually made the mai tais by pouring in rum, then mai tai mix, then a Myer's floater...and an orchid. I can do without the special glass and orchid. But would it be so difficult to use a non-alcoholic mix, and have the FA's make the mai tais and pour a floater of Myer's on the top?? It was a glass of sugar water with a small amount of alcohol....I had one but it was quite lame. The FA said "Welcome to Continental Airlines". I don't get in those kind of discussions either with staff or on this board because I don't find them productive. But you can't argue that this particular change did indeed occur after the merger and it was not a good one. I don't go to Hawaii all that often...and it's a treat to have a mai tai....but what they serve now doesn't qualify.

Didn't I read either in this thread or in some other thread that there would be some variety???? I fly breakfast flights a lot... I try not to..but often I travel west to east so unless I want to arrive very late at night I have no choice.

When is this promised variety starting??

channa

This is why they don't like to OAL us. They don't just lose that ticket, they lose the customer for good!

spin88

No, an entire lack of creativity, combined with utter cheapness and to the bone cost cutting, in UA catering. In fairness, the lack of creativity may be simply lack of ability to spend money to buy e.g. quality greens, or better ingredients. This said, I notice you don't reply on the point that the DL mid-con salad is much better than the transcon salad on UA.

I used to like the not nuts (DL does not serve them), but the nuts are all broken peices of cashews now [Which just happens to be the CHEAPEST, non-peanuts, nuts available: see e.g. http://www.nidatrading.com/specials.pdf ] and I don't like cashews. In addition the quality is poor, they are usually stale, often with a bad flavor.

And oh, the snack basket on DL is much better, not so cheap as on UA.

United is trying to spend $2.06 per Domestic First Passenger, and the results show.

MBS MillionMiler

No, it's come down to getting something different and actually edible. It's come down to calling UA out on their 'lip service' of improved food. While they have rotated some new meals into the mix, their food is still FAR below what competitors are offering...And again, I think most of us are only asking for something different for breakfast...Something a little bit better. I've literally had that ferkakta sausage puck STUCK in my throat...To where I was almost gagging, and had to drink copious amounts of OJ to get it down. Now, I don't even bother touching it if I have the egg plate.

Oh--and as Spin88 posted the above photo, it reminded me that DL also offered a separate plate of cheese as well. You better be flying transoceanic to expect a cheese course on UA! (And, Virgin isn't an option when they don't fly to your home airport...Sadly).