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Multi-million dollar investment in onboard food and beverage options

Multi-million dollar investment in onboard food and beverage options

Old May 7, 2015, 12:32 am
  #526  
 
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I'm not a vegetarian, but am probably in that 16% that doesn't eat meat all that often. I'll say that if those three options were presented as salmon, chicken, and tofu (no other information), I'd have picked the salmon. If the full descriptions above were presented, I'd definitely have gone for the "tofu"/paneer. So, I really don't think this is as much of a catering miss as Always Flyin does. I'm on the side of FA error... it doesn't surprise me at all that no one picked the third option given the lack of description, and I don't think you can generalize that experience to say offering a non-pasta veg dish is a bad decision.
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Old May 7, 2015, 6:00 am
  #527  
 
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Originally Posted by Always Flyin
We are not going to reach any agreement on the numbers. With the surveys you cited, I would be vegetarian for a third of my meals since breakfast consists of cereal, milk and fruit. When I have pasta for dinner, I guess I am a vegetarian there too.

.
So you're kinda confirming what people are saying here...you don't have to click vegetarian on some survey when there are times you choose not to/don't want to eat meat.
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Old May 7, 2015, 6:22 am
  #528  
 
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I am not a vegetarian, but I do like having the option of vegetarian meals because I don't always eat meat, and sometimes the vegetarian dishes sound better than the meat dishes. If I was given a proper description of the meals by the FA, regardless of what the meat choices were, I would have picked shahi paneer because I think Indian food generally reheats very nicely on a plane. On the other hand, given a choice of chicken/salmon/tofu, then I would pick chicken. While I think the number of pure vegetarians might not be large, I do think there is a general trend towards people eating vegetarian food more often, and I do think it is nice to have a non meat option available. Also, I don't fly as much as most of you on here, so my experience is limited, but I have been on a few flights where they have run out of the vegetarian option, so I think the 0/20 rate may have been a result of the lack of food description and not actually indicative of the usual pattern. Of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I absolutely respect that, I just wanted to add my opinion to the mix
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Old May 7, 2015, 7:16 am
  #529  
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Originally Posted by Always Flyin
What I do know is that I don't see a huge number of vegetarian restaurants opening compared to non-veg restaurants.
But you do see vegetarian options at non-vegetarian restaurants. That's the key. Just because a dish is vegetarian doesn't mean it can't be eaten by someone else.

As for the pasta vs. tofu option, we had previously criticized UA for it's bland, repetitive meals. Part of the risk in changing things up is that there's a higher chance for dissatisfaction with an option. That may be why there are three (3) choices now rather than two (2).

And if the item described as "tofu" were really paneer, I think a lot of vegetarians would be happier with than rather than bland pasta which is pretty much the de facto vegetarian option anywhere you go.
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Old Sep 18, 2015, 10:21 am
  #530  
 
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I've had the chicken green salad before and it was maybe one of the best pieces of meat I've ever had on a plane- and that was departing ATL, IIRC. Monday I was on a 737 from DEN-ORD and while it was good, it seemed much more like a highly processed piece of meat. Still good, but not as good as the other one I had- from a non-hub.

What is the obligation for catering in BF for domestic flights? I was on the 7:2o ORD-DEN flight, that didn't get out till past 9- maybe it was pushed back at 10:30. I smelled the ovens cooking, but they only brought us cookies. We were in turbulence with the cabin crew seated for the first hour. Between getting to the airport around dinner time and knowing I had a meal flight, I had skipped dinner. I didn't get a chance to ask the FA about it.

What is the plan on delayed flights and meals? Was it because of the turbulence and they missed the window to get the meals out? We did have about 90 minutes of 'up' time, but I wondered if the meals got fried in the heater while we climbed out.

Not a huge deal, but if the meal is going to get skipped, I'll make sure I plan accordingly. Before we took off, the capt said that they were about 10 minutes from FAR time limits, but I don't know if that was for the cabin or the cockpit.
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Old Sep 18, 2015, 1:09 pm
  #531  
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Originally Posted by PushingTin
...
What is the obligation for catering in BF for domestic flights? I was on the 7:2o ORD-DEN flight, that didn't get out till past 9- maybe it was pushed back at 10:30. I smelled the ovens cooking, but they only brought us cookies. We were in turbulence with the cabin crew seated for the first hour. Between getting to the airport around dinner time and knowing I had a meal flight, I had skipped dinner. I didn't get a chance to ask the FA about it. ...
ORD-DEN is not BF, it is domestic F or in a 3-class domestic business.

The normal process is meals are served on based on scheduled departure even when delayed. The crew should have announced the reason for no meals.

I have breaksfast served on a 4 hour delayed flight when lunch would have been more appropriate -- but the flight is catered based on scheduled departure. Perhaps for massive delays the catering may be redone. But I have never had a dinner flight skip the meal for a 1 or 2 hour delay.
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Old Oct 31, 2015, 12:13 am
  #532  
 
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I'm a little late to the party here, but I thought I'd share a photo of my breakfast in F back on Sept 19, 2015. Route was BOS-ORD. It was pretty good!


Scrambled eggs with cheese, green beans, sausage, and potatoes. Biscuit on the side, and fruit salad.
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Old Oct 31, 2015, 8:55 am
  #533  
 
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Noticed today on my flight from MCO to EWR, UA.com shows:

United First: No meal or snacks available, beverage service only
United Economy: Snacks available for purchase

Looks like you get nothing to eat in the front, not even the option to BOB like the back.
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Old Nov 1, 2015, 4:20 pm
  #534  
 
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I can only hope that the meal I was served for lunch in business first last week on the EWR-IAH flight isn't representative of United's efforts in this area.

I'll start with the fact that I'm a Type 2 diabetic. I control my blood glucose levels through a combination of diet (low-carb eating), exercise and some medication. "Diabetic" meals aren't available on United -- and in any event, historically, what airlines have served as "diabetic" meals have been far worse both in taste and carb levels than the regular meals.

Let me say I get that my disease is mine to deal with. I don't really expect a meal tailored to my disease when I'm on an airplane. (Although apparently if I were gluten intolerant -- a much smaller percentage of the population than those who are diabetic -- United would provide me with a special meal upon request.) In the past, while the food on United has never been outstanding, I've always been able to manage just fine with whatever was served in BF. Not this time.

By the time the flight attendant took my order, the salad option was gone. No problem -- that's happened before, and I was able to make do with whatever the second choice was. This time, however, the meal consisted of the following: chicken sandwich on cibatta roll (carbs); couscous (carbs); chips (carbs); another roll (why?? carbs); and of course, a cookie (carbs). On that entire tray, the only non-carb item was the small portion of chicken on the sandwich. There weren't even any pre-meal nuts served.

That was a ridiculous meal for anyone, not just a diabetic -- not only not balanced as to nutritional value, but not balanced as to taste or appearance, both of which presumably should be considered by a company that claims it wants its in flight food to be "exciting and interesting."

Just to complete the experience, the passenger next to me asked the flight attendant for a double portion of nuts, rather than a meal. I was surprised when instead of a couple of little bowls, he was brought a big bag of nuts. After I saw I could eat almost nothing on the tray, I explained my issue to the flight attendant (including the fact that I'm diabetic) and asked if I could have some nuts. I was told no -- that the other nuts had been brought from coach and that the other passenger could have them because "that's the only thing he asked for."

As for me.. lesson learned.
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Old Nov 1, 2015, 4:27 pm
  #535  
 
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Originally Posted by titaniumfemme
....

Although apparently if I were gluten intolerant -- a much smaller percentage of the population than those who are diabetic -- United would provide me with a special meal upon request....
I don't believe that special meals of any kind are available in front cabin flights domestically, except perhaps to Hawaii.

Your meal service sounds pretty typical of United these days, for whatever that's worth.
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Old Nov 1, 2015, 4:40 pm
  #536  
 
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Originally Posted by DCA writer
Good! I mean, in the unlikely event I have a three-cabin aircraft operate a domestic route at the right time and my upgrade actually clears.

In other news, the front page of today's Washington Post Travel section has an extraordinarily favorable feature on UA's efforts in food, mostly reported out of EWR but without any description of the catering setup at DCA or IAD. Since the story also doesn't mention such old favorites as the calzone or the continued absence of a wine list, I'm going to guess the writer did not read FT while researching the story.
The Post article, while interesting, glosses over the fact that it is only about international FC/Business meals out of EWR. Take a look at the comments in that article, which criticize it for being poorly researched....
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Old Nov 1, 2015, 9:00 pm
  #537  
 
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Originally Posted by transportprof
I don't believe that special meals of any kind are available in front cabin flights domestically, except perhaps to Hawaii.

Your meal service sounds pretty typical of United these days, for whatever that's worth.
Not a big deal, but apparently the special meals (including gluten free) are available on domestic p.s. Premium Service flights. I wasn't on a p.s. flight, so absolutely right that no special meal of any kind would have been available.

Maybe I've been lucky, but that meal hasn't been typical for me. I fly BF a fair amount and this was by far the worst meal I've had, at least in terms of nutrition. This was on my return flight -- the meal on the flight to EWR was quite manageable. Not great cuisine, but not a total carb fest, either.

In any event, this was a chance to vent a little, which I clearly needed to do. LOL. I truly did learn my lesson and I won't count on being able to eat the meal point forward. Thanks for listening.
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Old Nov 5, 2015, 5:51 am
  #538  
 
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BOS-EWR this morning. This flight has always been "Refreshments" and the refreshment has always been a biscoff. This morning, they were serving muffins (the same kind you can find at the United Clubs, but warmed). Is this new? Or have I just been unlucky to be on the biscoff flights?
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Old Dec 30, 2015, 7:55 am
  #539  
 
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i was ready to unleash an all-out FT temper tantrum upon noticing that BDL has been removed from the list of 'exception' cities (along with BOS, LGA) that get ORD meal service even though the flights are blocked under 2h20m. BDL has always been on that list (note that PVD has never been on the list, making BDL 'special').

and then i noticed UA pads BDL-ORD block time to 2h45m+, so it now falls under the default rule of receiving a full meal.

but then i checked the eastbound, which is blocked at 2h5m, thus not receiving a meal nor an exception.

so, unless i'm mistaken, UA is catering the plane at ORD only for that food to be served on the return?
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