buckeyefanflyer

physioprof

Pre-departure beverage is an advertised element of premier cabin service, so the relevance that some flyers for whatever reason may not be interested in having one seems limited, at best.

theboss7593

I also do this, I don't ever understand why people crowd at the gate an hour before the plane takes off. If the gate closes at T-15 I show up at T-20 usually get right on (unless there was a delay in boarding), sit down the door shuts 5 minutes later and off we go. I don't need to sit on a plane for 45 minutes extra than I already am. And as others have pointed out, have a drink of choice or coffee in the club. Coffee in the club beats the good ole pot in J anyday.

Aussienarelle

I got my PDB in F today but was only one of about four of us who were offered. There were 12 seats in F. The 1 x 2 config for 4 rows (commuter plane of some kind).

The man next to me had boarded after me and even opened the tray for me as I could not get it to open but he was not offered a PDB. During the flight I even received a refill after my first drink. I know I need my coffee in the morning so I do not kill small children or animals so I appreciated it, but again the man next to me was not offered a refill. I was having coffee and he was having tea.

So there would be been pax on my flight this morning who could say they were not offered their PDB, it's just I was not one of them.

cfischer

last week SFO-BOS they came through with water only. I asked for something else and the snarky FA said something like 'I will have to ask if we can do that before we are in the air'. She ended up bringing what I wanted, but really? That is UA's p.s. service?

villox

Just curious - where is it actually advertised? I've never seen it officially listed.

porciuscato

I checked maybe a year ago and the PDB was included in the service description. I can no longer find any mention of it on United's site.

WineCountryUA

Wayback, https://archive.org/web/, can find previous web content.

canadiancow

When I depart SFO, I tend not to arrive with enough time to visit a United Club. If I've cleared security before boarding begins, then I timed my trip poorly.

So my first drink of the day is often the PDB, and it's very much appreciated.

I could also leave a comment with the same tone as yours though. Many first class passengers value their time, and wouldn't spend a single extra minute in the airport or a United Club. So why bother serving alcohol there, or even having them in the first place?

fumje

It's a little tricky to find all of the old content, since UA have changed some of the URLs. But wayback machine does at least pull some versions of the First service description that explicitly list PDB.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150317...ght/first.aspx

It seems when they redesigned the premium cabin pages, they removed that description.

So I guess we have nothing to complain about any longer.

skidooman

PBD is a first world problem. Even then... UA is supposed to be in the hospitality business. Flight attendants are there for your safety, sure. But that part of their duties occupies them for a fraction of the flight time. During the rest of the time, they are essentially ambassadors for the company.

Personally, I don't care that much for that PBD. If folks are in a hurry, I am fine if they skip over it. Maybe that it is my decade-long experience intensively flying in Y that conditions my expectations. But what I do expect is polite service with a smile. I absolutely hate lack of basic politeness.

If polite service is not your thing, perhaps you should go to work for the likes of RyanAir - apparently, snarkiness is trendy there. Which is why I will never fly them.

physioprof

Interesting!

fumje

That is one word for it.

seanp7

UA should just put one of those eco-friendly packaged (collapsible) waters at every seat prior to boarding so they can a) say they are better than DL [in this regard] and b) potentially reduce the back and forth to the galley for PDB's during boarding, since some folks often just ask for water anyway... @:-)

Aussienarelle

I feel that way about SAN (as it is my home airport) but not SFO as I often connect through SFO. So I do want the access in SFO (and all hubs) as it is a connection point for me and do not want to hang round the gate for longer than necessary.

So I like the PDB from SAN....from my connection not as fussed as I have been in the UC/Centurion lounge/Polaris lounge.