Starting Oct 25 '15 UA PS/HNL long-haul redeyes/mid-cons will feature BETTER options!
 

Hi everyone,

As a follow-up to our announcement last year about several of the planned investments being made to our onboard dining experience, we have a number of details to share about the catering changes you will begin to see in our North America premium cabins beginning Feb 1.

Here are some of the highlights on mainline flights within the U.S., Canada, the Caribbean, and leisure markets in Mexico:

• More flights with meals: Flights of at least 800 miles will be catered with a full meal in United First® and United Business® during meal times.
• All-new menus: We’ve taken inspiration from our hub cities and popular destinations to create entirely new and fresh entrée selections with more of the flavors and ingredients customers have been telling us they want. Some examples include:
  • Southwestern Houston-style skillet with cage-free scrambled eggs, pepper jack cheese, sautéed pepper mix, sliced New Mexico sausage, potato gratin, and fire-roasted pepper sauce
  • Lobster Macaroni and Cheese with baked crumb topping and a side of broccoli rabe
  • Shanghai vegetable noodles with vegetable gyoza
• Greater menu variety: We’ve significantly increased the number of menu selections in our new program throughout the day.
• Three entrée choices on longer mid-cons: On flights with a scheduled length of four hours to five hours and 19 minutes, the number of entrée choices is increasing from two to three, with one entrée choice continuing to be vegetarian.
• Expanded multi-course meal service on transcontinental and Hawaii flights: Transcontinental and Hawaii flights will feature heartier multi-course meals.
• Refreshed breakfast breads, snacks, side salads, bake-on-board cookies, and desserts: Beyond our entirely new entrée selections, we are complementing our reimagined premium cabin dining experience with all-new breakfast breads, 25 new premium snacks that will rotate in our snack baskets with fresh fruit where offered, improved side salads on lunch and dinner flights, new signature bake-on-board cookie flavors crafted exclusively for United by Otis Spunkmeyer®, and the introduction of sorbet and gelato or ice cream dessert courses on longer flights.

To give you a better idea of what to expect on different mainline United flights after these changes, here is a quick summary of the new North America premium cabin dining program with additional details available on united.com beginning January 23:

• Less than 199 miles: Beverage service with premium biscotti on morning flights or premium snack mix on afternoon/evening flights.
• 200 to 799 miles: Light breakfast refreshments (such as scones, muffins, or pound cake) on morning flights or a selection of premium snacks and fresh fruit on flights departing after 10:00am.
  • Note that flights from Chicago O’Hare to/from Hartford, New York LaGuardia, Newark, and from Newark to/from Atlanta will receive full meals when scheduled during traditional meal times.
• 800 to 1,499 miles: Full meal service including 2 entrée choices on most flights departing between 5:00am and 8:00pm. Lunch service will consist of a choice of a protein salad served with soup or premium sandwich paired with a side salad, and dinner service will consist of a choice between a hot entrée served with a side salad or a protein salad with hot soup. On flights departing between 1:30pm and 3:59pm, and all flights departing after 8:01pm, a selection of premium snacks and fresh fruit will be offered.
• 1,500 to 2,299 miles: Full meal service on flights departing between 5:00am and 9:00pm, including 3 entrée choices, with sorbet dessert and mint leaf on lunch flights, and gelato or ice cream with choice of toppings for dessert on dinner flights. On flights departing after 9:01pm, a selection of premium snacks and fresh fruit will be offered.
• Longer than 2,300 miles: Transcontinental and Hawaii flights will offer a full multi-course meal service with 3 entrée choices on flights departing before 9:00pm, a mid-flight snack selection of premium packaged snacks and fresh fruit on longer-haul Hawaii flights, and a pre-arrival refreshment or snack on all flights.
• p.s. Premium Service (New York JFK to/from Los Angeles and San Francisco): International quality multi-course meals with 3 entrée choices topped off by our signature ice cream sundae on lunch or dinner flights, with a pre-arrival refreshment service of bake-on-board cookies for afternoon or evening arrivals, and breakfast breads on morning arrivals.

Beginning in March, premium cabin meals on United Express flights will be upgraded to freshly prepared food on flights of at least 800 miles, and premium packaged snacks on flights less than 800 miles. Later this year, we will also have more details to share on enhancements to our long-haul international United Economy meals and beverages including multi-course meal service, a refresh of our Choice Menu Bistro on Board menu, and new menu choices on our p.s. Premium Service routes in United BusinessFirst®.

We hope many of you have the opportunity to experience these new dining options and provide some fresh material for the Let’s Eat thread!

UA Insider

Good to hear! My hope is that long haul international also will feature a vegetarian option in C/F. Yes, we can specify meal option prior to the flight. But so often, my plans change last minute, yet I can't change the meal option.

Wow. This actually sounds like a pretty nice improvement. Dare I say, a change I will like?

Can't wait for IAD-DEN on 2/1!

Sounds nice. I wish PHL-ORD was included in the exceptions list though.

I wonder if "baked-on-board" cookies is really baked-on-board or just "reheated"

The Three course thing sounds interesting. I wonder how it will work on the buses with only 8 seats. Will they load extra meals so people have a chance of getting their preference?

I'm doing EWR-HNL at the end of Feb. with "Breakfast" (I wonder if I get 3 options) but HNL-EWR leaves at 9:25 so I guess its only a "snack"

Whether or not the quality is higher or lower, I welcome the variety

Thanks for the update UAInsider. After suffering through several cutbacks by UA, this looks like a change we will like.^

I hope all the hype in this announcement is not destroyed by the reality of the rollout, in other words, I hope UA is not overpromising and then does not deliver on those promises. If so, there will be thousands of Frequent Flyers greatly disillusioned once again about UA. The proof will be in the "pudding".:D

Next, if you would update the information for 2015 about the 1K dedicated call line in the thread : http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/unite...p-1k-desk.html

it would be extremely helpful to clear up all the confusion and inconsistent experiences among 1K members. Just read that thread and you will see this confusion. Thanks.:D

Sounds positive, but I hope there will be an accompanying improvement in freshness and ingredient quality that will be evident to bring me back to eating onboard. Even something as simple as the sundae has been a disappointment over the past few years, with the branded ice cream being dropped for some artificial tasting sludge.

Sounds great all around. Look forward to trying it out.

So nice to see the non-PS transcons get some attention again.

And look forward to hearing what the new PS Business menu choices will be later in the year.

HUGE improvement. Thank you for listening, UA. My loyalty is retained.

There is a considerable upgrade to midcon catering, with 3 entree choices and a real dessert. In terms of meal service guidelines, this appears to be the most generous policy of the majors, and better than what I expected to see following last year's announcement. I look forward to seeing it implemented. Great to see United trying to compete on service! ^

This is great, especially the expanded meal time hours. Thanks for the update!

My next UX flight is in April. Looking forward to it now :-)

There are more details in the full press release:

- Now a choice of cookie flavors like triple chocolate chunk
- French toast souffle, steel cut oatmeal, both with fruit and yogurt among the short haul breakfasts
- No more sandwiches at dinner. That was a stopgap. Tandoori chicken with basmati rice and paneer is a main course replacement example.
- Long mid-cons (4 hours to 5 hrs 19 minutes) - creole shrimp with Carolina grits is an example (sounds yummy)
- Hawaii / non PS transcons - tamale stuffed chicken is an example main course (sounds like the one they serve on PS / international)

http://ir.united.com/phoenix.zhtml?c...cle&ID=2009249

^

Even if it will be a salad, cold sandwich, or something of the sort.

"That was a stopgap." Wow. Points for honesty and for listening to the customer. Color me very impressed.

A few questions:

- When will the meal codes be updated on Ua site for respective flights?
- Can you give any examples on UX meals/snacks and time of day if possible - for example SFO-MSP/STL length?

Many thanks!