UAPremierGuy

DEN-ATL
Boeing 737-800 ex-Guam version
Lunch

PDB of choice! ^

After takeoff, hot towels followed by warmed mixed nuts. As I've been a regular AA flyer for the last few years, I noticed how much better UA's nuts were than AA's, and of course, their towel was way better and scented, too! ^

Drink of choice, followed by taking of the meals orders. Meal choices today were a roast beef sandwich or a shrimp salad. I chose the salad. When the FA brought it to me, she realized that she neglected to place the shrimp on it, telling me that the shrimp are typically loaded separately on this salad. It was delicious, and served over a bed of cabbage, scallops, and large slices of pineapple, with pineapple vinaigrette dressing on the side in a plastic container on offer.

A bowl of mandarin oranges, pineapples, and red grapes was served on the side. Pretzel rolls and butter were offered from the bread basket.

After lunch, chocolate chip cookies were offered. They were also WAY better than AA's.

Later in the flight, United Explorer Card mints were passed out.

Drink re-fills were good throughout the flight.

ATL-DEN
Dinner
Boeing 737-800 ex-Guam version

PDB of choice! ^

After takeoff, delicious hot nuts and hot scented towels.

FA today was a Salma Hayek look-alike. Yeah...it was a good flight

Drink of choice and meal choice taken. Choices today were a mushroom risotto or a chicken, black beans, and rice dish. I chose the chicken. It was of high quality and the rice and black beans were good as well. There were also some haricots verts on the dish as well. On the side was a good salad with grapefruit in it, and pomegranate acai salad dressing. It was SO nice to get something other than the omnipresent balsamic vinaigrette on AA. Italian rolls and butter were offered from the bread basket. Chocolate chip cookies were offered after dinner.

Overall, a good day of UA flying! ^

fly747first

You seem to have a rather selective memory. Consider:

AA's warm nuts ramekins are actually larger than UA's tiny ones so overall you get a more generous serving and unlike UA, AA usually loads a bit more per pax so the best AA crews often offer warm nuts refills.

AA has horrible towels, but other than the scent, UA doesn't exactly have the best towels either.

UA offers quite tasty freshly baked cookies vs. AA's odd-tasting "warm cookies" though by a miracle of God AA still serves cookies on proper china, not the economy-class plates UA uses to serve cookies.

If you pay for F or get upgraded more than 24 hours before departure (or of course you can just do a dummy booking) AA let's you see the menu for your flight. AA also has significantly nicer glassware than the ancient ones UA uses--the same ones from the old Continental except they just changed the logo on the glasses.

qukslvr619

Is having a cookie on a china plate over a small plastic plate that big of a deal? They used to come either in paper bags or wrapped in a paper napkin and I can't remember anyone making an issue out of it. It's not even that noticeable quite honestly.

elitefreak

Uhm, short ribs are supposed to be stringy because they are (over) cooked for a long, long time to make them very tender. And who doesn't like the flavor of a little fat? Just sayin'.

mtmonte

Has anyone found it difficult to get first meal choices when travelling with other people? It seems like first choices are hard to come by unless GS/1K. Is this common with United / other airlines?

fly747first

Not to me, but I like providing accurate information. UA is probably the only airline serving cookies on plastic (or paper as in the past) in a premium cabin.

NikoLGA

I prefer the plastic plate honestly. The bakery tissue thing that said “Baked Just For You”, or something like that, was drenched in grease due to the cookie.

However, a full on plate would, at least to me, take too long, and it would be a lot for nothing, as the cookies take less than a minute to eat. The plastic plate establishes Domestic First while maintaining the “express” feeling of the cookies.

diburning

I currently have no status, but I've also never not had my first choice. They're supposed to prioritize GS and 1K orders.

qukslvr619

Well I guess it depends on what you prefer.....actually "baked" cookies on a plastic plate...or "warmed" cookies.

As for airlines serving cookies, aren't we really talking about two airlines? I don't recall having a cookie on DL and other than YX I really don't remember any other airline that had them.

That being said...AA does have better nuts. I honestly would prefer to have packaged nuts rather than the chewy/overcooked crap UA serves.

fly747first

DL has packaged cookies on most domestic F flights (pretty weak dessert I agree), though the presentation of the meal is way nicer than UA asides from the packaged cookie. I think Dancing Reindeer is the brand that DL uses for its large packaged cookies.

saltydog75

To be fair, short ribs push the boundary of "there's no such thing as too much fat". Many recipes advise cooking them and then refrigerating in order to congeal the fat so it can be skimmed off. I cooked a large batch recently and each refrigerated serving had a healthy layer of congealed fat. Short ribs are fantastic when cooked properly, but they do require some skill to do well.

eng3

I'll be flying EWR-LIM next week. What is the "refreshment" that was given at the end of the flight? (the cheese plate)? It departs 2pm and is an 8hr fight. I'm wondering if I need to worry about finding a late dinner in Lima

Points Fitness

By far my favorite domestic meal. Flavorful, filling...and the combo with the Sesame Ginger dressing salad and pretzel bun is perfect, of course accompanied by a glass of red.

smiles33

This makes me think you've never had properly cooked braised short ribs. No, short ribs should not be stringy, which I consider to be similar in texture as chewing on individual dry cotton strings. They should be tender and rich, with a creamier texture (when you have the right amount of fat).

The short ribs I had on my Polaris Business SFO-TPE flight about 2 weeks ago were not cooked properly (hence the dried out stringiness).

I found the fish on my return flight was equally bad. The only items I enjoyed from my 2 Polaris flights were the grilled cheese and tomato soup "snack" and the Asian braised pork over noodles "snack" that is available upon request after meal service and before the "pre-arrival" meal.

I did not get my first choice either flight for breakfasts, so I ended up with the atrocious cheesy egg dishes (one an omelet and one a frittata) that were overcooked in texture and tasteless.

UA_Flyer

Cheese Plate is the only thing you get before arrival, unforunately.

Chances are you will be hungry.

There is a decent food court on the second floor of the airport terminal for you to get something to eat or you can order room services when you arrive at the hotel. Traffic is bad leaving the airport, so restaurants are likely closed by the time you reach the hotel.