anc-ord772

That is a generous serving of goat cheese and not a lot of bread.

TA

Same issue always I've noticed with post-dinner cheeses -- they give you multiple big pieces of cheese and 2 water crackers. Why??

anc-ord772

It's been like that since... forever. Not that I have an answer.

CO DCA

Yeah, I've often wondered why. When I ask for additional crackers, I often get a "deer in headlights" look, or the f/a has to finish the entire service (which is understandable), then root around for additional crackers, and by that time, I've finished.

NikoLGA

2013:

Jeff McMuffin:



2018:

Ham, Egg and Kirby:



Seriously, where have the days (2015-2016) of the French Toast Souffle, Red Pepper Quiche, Southwestern Omelette, Apple Blintz, Blueberry Waffles with Ham etc. gone?

NoLaGent

You can see them in the rearview mirror.

I'll give the nod to Kirby's sandwich over Smisek's though, which surprises even me.

EWR764

It would seem the additional costs were not correlative to a revenue premium, and so in pursuit of improving margins, the domestic F catering budget was cut back.

Kirby doesn't believe a higher-quality product (than the mean) drives a revenue premium, and there's some validity that theory, unfortunately.

CruiserCLE

Received a pre-flight email (first time ever) for my trip on Friday with the subject "Menu options for your upcoming flight" that included the meal choices, along with a mention that I would receive a specific survey about the food following the flight.

At first I got excited thinking the email was a beta for pre-order but I was dissapointed

Adding to further disappointment, the choices are buffalo mac & cheese or the Napa Valley salad... the same choices I've had for dinner on EWR/ORD-TPA for what seems like the past month, they are also serving on a 4.5 hour lunch flight ex-ORD. Where has any attempt creativity gone?

On another note - are these longer flights still getting ice/cream sorbet at lunch or are they permanently downgraded to the pre-plated cheesecake?

bocastephen

What Kirby doesn't understand is a higher quality product can drive incremental revenue - this is something Larry K at Continental understood - any enhancement was on the table where they could spend $1 and get back $1.10 - and anything that saved 0.10 and cost them 0.25 in lost revenue was off the table, and not only that, they involved customers in their analysis of what could work and what would not. Things were slashed, we complained, they finally engaged, we discussed, and things started changing for the better until the useless Board threw him out in favor of Smisek.

Kirby is like Smisek - slash everything down to the mean, or just below it, review how the public reacts, and then keep slashing until someone can quantify a loss of bookings, revenue or contracts - only an idiot does business this way. Looking at how things are going back at AA with this old boss in charge, and how the employees are now being treated over there, it looks like Oscar hired just one of those idiots.

NikoLGA

I’d make the argument that Smisek did improve catering when he was here. He introduced Cold Meals on regional jets and offered three hot substantial choices on flights over three and a half hours. Kirby now offers one hot and one cold on the same flights.

United Clubs also offered improved catering under his direction. Not saying Smisek was fantastic, he wasn’t, but I’d take his average BizFirst product which delivered what you expected, that this Polaris garbage, which has fallen short in each and every category.

GoSh4rks

Yesterday's EWR-DFW scheduled for 8:06pm and blocked for 4h 7m was only the snack basket? Shouldn't it be an actual snack?

I wasn't hungry after eating at Classified but its the principle..

diburning

Wow. And my BOS-IAH flight last week served a full breakfast in F.

UAinAUS

ExplorerWannabe

UA 5492 COS-LAX 2:39 flight time listed as Snack
Fell asleep on take-off. When I woke up, the FA asked if I wanted anything to eat but apologized saying they had only loaded her with 3 wraps so I could supplement my fruit bowl with a snack box or other item (I forget what the other item was). I had a snack prior to boarding so told her the fruit was good enough, also got a Ghiradelli square with it.

UA 1170 LAX-HNL 6:10 flight time listed as Dinner
Was offered choice of lobster mac & cheese or lentil chili. I went for the lobster mac & cheese. Didn't look that appetizing but tasted okay (not much lobster but the taste was there). Accompanied by salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing, some broccolini, and a roll. Followed afterward by decent mango sorbet in glass bowl. Fresh hot choc chip/mac nut cookie just before arrival.

I will say the service from the FAs on both flights was superb. Very attentive and made great efforts at customer service. The FAs on 1170 kept addressing me by name and the chief FA made a point of going down the F cabin to shake hands and thank everyone for flying United.

BeeeJay

Been off these routes for a couple months and didn’t realize only a SNACK is offered on my regular flights where I received breakfast all of last year. Is this a new change? What flights do or do not get breakfast? Other meals?