bocastephen

I shouldn't have to ring the call button - what I should see is one FA per aisle doing a walk through of their section of the Polaris cabin at least every 30 minutes if not more often, checking to see if anyone needs service.

N104UA

I disagree, after the meal service, I think there should be an assumption that the pax are left alone to sleep, watch movies, work, etc. I really hate it when I get interupted to ask if I want anything to drink, if I want something I will ring the call button and am not going to wait 30 min for them to walk by.

bocastephen

I am not referring to being shaken awake asking if you want something - I am referring to a FA walking the aisle repeatedly so someone who does want a drink, snack, or whatever, can signal them and request it. I've seen some crews do this, but it's rare. It should be a service standard and done by policy.

There is no excuse for the crew to be basically absent for 8 hours of a 12 hour flight. People and Us Weekly cannot possibly be that entertaining.

EWR764

I think, officially, FAs are to walk the cabin at least every 15 minutes, even in Y. I would like to see more heed taken of this policy.

gmt4

Aug 3 UA 5 IAH-LHR. Food was summarily bad. The salad greens were frozen (lettuce, carrots), the spicy chicken noodle dish was a bowl of watery goo with minimal flavor and maybe two or three small pieces of chicken. I declined breakfast. I've had better meals in Y. FAs seemed aloof and for the whole flight were determined to stomp hard enough on the floor to shake my seat as they walked up and down down the aisle. Seriously 8.5 hrs of stomping up and down the aisle.

I usually connect to Europe on UA thru ORD, only took this IAH flight for a change of pace and to check out the Polaris lounge. Worst Polaris experience I've had. I'll chalk this up as a one-off but in the future I'll stick to what I know.

caliform

So, I don't usually fly UA — it's either DL or another ST partner. I flew ANA out this time and because of operational reasons flew back with UA. Mind you (not that this should matter) it's a full price J ticket.

I've never seen a US, European or Asian carrier neglect to just be present like this during and after meal service. As bocastephen says, they're just... gone for hours. No attempt to notice empty drinks, no attempts to ask for new drinks, nothing. Hours of just no drink service, unless I'd press a call attendant button. Perhaps I could that, but that'd be unique in all my flights of dozens of business class carriers around the world who would simply look at my drinks and ensure I have something to drink.

I'd get up to go to to use the lavatories and find them in the galley just chatting away. Absolutely terrible show of service.

Kacee

That's still an occasional problem with some of the UA crews, particularly from the CO side. But I've had a run of really fantastic UA crews on longhaul flights. And the last two really terrible crews I've had were on TG (HKG-BKK) and DL (HNL-SLC).

UA_Flyer

On SQ (other than UA, this is the airlines I have flown the most), I have never shied away from using the call buttons. I once got up to ask for a refill of water during flight, the FA told me to use the call buttons in the future. In fact, FA on Asian airlines are pretty good in responding to call buttons on a positive manner. Some airlines, such as TG, FA don't like to walk around, but they do expect passengers to use call buttons and they are quite responsive.

On UA (and AA and DL), perhaps it is a culture thing, FA don't respond well to call buttons. This is not to say they are not good FA. I have found many respond positively when I walk to the galley asking for a drink or refill, and they often cheerfully refill in front of me or tell me they will bring the drinks to me.

On long haul flights sitting in premium cabins, I don't like FA walking around too much. It can be disturbing. SQ is pretty good about. Often, I am reminded that to use the call buttons because they don't want to disturb passengers by proactively walk around the cabin.

To be honest, I have rarely met UA (whether PMCO or PMUA) with bad attitudes. I do see bad flight attendants sometimes because of other service issues. Attitude wise, not so much.

On the other hand, the quality of UA's inflight meals do deserve negative reviews sometimes.....

st530

That was precisely my point

bocastephen

As alluded to upthread, there is a cultural gap between the US airlines and foreign premium airlines in terms of the call button, so I am uncomfortable using the call button on United as the perception from the FA is generally "what in the world does this pain-in-the-a** want over and over so urgently that I need to put down my Us Weekly and stop gossiping with my coworkers" vs a premium carrier crew who has a completely different interpretation.

physioprof

In my experience, sometimes there is something about the seat/floor attachment (or maybe position on the floor?) that makes a particular J seat extremely sensitive to any vibration of the floor. So it feels like anyone walking by is absolutely stomping, but they really aren't. This has happened to me a few times on United 767s.

StuckinITH

I think that there was the same problem in the upper deck of the 747 but I would still always choose a seat on the upper deck.

Kacee

The 764s especially. Also the sCO 752s.

adambrau

My number one rule on UA is to always defer on the second meal, which usually is the 2 breakfast options or if you are lucky, chicken katsu. I don't eat eggs is the main reason. Then there is the issue of quality of other food options. If I wait an extra hour or two I get more sleep and then a decent meal at the destination. All the money UA is putting into Polaris hardware is, IMHO, a better investment than a better second meal. And I have to agree with you - those Hot Dogs look vile, like they couldn't sell them at Golden Corral so UA gives them a second chance. There are many exciting things happening at UA, but the second meal department didn't get the memo....

adambrau

I could be mistaken, but if so not by much. Would say the Spicy Thai chicken served with Udon noodles has been around for at least two years, at least flying EWR to Europe. I'm scared to think when it will be rotated out!