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Old May 14, 2018, 12:32 pm
  #121  
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Originally Posted by findark
...all they serve is three slices of cheese.
Mice wouldn't complain. Maybe UA's ultimate domestic F passenger demographic will be mice - literally and figuratively.
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Old May 14, 2018, 3:01 pm
  #122  
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Originally Posted by JetAway
Should this continue I may seriously consider Big Seat Spirit over Big Seat United, with significant savings to be had.
Sprit has other risks the big seat won't cover - I would look at two coach seats on UA (book an EXTRASEAT) and your free GS/1K cold or hot snack food in Y and consider *that* as the upgrade. On the plus side, if they keep cutting and people stop paying for F, it will give us back some seats for upgrades - unless they prefer to sell them to Kettles for $10
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Old May 14, 2018, 8:15 pm
  #123  
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
Sprit has other risks the big seat won't cover - I would look at two coach seats on UA (book an EXTRASEAT) and your free GS/1K cold or hot snack food in Y and consider *that* as the upgrade. On the plus side, if they keep cutting and people stop paying for F, it will give us back some seats for upgrades - unless they prefer to sell them to Kettles for $10
You mean that's not the kirbster's long game?
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Old May 14, 2018, 9:27 pm
  #124  
 
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Originally Posted by samjnz
I wish there were better options out of SFO, but I'm often stuck on UA and they know it.

This was the meal I was served the other day ATL->SFO -- a sad looking burger with nothing on it. I feel the $8 economy buy-on-board would have been much better (which makes me feel like a fool for buying in the First cabin to begin with).
Hey, at least you got the pretzel bun!
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Old May 14, 2018, 10:01 pm
  #125  
 
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To those stubbornly saying there haven't been cuts in p.s. service, I respectfully disagree. I flew EWR-LAX two days ago and the meal choice was the burger or a cold chicken salad. I got the burger; the person sitting next to me got the salad. While the burger was tasty, it looked pretty much like the picture above which hardly screams "luxury", "first class", or "premium". The salad was simply pathetic. Later there was a basket brought by with apples, oranges, and raisins. And shortly before landing we were offered a warm cranberry orange muffin (that was tasty).

The condition of the plane was tired and nasty. They forgot to load any headsets for economy; the purser was frantically trying to resolve this but the gate agent told her that operations said "do the best you can; get that plane out of here" (I had a front row seat to the entire interaction). That same gate agent then left and closed the boarding door; his colleague came screaming down the aisle to open the door as she didn't want a complimentary trip to Los Angeles. Once we got to Los Angeles, we had a gate (shockingly), but it took over 20 minutes for the driver to get the jetbridge to the aircraft--even the FAs were shocked at the incompetence. The whole thing came across more like Keystone Kops than a top-tier airline running at its best.
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Old May 14, 2018, 10:06 pm
  #126  
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Originally Posted by DJ_Iceman
To those stubbornly saying there haven't been cuts in p.s. service, I respectfully disagree. I flew EWR-LAX two days ago and the meal choice was the burger or a cold chicken salad. I got the burger; the person sitting next to me got the salad. While the burger was tasty, it looked pretty much like the picture above which hardly screams "luxury", "first class", or "premium". The salad was simply pathetic. Later there was a basket brought by with apples, oranges, and raisins. And shortly before landing we were offered a warm cranberry orange muffin (that was tasty).

The condition of the plane was tired and nasty. They forgot to load any headsets for economy; the purser was frantically trying to resolve this but the gate agent told her that operations said "do the best you can; get that plane out of here" (I had a front row seat to the entire interaction). That same gate agent then left and closed the boarding door; his colleague came screaming down the aisle to open the door as she didn't want a complimentary trip to Los Angeles. Once we got to Los Angeles, we had a gate (shockingly), but it took over 20 minutes for the driver to get the jetbridge to the aircraft--even the FAs were shocked at the incompetence. The whole thing came across more like Keystone Kops than a top-tier airline running at its best.
Perhaps it's become passé to hate on Kirby, but this all sounds like a mix of the focus on D0 and cost cutting, which are practically his signature.
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Old May 14, 2018, 10:55 pm
  #127  
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Originally Posted by DJ_Iceman
To those stubbornly saying there haven't been cuts in p.s. service, I respectfully disagree. I flew EWR-LAX two days ago and the meal choice was the burger or a cold chicken salad. I got the burger; the person sitting next to me got the salad. While the burger was tasty, it looked pretty much like the picture above which hardly screams "luxury", "first class", or "premium". The salad was simply pathetic. Later there was a basket brought by with apples, oranges, and raisins. And shortly before landing we were offered a warm cranberry orange muffin (that was tasty).

The condition of the plane was tired and nasty. They forgot to load any headsets for economy; the purser was frantically trying to resolve this but the gate agent told her that operations said "do the best you can; get that plane out of here" (I had a front row seat to the entire interaction). That same gate agent then left and closed the boarding door; his colleague came screaming down the aisle to open the door as she didn't want a complimentary trip to Los Angeles. Once we got to Los Angeles, we had a gate (shockingly), but it took over 20 minutes for the driver to get the jetbridge to the aircraft--even the FAs were shocked at the incompetence. The whole thing came across more like Keystone Kops than a top-tier airline running at its best.
Was this a redeye?
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Old May 14, 2018, 10:55 pm
  #128  
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Originally Posted by DJ_Iceman
To those stubbornly saying there haven't been cuts in p.s. service, I respectfully disagree. I flew EWR-LAX two days ago and the meal choice was the burger or a cold chicken salad. I got the burger; the person sitting next to me got the salad. While the burger was tasty, it looked pretty much like the picture above which hardly screams "luxury", "first class", or "premium". The salad was simply pathetic. Later there was a basket brought by with apples, oranges, and raisins. And shortly before landing we were offered a warm cranberry orange muffin (that was tasty).
Sounds like the overnight Snack service - was this departing after 9pm? Two choices is an upgrade from 2016, when it was only one. Honestly I can't complain when the alternative on any other flight is the stupid snack basket.
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Old May 15, 2018, 6:37 am
  #129  
 
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No Meal Consistency on United in First. Shame on United

i was just on a flight last week from Iah to Las. Scheduled for 3 hours. Take off at 12:30pm. Scheduled a “lunch” flight on website, received the snack. Complained and received a $125 voucher. No excuse except they would let their food service team know. It seems that UA is sacrificing customer service and experience to save a few $$$. Sometimes you want to relax and have the meal. Happening more often than not on UA lately. All I can say is file a complaint.
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Old May 15, 2018, 6:46 am
  #130  
 
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Originally Posted by DJ_Iceman
To those stubbornly saying there haven't been cuts in p.s. service, I respectfully disagree. I flew EWR-LAX two days ago and the meal choice was the burger or a cold chicken salad.
"Stubborn" or not, that's been the standard premium transcon J service for 9pm departures (and later) for some time, including redeyes. No significant changes to that service (besides Ghirardelli candy) were implemented there post-May 1. This is verifiable fact, but again, prepare for cutbacks.

Departures before 9pm still have the full service.
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Old May 15, 2018, 1:19 pm
  #131  
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Cheese sampler or small salad as lunch in domestic F?

A couple days ago I was flying in domestic F around noon, SNA-IAH. The app and website both stated under Flight Status - Amenities that lunch would be served in F.

When the FA came around to ask for our choice, the only two options - which she described as "snacks" - were a small cheese sampler or a small pasta salad.

Is this the new normal, or did catering have an off day?
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Last edited by WineCountryUA; May 15, 2018 at 1:21 pm Reason: merged into exisiting thread
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Old May 15, 2018, 1:28 pm
  #132  
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It's the new normal - please complain and also order the meals that are still being served in Economy!
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Old May 15, 2018, 4:53 pm
  #133  
 
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Originally Posted by SFO 1K
In fairness that was during the DEN kitchen closure. The same flight today would be full meal service.
That's true but I don't think there's any fairness involved. They could have offered something better than a crappy burger or microwave-level pizza even with a kitchen closure, particularly as long as that continued. Based on that experience, the only way I will pay for a domestic first class seat on UA in the future would be for a redeye and even then I'll see if I can do hobo first class instead. The experience just is not worth the premium price.

I get it, consumers decided they want to pay bus-type fares so UA is delivering a bus-type experience. That suggests a transition to budget-style airline runs with a limited front cabin with extra room that becomes available only to passengers with status or willing to pay for the increased level of comfort -- but it won't be what we used to think of as first- or even business-class and it won't be worth the premium UA wants to charge for it.
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Old May 15, 2018, 8:10 pm
  #134  
 
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Originally Posted by EWR764
"Stubborn" or not, that's been the standard premium transcon J service for 9pm departures (and later) for some time, including redeyes. No significant changes to that service (besides Ghirardelli candy) were implemented there post-May 1. This is verifiable fact, but again, prepare for cutbacks.

Departures before 9pm still have the full service.
Thanks for educating me; the flight did indeed depart at 9:10pm. Maybe I was especially grumpy because my connecting flight from DCA was delayed by a couple of hours, meaning I missed my original 5:20pm departure and the system tried to automatically rebook me in coach on the 6:43pm departure. And because it did that, I couldn't use the app to put myself back in my paid first class cabin even on the later flight; I had to call the 1K desk for that. I don't normally (i.e. it's been decades) book flights that late so didn't realize the service was significantly lessened compared to "normal" times of day.
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Old May 15, 2018, 8:15 pm
  #135  
 
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Originally Posted by findark
It's the new normal - please complain and also order the meals that are still being served in Economy!
Hopefully this is cyclical: UA is pushing to see what they can get away with before it hurts the bottom line. Perhaps, like $misek, this too shall pass.

And, contrary to some miscaters on PS, I find the snack options on regular UA F (Asian beef salad and chicken hummus especially) to taste fine. I just lament the portion size. Honestly, I’m not asking for Cheesecake Factory but I’m also not looking for Lean Cuisines.
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