Last edit by: WineCountryUA
Word is out on another site (not my post) regarding a company memo about the May 1 "enhancements".
Some key points:
- Return of the salad/appetizer cart, although I suspect it's just going to be the meal cart with a fancy cover, to reduce the number of galley trips with hand-run trays
- Beverage carts coming back to the aisle (similar to DL and the former 3-cabin sUA business class service) with branded cart covers
- Soup is gone in Polaris First (so no more differentiation; the product isn't expected to last the full year, anyway)
- Wine tasting arches are gone
- No bloody mary carts (already announced)
- Hot bites will stay
- Bread refills to be offered (return of the bread basket?)
- Pre-departure chocolates returned to the pre-arrival tray
In many ways, this is going to look like the former three-cabin BusinessFirst service with nicer linens and serviceware. Overall, not the sweeping change (or depth of cuts) I was expecting. No word on provisioning of the other items (gel pillows, mattress pads, slippers, PJs, etc.)
POLARIS SERVICE ENHANCEMENTS
Frequently Asked Questions
1. When do the service updates go into effect?
A: The service updates are effective May 1, 2018, on all long-haul international flights.
2. Why are we making changes to our United Polaris® service?
A: Customers have positively received our United Polaris lounge, and this year we are opening more United Polaris lounges beginning this summer in San Francisco, Houston and New York/Newark and in the fall, Los Angeles. As we continue to add more lounges, we want to take into account the feedback that customers have given us — they’ve emphasized their desire to rest and relax during their journey, especially onboard. The updates to the service flow will allow us to continue providing a premium product with high-quality food, wine, amenities and more, but it’ll be delivered in a more efficient way.
3. What is the new international United Polaris meal service flow?
A: The meal service flow for both first and business class will be the same:
Pre-departure
• Pre-poured sparkling wine, orange juice and water offered from a silver tray, with other beverages available upon request.
Main meal service
• Hot towels
• Linen placement
• Pre-meal beverage cart
• Appetizer and salad cart
• Bread and beverage refills
• Entrées
• Bread and beverage refills
• Dessert and pre-plated cheese cart
• Individual water bottles with hang tags
Mid-flight service (when applicable)
• Display mid-flight snacks on console, self-service unit, fold-down trays or galley countertop.
• Heat and serve hot on-demand items (when applicable) upon customer request.
Pre-arrival service
• Hot towels
• Pre-arrival tray setup with entrée and choice of beverage
• Breads and pastries
4. Will we be able to offer other pre-departure beverages?
A: Yes, upon customer request fulfill other pre-departure beverages in accordance with each departure country’s pre-departure liquor procedures. Refer to the Flight Attendant Policies and Procedures Manual to determine if you are allowed to open beverage carts/carriers that contain alcohol on the ground.
5. Is there still a chocolate offered during pre-departure?
A: Pre-departure chocolates/dessert will be catered on the pre-arrival tray instead for customers to enjoy during or after their flight.
6. What’s changing with the Bloody Mary and wine specialty beverage carts?
A: Wines and Bloody Marys will continue to be available upon request, but the dedicated cart service will change. This was a common flight attendant suggestion for improvement. A new branded cart cover is being sourced to improve presentation in the aisle and will be available shortly after launch.
7. Can we still offer wine tastings?
A: Absolutely. Although the wine arches with the 3 tastings will not be boarded, we can continue to honor customers’ requests to sample select wines.
8. What about the United Polaris first class soup and salad course?
A: The salad and appetizer will be delivered at the same time on a tray setup, instead of having a soup course.
9. What about the turndown service?
A: We will continue to offer the turndown service upon request.
10. Will Express Dining continue to be offered?
A: Yes, Express Dining will continue to be offered and can be requested and delivered at any point during the flight.
11. Will we continue to offer the mini desserts and fruit and cheese?
A: The mini desserts will continue to be offered from the three-tier cart with the signature ice cream service. In addition, pre-plated cheese will be added to the dessert cart. To make room for the fruit and cheese on the dessert cart, the specialty tea box will be removed from the cart, although specialty teas will continue to be available from the galley.
12. Are there any updates to the mid-flight and pre-arrival services?
A: There will be a few updates to both the mid-flight and pre-arrival service.
Mid-flight service (when available) – While we’ll no longer have formal presentation of mid-flight snacks, snack provisioning levels will remain the same and will continue to be displayed near the galley as is done today. Hang tags advising the customers that mid-flight snacks are available will be added to the individual bottle waters distributed after the main meal service. Hot snack items, when available, will also be delivered upon request.
Pre-arrival service – We’re removing tray table linens to reduce trips through the aisle. The tray itself will continue to have a linen liner. The pre-departure chocolate/dessert will be catered on the pre-arrival tray for customers to enjoy during or after the flight.
13. Will there be any new service items introduced to support the new United Polaris service?
A: Yes, there are a few new elements that will be introduced, including:
Cart covers – Similar to some of our competitors, branded cart covers for both the half and full carts will be boarded for use in the aisle on both the beverage and meal tray carts. Cart covers will be available shortly after launch.
Hang tags – To be placed on individual bottle waters at the end of the main meal service to advise customers that mid-flight snacks are available.
14. Will we be changing the domestic meal service procedures to align with the new United Polaris service (e.g. pre-poured pre-departure beverages)?
A: We will continue listening to the feedback of our customers and our flight attendants and will adjust our processes where necessary to deliver the best service for our customers.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. When do the service updates go into effect?
A: The service updates are effective May 1, 2018, on all long-haul international flights.
2. Why are we making changes to our United Polaris® service?
A: Customers have positively received our United Polaris lounge, and this year we are opening more United Polaris lounges beginning this summer in San Francisco, Houston and New York/Newark and in the fall, Los Angeles. As we continue to add more lounges, we want to take into account the feedback that customers have given us — they’ve emphasized their desire to rest and relax during their journey, especially onboard. The updates to the service flow will allow us to continue providing a premium product with high-quality food, wine, amenities and more, but it’ll be delivered in a more efficient way.
3. What is the new international United Polaris meal service flow?
A: The meal service flow for both first and business class will be the same:
Pre-departure
• Pre-poured sparkling wine, orange juice and water offered from a silver tray, with other beverages available upon request.
Main meal service
• Hot towels
• Linen placement
• Pre-meal beverage cart
• Appetizer and salad cart
• Bread and beverage refills
• Entrées
• Bread and beverage refills
• Dessert and pre-plated cheese cart
• Individual water bottles with hang tags
Mid-flight service (when applicable)
• Display mid-flight snacks on console, self-service unit, fold-down trays or galley countertop.
• Heat and serve hot on-demand items (when applicable) upon customer request.
Pre-arrival service
• Hot towels
• Pre-arrival tray setup with entrée and choice of beverage
• Breads and pastries
4. Will we be able to offer other pre-departure beverages?
A: Yes, upon customer request fulfill other pre-departure beverages in accordance with each departure country’s pre-departure liquor procedures. Refer to the Flight Attendant Policies and Procedures Manual to determine if you are allowed to open beverage carts/carriers that contain alcohol on the ground.
5. Is there still a chocolate offered during pre-departure?
A: Pre-departure chocolates/dessert will be catered on the pre-arrival tray instead for customers to enjoy during or after their flight.
6. What’s changing with the Bloody Mary and wine specialty beverage carts?
A: Wines and Bloody Marys will continue to be available upon request, but the dedicated cart service will change. This was a common flight attendant suggestion for improvement. A new branded cart cover is being sourced to improve presentation in the aisle and will be available shortly after launch.
7. Can we still offer wine tastings?
A: Absolutely. Although the wine arches with the 3 tastings will not be boarded, we can continue to honor customers’ requests to sample select wines.
8. What about the United Polaris first class soup and salad course?
A: The salad and appetizer will be delivered at the same time on a tray setup, instead of having a soup course.
9. What about the turndown service?
A: We will continue to offer the turndown service upon request.
10. Will Express Dining continue to be offered?
A: Yes, Express Dining will continue to be offered and can be requested and delivered at any point during the flight.
11. Will we continue to offer the mini desserts and fruit and cheese?
A: The mini desserts will continue to be offered from the three-tier cart with the signature ice cream service. In addition, pre-plated cheese will be added to the dessert cart. To make room for the fruit and cheese on the dessert cart, the specialty tea box will be removed from the cart, although specialty teas will continue to be available from the galley.
12. Are there any updates to the mid-flight and pre-arrival services?
A: There will be a few updates to both the mid-flight and pre-arrival service.
Mid-flight service (when available) – While we’ll no longer have formal presentation of mid-flight snacks, snack provisioning levels will remain the same and will continue to be displayed near the galley as is done today. Hang tags advising the customers that mid-flight snacks are available will be added to the individual bottle waters distributed after the main meal service. Hot snack items, when available, will also be delivered upon request.
Pre-arrival service – We’re removing tray table linens to reduce trips through the aisle. The tray itself will continue to have a linen liner. The pre-departure chocolate/dessert will be catered on the pre-arrival tray for customers to enjoy during or after the flight.
13. Will there be any new service items introduced to support the new United Polaris service?
A: Yes, there are a few new elements that will be introduced, including:
Cart covers – Similar to some of our competitors, branded cart covers for both the half and full carts will be boarded for use in the aisle on both the beverage and meal tray carts. Cart covers will be available shortly after launch.
Hang tags – To be placed on individual bottle waters at the end of the main meal service to advise customers that mid-flight snacks are available.
14. Will we be changing the domestic meal service procedures to align with the new United Polaris service (e.g. pre-poured pre-departure beverages)?
A: We will continue listening to the feedback of our customers and our flight attendants and will adjust our processes where necessary to deliver the best service for our customers.
- Return of the salad/appetizer cart, although I suspect it's just going to be the meal cart with a fancy cover, to reduce the number of galley trips with hand-run trays
- Beverage carts coming back to the aisle (similar to DL and the former 3-cabin sUA business class service) with branded cart covers
- Soup is gone in Polaris First (so no more differentiation; the product isn't expected to last the full year, anyway)
- Wine tasting arches are gone
- No bloody mary carts (already announced)
- Hot bites will stay
- Bread refills to be offered (return of the bread basket?)
- Pre-departure chocolates returned to the pre-arrival tray
In many ways, this is going to look like the former three-cabin BusinessFirst service with nicer linens and serviceware. Overall, not the sweeping change (or depth of cuts) I was expecting. No word on provisioning of the other items (gel pillows, mattress pads, slippers, PJs, etc.)
[Rumor] More Polaris "Enhancements" coming May 1, 2018? ...
#16
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: PHX
Programs: AS 75K; UA 1MM; Hyatt Globalist; Marriott LTP; Hilton Diamond (Aspire)
Posts: 56,450
Analysts don't like Kirby's growth plans and are killing the stock; he's trying to bring it back up by cutting costs.
The old "cut your way to growth" model has been disproven again and again but some people never learn.
#17
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: LAX and LHR. UA lifetime Gold 1.9MM 1K , DL Gold Medallion, HHonors Gold, Marriott Gold, Avis President's Club
Posts: 3,592
My last few flights in business, that's exactly what they have done. Back and forth to the galley. I haven't seen a wine/beverages cart for ages! I imagine they think this is a superior form of service, but it's annoying when you want to select a wine and can't see the bottles. It's no good them telling me they've got a Chardonnay and something else, or "Californian or French?". I want to see the labels. That means an extra trip back to the galley for them (and I try to sit at the front of the cabin, maximum distance from the galley....).
#18
Join Date: Dec 2009
Programs: UA mileage plus
Posts: 1
Try another airline
I consider Polaris itself a downgrade. I'm only 6' tall and I can't lie fully flat in the Polaris seat. I fly Emirates, Singapore, EVA and Turkish now. All of their seats, service and meal choices are far superior. I was Global Services on United and find I am treated better with no status on all these airlines. Also the business class fares are lower for a self employed guy with no corporate discount.
#19
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: DEN
Programs: UA 1MM, MP 1K, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 462
On AKL SFO at the end of January, it was mostly leftovers of dessert and some small bags of plain chips. Was Toblerone PMUA ?
#20
Join Date: May 2010
Location: AVP & PEK
Programs: UA 1K 1.8MM
Posts: 6,349
United's SOP of service reduction:
1) Announce Enhancements with Press Release and fanfare
2) Emphasize all the new improved "features"
3) Eliminate some of the previous perks, but don't mention these reductions, EVER
4) Roll out the Enhancements (at snail's pace)
5) Slowly get rid of the enhancements again, one-by-one
= You end up with less than what you started with! $$$!
1) Announce Enhancements with Press Release and fanfare
2) Emphasize all the new improved "features"
3) Eliminate some of the previous perks, but don't mention these reductions, EVER
4) Roll out the Enhancements (at snail's pace)
5) Slowly get rid of the enhancements again, one-by-one
= You end up with less than what you started with! $$$!
#21
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Programs: UA 1K 1MMer & LT UC (when flying UA); Hyatt Credit Cardist; HHonors Diamond; Marriott Gold via UA 1K
Posts: 6,956
So, United rolled out Polaris almost 2 years ago to great fanfare, and will never be able to deliver the product they promised. Swell. HBS case study in the making.
#22
Join Date: Feb 2008
Programs: 6 year GS, now 2MM Jeff-ugee, *wood LTPlt, SkyPeso PLT
Posts: 6,526
#23
Join Date: Oct 2017
Programs: SPG, Marriott, UA, AA, CX, SQ
Posts: 165
UA couldn’t have asked for a better customer - they’ve never pretended to be superior to SQ and some had to spend $50k of their own cash to find out what we all knew from Day One
#24
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Moreland Hills (CLE)
Programs: Over-entitled UA 1.3MM Gold, AA Gold, Hilton Diamond, Marriott L-T Plat, Hertz PC
Posts: 5,521
I consider Polaris itself a downgrade. I'm only 6' tall and I can't lie fully flat in the Polaris seat. I fly Emirates, Singapore, EVA and Turkish now. All of their seats, service and meal choices are far superior. I was Global Services on United and find I am treated better with no status on all these airlines. Also the business class fares are lower for a self employed guy with no corporate discount.
Completely agree.
I'm 6'5" tall and every dollar I spend is 30% of my money.
Another Kirby/typical airline executive race-to-bottom
#26
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: London
Programs: UA GS
Posts: 2,438
Step 1: Make the wines cheap and undrinkable
Step 2: Note that customers aren't getting the wine flights anymore
Step 3: Eliminate the wine flights as the uptake is low
Step 4: Profit?
Honestly, the hot bites removal doesn't bother me too much. I only ordered them once or twice when they first launched. Mostly the meal is filling enough and I'd rather just get a small snack, of which I think they have a decent selection btw, mid-flight.
Step 2: Note that customers aren't getting the wine flights anymore
Step 3: Eliminate the wine flights as the uptake is low
Step 4: Profit?
Honestly, the hot bites removal doesn't bother me too much. I only ordered them once or twice when they first launched. Mostly the meal is filling enough and I'd rather just get a small snack, of which I think they have a decent selection btw, mid-flight.
#27
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: NYC (Primarily EWR)
Programs: UA 1K / *G, Marriott Bonvoy Gold; Avis PC
Posts: 9,005
I would be annoyed if they got rid of the hot bites. Those are consistently the best part of any food onboard (IMO) and I now order them instead of the prearrival food that is usually served.
I put this all on Kirby...clearly Oscar is relying on the guy who has more airline management experience, but it’s a huge mistake. He (Oscar) has burned any goodwill he had brought when he first came on, and no one who is paying attention actually thinks he is running the show.
I don’t have any great love for DL or AA, but I certainly do wonder if it’s worth considering other options. Having 1mm+ points on UA/Ultimate Rewards certainly makes it less compelling to be a kettle elsewhere and burn miles. I also have zero issues with Terminal C as is, as long as those darn UCs (and Polaris Club) actually ever get done...
I put this all on Kirby...clearly Oscar is relying on the guy who has more airline management experience, but it’s a huge mistake. He (Oscar) has burned any goodwill he had brought when he first came on, and no one who is paying attention actually thinks he is running the show.
I don’t have any great love for DL or AA, but I certainly do wonder if it’s worth considering other options. Having 1mm+ points on UA/Ultimate Rewards certainly makes it less compelling to be a kettle elsewhere and burn miles. I also have zero issues with Terminal C as is, as long as those darn UCs (and Polaris Club) actually ever get done...
#28
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: LAX/TPE
Programs: United 1K, JAL Sapphire, SPG Lifetime Platinum, National Executive Elite, Hertz PC, Avis PC
Posts: 42,199
I have my first two "real" Polaris (seats and all) flights over the next couple weeks - I'll report back my findings, but if the experience involves arguing over pajamas and pillows, no meal choice, not hot midflight meal or decent cold snacks, and the general sour attitude many have described from their crews, I am not spending the money on UA for this, I'll stick to AC (which was surprisingly better than I expected) or ANA, where the product and experience are consistent, predictable and generally very good.
It's time to dump Oscar (big disappointment) and especially Kirby - we're almost worse off now than we were under Smisek, and I don't think any of us saw that coming. It's obvious they think we're all dumb and ignorant, and they just want our money without needing to provide anything above a very low baseline.
#29
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: Delta Diamond, Marriott Ambassador & Lifetime Titanium, Hertz President's Circle, United Silver
Posts: 6,334
I'm guessing that (a) flight attendants hated this and (b) United was sick of spending the money on alcohol.
#30
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 575
I'm a paid J customer, and I love the hot bites. They recently cut it to only one direction (at least the noodle/rice bowl). I was very disappointed. If it's gone both ways, and no hot snack midflight, then I guarantee this is my last year as GS. I'm a mixed flyer. Paid J for work and Paid G for personal. GS for 2 years. Last year I spent $10k of my own money to hit enough to requal. I'm only staying on UA this year because of GS. But If I'm going to starve on a 12 hour flight, then I might as well fly a better airline. I get that they don't care about my $40-$50k (closer to $40) but if there's enough people who vote with their wallets, then hopefully they get the message.