dvs7310

I don't usually find UA's economy food to be terrible in terms of quality, but quantity is my issue. Therefore, I usually do bring my own food on board so I don't arrive TPAC starving. I tend to prefer the IAH-NRT route when possible for a couple of reasons. First IAH has a Subway in the E terminal, very easy to pick up a sandwich after the lounge on the way to my flight. Also it doesn't often fill up in E+ so fairly frequently I can score a row to myself for sleeping. I'm much less a fan of the airports with mostly boutique restaurants like EWR, I have lived overseas for many years so actually enjoy a bit of the chain restaurant fast food when I'm there.

garykung

OP - Have you ever tried the standard meal?

Also, FWIW - it has more to do with the catering companies at the location rather than the airlines. Of course, UA pays the meal. So the more UA pays, the better quality the meals are. However, UA does not cook the meals for most West Coast flights (While UA owns Chelsea Food Services from pmCO, Chelsea does not operate in SFO/LAX, at the minimum).

flyerbaby19

I believe J caters meals to seats evenly so no extra. I've never once been turned down for an extra in Y, and never been turned down for a 3rd. If they have extras, they go into the trash so they are usually happy to give them out. I usually get 2 breakfasts also, but they are almost always out of my choice so I get the second one. On PS last week red eye, I also had 3 roast beef/noodle dishes in Y.

To be honest, I eat more food in Y than J because J doesn't have extra so I usually don't ask. Once I did go to the back during the midflight and got some sandwiches.

FlyinHawaiian

I order Asian Vegetarian meals because I like Indian food and think it's often better than the choices available in Y (and in J/F sometimes).

rufflesinc

Aren't the ovens in F better than the ones in Y since they aren't en mass?

manneca

I always bring sandwiches for TPAC because I get hungry mid flight and the mid flight snack is inedible. Dinner is hit or miss. Sometimes good; sometimes awful. The pre arrival "meal" is generally awful. If I get lucky and the food is good, then I have a snack when I get to my hotel.

catocony

From a TATL perspective, I think the food in UA Y is decent and certainly far, far better than it was a decade ago. There's more of it, you get a cup of ice cream or sherbert, they have little sandwiches and things, and they do quite a few beverage services. On an IAD-AMS flight last summer, the lady next to me on her first UA international flight - she and her husband live in Dallas and usually fly American but go rerouted through Dulles and on UA due to a cancellation - said she thought there were too many offers of drinks and such.

I think the food coming back from Europe is better than the US-origin stuff on the way over. For TPACs, I think it's the reverse, at least out of Narita. I've had the chicken-free fried chicken and a sour pasta on NRT-IAD segments before.

I am a big believer in trail mix and beef jerky. I also bring packets of Gatorade to mix up on long flights. That with a bag of good trail mix and a few Jack Links will hold you over pretty well, and it's all dry, so no issues with security anywhere.

br2k

TAP - yes, both service and food, I flew them once and will not ever, in spite of cheap tickets available.
AC - I am not a big fan, but I found their service much more competent and food, while not spectacular, beats UA every single time.

br2k

Here is a recent TPAC "breakfast". It tasted exactly like what it looked like (well, the only small piece of it I dared try).
I had a photo of the disgusting mash they served for "dinner" but deleted it because just seeing it in my photostream brought back memories too unpleasant to bear.

drewguy

My biggest issue is the heavy starchiness of the meals - typically the first meal has a lot of rice or pasta with minimal meat/veg, plus the "salad" is now a grain, and there's the big fluffy bun.bread. Then the mid-flight meal is as you describe - mostly bread. And the breakfast ain't so great either.

Anyway, last flight I took (IAD-PEK and vv) seemed better. It was a Chinese-style chicken that actually had more than two bits of chicken and a decent taste. Was it great and gourmet? Hell no. But it was more appealing that past meals.

As for bringing on board - the problem is anything that will keep long enough into the flight isn't much better. I think you're better off eating before the flight at a real restaurant and then making do with what you can on board (or bring some snack materials). .

lhrsfo

This really sums it up. If you will be unsatisfied with mediocre, cheap food, then you are better off eating at a restaurant beforehand. But bringing food on board is not the answer as you cannot refrigerate it (or, obviously, heat it) and it will be very tired, if not off or squashed or both, by the time you want it. So you are left with starch, which is the one thing that you will not be short of through the onboard catering.

764toHI

I always stock up on Japanese snacks at the Lawson pre-security and grab a bowl of curry udon at the ANA club in NRT prior to getting on UA78. That being said, catering ex-NRT in Y is not the worst.

coolbeans202

I'm the same. I will eat pretty much anything, but find that the quantity of food has decreased over the past few years, to the point where I tend to eat a meal in the airport and then will eat again onboard.

Yunnnn

They have eggs for breakfast as well other than that choice for "breakfast" and I'd take that over the eggs...UA's egg breakfast is disgusting.
SIN-HKG used to serve the same food choices for breakfast as well, so it might be a menu that they have for flights to/within Asia.

I have to agree that UA's Y Food on TPAC Routes are terrible compared to other airlines running the same trans-pac routes.
It's barely edible (both breakfast/dinner) but I haven't got to the extent of bringing my own food yet.

mr8