Silver Fox

Yet....

DJ_Iceman

I was on that flight yesterday as well (Dreamliner from LAX to IAH). The FAs seemed embarrassed to even tell us what the "meal" choices were.

I kind of wonder if the tomato juice move was just misdirection--they had no intention of removing tomato juice long term, let the flying public get all up in arms about it, issue a press release about how it's back because "they value customer feedback", and meanwhile the REAL cuts go by with little angst or outcry.

jamesinclair

Removing a sugar-free option in 2018 is insane

1k-all-the-way

FA announced on MSN DEN today that a company memo just announced return of tomato juice after customer push back....

Aussienarelle

Well I can tell you I was one of those folks. On Monday in the survey where I normally rate them very high I dinged them on the tomato juice issue. I also commented on the lack of savoury vs sweet items on morning flights. I declined the muffin on both of my morning flights. Would it kill them to make a banana or cheese available on morning flights? Although I did not mean a cheese plate should replace a meal, although there are days I would be happy to have that as my meal vs other options.

fastair

Kmxu

greenpau

uastarflyer

EWR764

UK Stages

my name is UK Stages and i am a sprite zero drinker.

i found out about the removal a couple of days ago on a flight from HKG to EWR, so there goes that theory about it being available on longer flights. as others have mentioned, it's really about finding a no calorie caffeine-free beverage. i don't drink coffee, and i limit myself to one or two cans of diet coke a day. if i'm on a 16 hour flight, or even if i'm on a five hour afternoon flight, i really don't want to drink caffeine. there are very few caffeine-free options onboard, other than water or sparkling water. nothing wrong with those, of course, but sometimes you want a little somethin' somethin'.

for me, that was sprite zero.

as for who's drinking it... apparently, quite a few. i've been on a number of domestic and international flights on which they ran out in business or first and the FA ran back to coach to snag a few for me. and i've seen them run out in coach, too. sure, that's probably about loading only a small quantity on the flight, but clearly some are drinking it. and enjoying it. as for FA or management's perception of how much they serve, well that's directly related to how much they have on board, isn't it? you can't serve it or suggest it if you don't have it. (or if there is one can hidden in the back of the drawer where neither the FA or the passenger can see it.)

as for whether or not, it's coming back... well, it was only a year or two ago that sprite zero disappeared for the first time... only to be brought back.

as for why they might need diet coke and coke zero... well, they are actually two very different tastes. i don't care much for coke zero myself, but people seem to like it. i will say this: i have had FAs and waitstaff in restaurants try to serve me coke zero insisting that there is no caffeine in it. (there is... it's the "zero" that makes people think otherwise. other beverages use the "zero" to signify an absence of everything, including caffeine.) and so it's possible that somebody at united thinks they ARE providing a caffeine free beverage when they serve coke zero. just a thought.

bocastephen

The other thing to consider here - it's a can of soda. It's not a cucumber that will expire in a week. If the cans are not used on flight 1, they can go to flight 2, then 3 etc until the can is used - and that could be months without the can losing any of its wonderful chemical laced quality. To put the blame on demand is just nonsense - it's not difficult to know how many cans of Diet Sprite, Diet Coke, regular Coke, tomato juice, soda water, etc etc are used per a given time period - then just order enough to cover the known demand instead of saying "it's not that popular so we're getting rid of it". It's not like they got rid of Diet Sprite to make room for something more interesting like Diet Root Beer or Diet Dr Pepper or Diet 7-Up - no - they got rid of it because Kirby is too cheap and lazy to order the correct amount to accommodate known demand. If they want to sub Diet Sprite for something else that is equally or more interesting, then sure, I'm all ears - but we all know that's not what was happening here.

sabre1041

I am an avid Sprite Zero fan, especially on INTL flights where finding no calorie/no caffeine options can be challenging. I also fly WN and they just did the same in the last few months by removing Sprite Zero from their lineup

fly18725

DELee

Not true - take a look at the bottom of your can next time you don't sit in J and ask for an unopened can: there's an expiration date.

Whether or not Kirby personally had anything to do with it, he and Oscar are ultimately responsible for this and other tone deaf changes. Managing solely by spreadsheet with an extensive consumer facing corporation is stupid, tone deaf and dumb. United has the opportunity to do some effective marketing and customer engagement every time it makes a decision that directly affects the passengers. And consistently, it steps on its own feet and falls on its face.

Is this forum and social media the only way that UA management can understand how idiotic and tone deaf their policies and decisions are? It ought not to be. But apparently these methods are the only way they hear that they've stumbled once more.

David