st530

fumje

Oh, hah, see it now.

UAFAM

Please someone verify if the lunch and dinner menus are the same on the SFO-EWR flight (first class Polaris class on 787-10), since all the menu posted in this tread are the dinner menu.
I am trying to give a cheat sheet to my grand mother, since her English is not good

MrAndy1369

I thought all transcons/Hawaii (2300+ miles, I think) on UA got appetizers and true sundaes, though? I remember when the harmonization between UA and CO occurred in early 2012, all harmonized transcon service received small appetizers and sundaes, while p.s. got plated, multicourse service. I still remember CO's transcon BF-lite service on all EWR transcons and IAH-Hawaii flights, with true multicourse service. Yes, 2012 is a long time ago now, but still.

At any rate, I feel like we're back to 2011/2012, when pmUA's meals were meh and spartan, while AA's meals were substantial and filling. Seriously, meal service on airlines are so cyclical. UA peaked in 2015-2017 with its meal service, offering extras and ice-cream on longer midcons, while AA's suffered and saw a lot of cutbacks. Now, we're back full circle. I think the only legacy that has remained pretty steady with its meal service in the past decade was DL's.

airb330

I agree that airline meal service seems cyclical. Every 6 months when AA rotates them, they seem to get worse in quality. Case in point, have you seen some of the new lunch salads or the embarrassing AA burger? Delta also seems to have cut back heavily in the past 12-months if the DL forum here is any indication, though overall I'd agree until recently they were the most stable in their offerings.

EWR764

Delta has made some deep cuts in the last year or so. They still do a better job of presentation (I really like the Alessi serviceware) but they aren't much different from UA in terms of quantity/quality.

Delta's cuts are most noticeable on the premium transcons, where they used to be heads-and-shoulders above UA/AA, IMO. Now, I think UA has the best of the US3... which invariably means that's the next thing to be cut.

MrGood

EWR-IAH 3/2/2019

Chicken Biryani (or Tandoori Chicken? I forget) - Very good! Chicken was tender & the dish was well seasoned and somewhat spicy (which personally I can handle).



Asian Noodle Salad with Chicken: TCom said it was good overall, but unfortunately there was a "frozen hockey puck" sized amount of noodles underneath in the center that apparently didn't defrost. Didn't take a picture of the hockey puck, but I think you get the idea.



Overall I'm disappointed with the lack of variety and gourmet touches (pre-packaged desserts, argh)...the sign of the times, I guess?

MrAndy1369

People on the AA board seem to be praising the salads. I haven't seen their burgers yet, but I do remember AA having decent burgers in F. And true with DL, they did condense their D1 transcon service last April, but other than that, the meals I see pictured matches closely the meals I had on DL back in 2011-2014.

Really? I know everyone has their own tastes, but I beg to differ. AA's transcon meals look very filling, they offer true made-to-order sundaes on all 2200+ mile flights, not just JFK-LAX/SFO; dinner ice-cream on all 1400+ mile flights; and special meals on all domestic flights, except for Eagle (I think). DL offers the same in terms of special meals, but their transcon (not D1) service is pretty weak, and UA's own transcon service is meh, except for p.s., and even that looks just okay.

I, personally, think AA is the best right now out of the three. But I don't want to veer too off point, so back to UA... their service peaked in 2015-2017. What happened?

EWR764

I'm strictly referring to premium transcons: EWR-LAX/SFO, SFO-BOS. I think UA premium transcon J meal service at the moment is better than AA J on their equivalent service. I recognize that's a matter of personal preference.

Across the board, though, I would agree that AA's domestic F meal program is the best of the US3, and the funny thing is, a few years ago, with substantially the same service guidelines, an argument could be made that AA was in 3rd place. What happened, you ask? UA (and DL) decided to slash catering budgets, chasing margins... this is the result.

wco81

Is meal service the primary way the airlines differentiate their premium transcon products from each other?

As opposed to seats, comfort, entertainment options, etc.?

goldelite8

Is it fair to say the main meal service on a premium transcon is virtually identical to what is offered in Polaris? I can't really think of any differences. That's kind of alarming given the cost differential.

beeasyed

545PM departure
SFO-MSP

Pasta salad with salami
Side salad with pomegranate vinaigrette dressing


(forgive the poor pic)

edit: my mistake, this was my ANA SIN-NRT leg


this was my actual UA NRT-SFO leg. (they did run out of all the japanese meal options)
dinner: beef....tenderloin? and shrimp on the side



breakfast: quiche

findark

What did they describe the other choice as? I'll post a pic when I get a chance, but it was billed to me as an "Asian salad with chicken" and I mistook it for the (quite tasty) soba noodle one, which it was decidedly not (or Asian at all...)

beeasyed

they told me the other option was the "Chicken salad." like you, i would've preferred the soba noodle one, but didnt think that's what they were referring to, so didn't want to chance it.

i don't know when it's actually available. i've been taking the same evening ERJ175 flight...have only been offered the Asian chicken salad once.

findark

Ah yeah. The pasta salad doesn't look all that great either, so all in all I'm glad I gave into hunger during my 3h delay and grabbed a shawarma wrap at the airport to supplement my dinner

The soba salad is flying with the roast beef sandwich and was on western division regional midcons in February (had it on SFO-MSP and v/v), and moved to eastern division this month (where it was on IAD-MSP). I got too hopeful, since I should have realized it couldn't possible have been on my flight...