DELee

Perhaps a discussion with the Purser might have been useful?

David

HNLbasedFlyer

Or, just say, to a passing FA, can I have another drink - just saying. Works for me 100% of the time.

st530

Yes, I'm aware of how to ask for a drink. You're missing the point.

HNLbasedFlyer

Which is? They aren't waiters and waitresses. Just ask.

Perhaps, they looked at you and figured, he/she doesn't seem interested in another drink, I'll leave him/her alone - seems a judgement call at least to me.

CPH-Flyer

Among the cabin crews many tasks is also being waiters or waitresses. During meal service in normal cruise, it is actually their main task. Various stages of the flight has different main/important tasks.
​​​​​​

st530

The point is the crew was inattentive. Since we're constantly being told they're primarily there for our safety, leaving empty glassware sitting out exposed for extended periods seems like a no-no, no? So one would think that in 20+ FA passes, the glassware should either be picked up, or the passenger asked if a refill is wanted.

tarheelnj

Unrelated question about the NRT-EWR service (which I'll be on next month). The flight (effectively) leaves at 4:00am ET (5:00pm local) and arrives at 4:45pm ET. It starts with a dinner service and ends with breakfast. If I want to get back on US time sooner than later, is there any way to switch the meals, getting breakfast first and the dinner service before arrival?

narvik

As is common with UA's inconsistency, that particular part of their service varies between:

1) They refill it so much (and without asking), I have to worry about getting drunk
or
2) They ignore you so much, I have to worry about dehydration


I prefer #1 ...

hirohito888

UA does not have dine on demand, so it's unlikely they can accommodate that request. There's probably no system to refrigerate the dinner food, so if you miss or skip the dinner service after take-off, that food will likely be thrown away after a few hours. The breakfast food is kept cool until prior to landing when it is served.

tarheelnj

I figured as much. Presumably if i decide it's that important, I can find some comparable breakfast foods pre-departure in the Terminal (if not the UC) and just skip the dinner. The breakfast omelette is a substantial meal on its own, so that's fine. Thanks.

SkiPremier

I had this happen to me in the old global F seats as well twice earlier this year. I think once it all became business class and I don't recall the date, but the designated FA for that cabin disappeared and handled all of business, they just started to ignore the small cabin up front. Both times colleagues in first rows of actual business said they had multiple drink refills etc and I had one PDB, one pre-meal drink, and one glass of wine during the meal which never was filled up the rest of the flight. In fact, that glass sat empty until they started the pre-arrival service. It's almost as if they didn't even know that small cabin existed, they just worked the business class cabin with more passengers in it.

SFOdelayed

perkele

findark

UA 17: LHR to EWR
June 9, 2019
Boeing 767-400, Lunch, Lunch

I was treated to the same menu as hirohito888, above. Nothing jumped off the list as particularly appetizing, so I decided to go for the beef.



The appetizer was reasonably tasty and remains the saving grace of a lot of UA meal services. Honestly, I wish they would serve the entire set of appetizers in the rotation all at once, and make a meal service out of that. The caprese was decent, although hardly memorable. Salad was fine, which is better than a lot of salads on UA these days, and the garlic bread was of course timeless.



The new TV-dinner preparation of Polaris meals is downright awful. Miraculously, it ended up tasting all right, despite the beef being quite overcooked and everything else baked into oblivion. Honestly, this course would have been at least 30% better if it had just been properly plated rather than looking like it came straight out of the microwave.



At least UA hasn't managed to ruin dessert. ex-LHR even had some interesting cheeses.


The arrival service was awful. The menu author clearly had given up, describing the dish as Pizza (the other option being Beef Stew - also with no modifiers), but hey I figured the red-eye calzone and BoB Uno's were not that bad, so why not give it a shot?



Ugh. Most frozen pizzas at the grocery store are better, and the salad was an inedible pile of cucumber chunks which I returned uneaten. At least this was followed by the EWR PL and a meal flight, so it's not like I was in any danger of going hungry.

ed. the overall experience was lousy I almost forgot to mention the wine, which was a bright spot - among the reds was a pretty outstanding (at least to my elevation-addled palate) Châteauneuf-du-Pape, although I did not scrutinize the bottle.

1kBill

Well, the menu does say that all entrées will be served with fruit and yogurt.

Actually, I'm guessing that the arrival meal trays are set up in sort of an assembly line method and the chosen entrée is added to it when ready.