usbusinesstraveller

bocastephen

Why would you support mandatory express dining - enforcing a personal preference on everyone else in the cabin - vs optional express dining on request?

You do realize, I hope, this is not a convenience offered for passengers to rest, but an excuse using marketing gibberish that allows Kirby to completely strip down Polaris inflight service, and twisting a severe, unconscionable product slash into a "benefit" for customers.

This level of customer hostility twisted into marketing BS hasn't been tried so brazenly since the days of that twit Vicki Escarra at Delta almost 20 years ago...."AKA" "we've heard from our customers that our portion sizes are too large, and the variety of entree selection is causing confusion, and since we listen to our customers and take their concerns very seriously, we've decided to remove all inflight meal service to simplify our product and reduce confusion"

narvik

*** Is there a way to change my poll answer??? ***

My vote was based on the assumption that the food offerings were identical, but just expedited.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

I rarely take the affected flights, but I'd personally would prefer quick meal service and lights out ASAP to get what little sleep is afforded during the flight time.

WineCountryUA

To the best of my understanding -- neither a member or a moderator can change a poll selection once made.

WineCountryUA
UA coModerator

J.Edward

I personally think there's something to the idea of modifying the onboard service for short night flights to maximize sleep time but ALSO would argue it needs to be thought out not just "we're going to water down the service and save $$$".

A few months ago I wondered if UA branded night PS flights (i.e. after 3pm departures from SFO / LAX to EWR / BOS) as "sleeper service" and give J passengers access to the PL to eat there vs. onboard. Obviously, the same constraints still apply as noted in this thread...the PL and PL capacity must exist, the passenger must have time, etc. but the thought process was the same: give passengers a dining alternative to eating onboard to allow them to maximize their sleep.

I wonder if UA could do something similar for EWR / IAD (and maybe ORD / IAH) Europe departures. Brand these flights as "sleeper service", focus on using high-quality lounges on departure and arrival for dining, and offer a way for passengers who cannot make use of the facilities a way to pre-order full meals online. Seems like there's a lot of winners here: 1. passengers who have the time can enjoy higher quality food/drink on ground facilities, 2. passengers who cannot can pre-order their full meal in advance, 3. UA can cater to greater precision and reduce costs by not loading extra J meals which don't get consumed.

raehl311

Confrimed this as part of the express service trial, or they're just doing away with those things system-wide?

Because if it's optional, the lights are still on until everyone who selected non-express is done eating.


Personally, I don't need a meal on a 9-11 PM departure to Europe, I'll eat dinner beforehand. Have some decent snacks available and I'm good. Offer food in the PL lounge (at a more appropriate time for dinner) even better.

For those coming in on tight connections, if you're in paid J you almost certainly also had meal service on your incoming flight.

Kacee

How is no hot breakfast anything but a cost saving service cut? I don't typically eat it, as I'd rather eat breakfast on the ground in Europe, but still . . . .

fly18725

SS255

The cheese is my favorite part of the meal service. Do you know if United will at least be making the cheese available mid-flight, as they currently do with the extra stock?

CruiserCLE

I'd beg to differ here - with how many flights were downgraded to snack basket or "snack" in the last few years, most people will have had a banana or a minuscule cold plate at best. Not to mention, during peak season, more often then not, weather or ATC delays will further limit time people have to get any food in between flights.

Think about these ~10pm departures to Europe in the trial - even on a normal/on time day, anyone connecting from the eastern half of the country generally lands in IAD between 8:50-9:20pm (assuming on time), leaving almost no time to get food given the time the intl flights start boarding.

I'm not saying everyone would be stuck in that predicament, as I prefer the sensible option and will gladly take the earlier flight with hours to sit in the PL, but the vast majority of people simply take the quickest/most efficient routing (and then end up getting mad at UA when weather ruins the 60 minute connection they had in the middle of summer thunderstorm season and get to spend the night in IAD/EWR on their own dime )

cmd320

UA really just needs to take notes on how SQ manages dinner service on JFK-FRA. Cabin crew go to work crossing 10,000ft. A round of drinks with nuts is served shortly after, followed quickly by the appetizer. About 20' later the mains. And then an additional 15' later the dessert. Bed turned down 10' after that, full and asleep 75' after takeoff.

MatthewLAX

Just on the express trial from IAD.

Agree.

They will not. No cheese will be loaded.

Details here (my blog).

LC757

Just another cost cutting measure framed as "changes you'll like". Typical UA playbook.

milepig

Of course, it's a cost cutting measure.

However, the cheese plate has long since been "enhanced" into oblivion - bad cheese served with three grapes and a package of celophane-wrapped crackers. No, thank you very much.

Most people I know either skip the breakfast or pick at it anyway. I usually just ask for some yogurt and coffee and maybe a cinnamon role (will they be the next to go?) and I'm all set.