narvik

NZ had that IIRC, but not sure if still ongoing, or specific to certain routes/planes.

AsiaTravel2019

That could be a quality enhancement for Kirby. Not have to interact with the wicked witches of the galley!

sanfran8080

U know Kirby laughs at elites right before he goes to bed every night

milepig

And yet we’re his bread and butter.

transportprof

Perhaps he is on a keto diet?

nmpls

ANZ definitely had that circa 2014, at least in PE and J on 773s (LHR-LAX-AKL), but I haven't flown them recently.

I'm also about 50% sure FI had that in J when I flew KEF-SEA around then, but I was pretty exhausted on that flight.

narvik

..and it didn't work very well.
All good and fine to be able to select food & beverages from your screen. It still needs an FA to bring them to you.
Can't see this working with UA!

sanfran8080

I wouldn’t be so sure of that

spin88

Yes, there is an economic downturn coming, and that may cause UA to want to fix some of these things (if Kirby is serious) now, before they have the savvy analysis baying at them to cut costs when their profits slide. But if Kirby is saying this, its because their metrics internally are saying what people on this board have been saying for 6+ years of "changes you will like" which is that service quality impacts buying decisions. I argued that cutting IFE while Delta was rolling out screens on every plane (including retrofitting the 717s with sceens) would be a long term competitive disadvange. Ditto the micro mini-bathrooms (24" of squeeze) and aweful seats.

Having just flown SFO-SEA on the DL A220 and then UA back on an A319, I can tell you that having screens and seats that don't cut off leaving your legs dangling definitely will drive my buying decision. Ditto avoiding the seats/bathrooms on the Dark 739s UA flies. I was willing to slightly modify my schedule, and next four trips are all on DL.

My parents take 3-4 trips a year in F/J. They just took DL for the first time via ATL, and were pleasantly surprised. Said the Delta lounges were much, much better than UAs, or AAs, and they said the aircraft screens allowed them to watch movies on the domestic legs. My mom is also super excited that they can take a shower at Hotlanta on the way back in two weeks. And oh, they said the Delta food was better than that on AA or UA.

My mom's comment was she understood why I preferred to fly on DL where possible.

Hunter Keay will be baying at the moon. He can tell you how stupid it is to care about service or product quality, people buy on price and schedule. Or so we have been told non-stop for the last six years everytime UA make a "change you will like"

nexusCFX

Air Canada redid their J, introduced PY, and reconfigured Y on 25 777s from Sept '15 to Jun '16; ten months. United only hit 25 retrofitted planes in Dec 2018, two years since Polaris was announced.

They've accelerated significantly since then and now they are actually going at a good rate, but we're approaching three years and not even 60% of the retrofits are done on the 763 and 772; they've done 52/89 planes. That's also not including the zero retrofits so far on the 764 and the 788/789.

The only thing that makes the numbers look somewhat acceptable are the 773 and 787-10 deliveries

whitethunder

Also agreed the SFO Polaris lounge is great and above the old GFL at SFO

I overall do feel UA quality (in polaris) compared to ANA Business or AC Business is just lacking, the FA's just need to be nicer, If I ask for something don't act as if you are bending the rules to give it to me. Also please do not disappear after meal service until 1.5 Hrs from landing....

tshirt

If united wants to compete it needs to buy the A220s, I was on the Swiss A220 last week and to use the line from the last UA president its a "Game Change" the plane is simply spectacular.
Its also time to improve domestic business class meals now that UA is actually selling these seats rather than giving them away.

mh3265a

Like previous experiences at US Airways, is Kirby seeing something in the balance sheet that is making him attune to the need for compete on quality? I think the devaluation of MileagePlus is a huge huge huge negative. At some point, in a future Administration, there will be regulation of these loyalty programs.

spin88

My personal history is as someone who spent $50K+/year on UA pre Smisik. People would ask me why I flew such a bad airline and I would says (a) they actually treat their elites well, I'm protected to a great extent from poor service and (b) I get miles that I use one or twice a year for a family vacation overseas in reward J.

Jeff in 2012 took away the better service for elites while cutting the quality of the product AND he make redemption much, much less easy to get, and more expensive. At this point, I see no advantage in MileageMinus. I can't find workable rewards, and the miles UA wants is ridiculous. Basically its a 1 c/mile bonus program at this point. Delta has a similar 1c/mile bonus program called SkyPeso. The different is that Delta has the A220, it has IFE on its planes, it does not have horrible 10x in Y on widebodies, it does not have the torture seats UA put on the A319/A320, it does not have the 24" Boeing slim line bathrooms, its lounges have showers, it's wine is drinkable in Domestic F, and actually good in J, it's staff is usually both more accommodating and pleasant and is authorized to fix things, and its food (both in domestic F and J) is better.

United has a junky reward program as does DL, but it also has much worse product and service. On the routes I typically fly I have options, and UA is distinctly NOT competitive at this point, outside of the few times that they are materially cheaper, I can use an AMEX Lounge in their terminal, and the flight is short.

mh3265a

Couldn't agree more. I thought UA was turning a corner in 2015/2016 but things have gone downhill. Getting the same food menus flying to Asia for the past 5/6 years is pathetic. I'm looking towards American but the pasture isn't necessarily greener on that side either. And it's probably a question of when they jump ship to match UA and DL.