manstein58

"
"At any rate, Polaris food is delicious."

Surely you jest!!! Game! Set! Match!

Seph87

FT posters being overly picky? Not on my internet...

HNLbasedFlyer

My opinion on all of this - we aren't going to see some dramatic improvement to UA food (nor Delta or American) as they don't view the foreign airlines as competitors.

Air travel today, whether it being driven by tools like Concur, are more and more driven by Corporate contracts, and the US base fliers who take SQ, BR, TK, etc are becoming more likely to not be able to choose that carrier via corporate policies. The US Big 3 knows that - and they view each other as the competition, As far as those Big 3, I've had decent meals on those - and some, like UA - not so decent. There are pros and cons to each. Of course, don't get me started on my hometown airline Hawaii which has mushrooms in practically meal, which I can't stand.

I just don't think the Big 3 care about foreign "competition"

cmd320

I somewhat disagree. The whole anti-ME3 campaign by our downmarket domestic airlines is evidence to the contrary.

uastarflyer

Not relevant to taste and quality of the inflight meals. You know, this thread.

Feel free to start a catering logistics thread and then explain how this isn’t the same for any 777 regardless of carrier, yet others provide more and better food and drink.

HNLbasedFlyer

I think that is fairly different - if there was collusion among Asian carriers/countires, I'm sure the US Big 3 would have the same reaction as the ME3 campaign.

WineCountryUA

Let' try to get this thread back on track -- quality of UA's in flight meals.

Numerous inappropriate posts have been removed.
Remember the propose of FT is to have a civil, constructive discussion. We discuss the issues, not the poster(s). Taunting, snarky responses are not allowed.
Disagreeing, even vigorous disagreeing is fine -- but going around and around on the same disagreement is pointless. It becomes pretty clear some hold certain opinions that are unlikely to change -- at times it is more useful to agree to disagree.
And let's stay focused on UA.

WinCountryUA
UA coModerator

kevanyalowitz

On the printed menu that AS provides it clearly states that an express option is available. So you can have fast and adequate!

UA_Flyer

Recent meal photos from Swiss Air:

bcm0830

I have to say that I switched to UA last month after 12 years of EXP at AA, and while my flights have been on time, service has been good/decent, consistently offered a PDB (this is very inconsistent at AA), planes are older (no mystery there), my disappointment has been the noticeable difference in food quality. I purchased F/J EWR-EGE-EWR, EWR-PUJ-EWR, and got upgraded EWR-MCO, and I've been disappointed in the food quality compared to AA each time. The offerings lack inspiration, flavor, and feel like something you might be offered in an elementary school cafeteria. I've been on FT a long time, and there's no thread on the AA side about the concern over the food quality, so that says something right there. Of course there are some complaints , but no dedicated thread about the quality. One significant difference is AA always includes a salad with entrees and comes around with a bread basked with 2-3 varieties of warm bread vs. UA has packaged cheese on the side. The BBQ brisket I recently had was fatty and mostly un-chewable, the pasta had little flavor, and the egg white sandwich was so bland. Would it be too much to include a slice of tomato/salsa on the side, or something to add flavor? I feel like the food offerings are geared toward picky toddlers that only eat pasta and hot dogs with no toppings/garnish.

spin88

I think this is a very cogent comment that says a lot: there are no DL/AA/AS or probably foreign airline threads in which multiple long time loyal elites dump on the airline for crappy food and beverage service. United is unique in having really cheap cruddy food, no espresso drinks, and cheap undrinkable wine. Basically no major airline, not even the other US three (or the two with J service) offers the sort of inferior product that United does.

Whether this costs UA traffic, all I can say is that United has under-performed DL and AA (until Parker's recent destruction of AA via service cuts and poor operations) and the JD Power consumer research I liked to shows that food and drinks matters a lot on international flights.

uastarflyer

That Swiss meal looks very bland. Needs Cholula.

manstein58

Very cogent appraisal of the "dining" situation with UA. Everyone who has flown internationally on US Flag carriers over the last 25-30 in J or F has experienced a general decline in quality of the food and beverages; none IMHE has fallen as far and as quickly as UA

HNLbasedFlyer

While I appreciate others may enjoy that Swiss meal and I don’t think bland comes to mind, my first reaction was no no no don’t ever want that.

spin88

Different strokes, for different folks. Both are traditional European meals, high quality ingredients from the photos, and things will likely all taste good. Note the Cappuccino with breakfast. (and that these are TATL flights, so not even ULH). This said, there are certainly some folks who are happy with a starch and small piece of low quality meat, and a head lettuce salad and some $10 wine. My best friend in high school's parents thought that the top of the world was Luby's and they had no interest in eating anything else, anything beyond Luby's was quickly dismissed.

The problem is that people flying in J are probably mostly folks who would not want to eat at Luby's, and prefer something a little more interesting and adventuresome when traveling, or at least traditional food that is of much higher quality.