evol

Makes a huge difference IMO when someone pays attention to the plating instructions, and makes an effort in presentation. Doesn't change the way it taste but goes a long way in making it look "appetizingʻ vs. Hereʻs your casserole dish of slop, enjoy.

KDCAflyer

LHR-IAD, mixed UK/US crew.

Modest improvement from the slop I was served last August, but still a long way to go.

Real champagne was served for the PDB and they seemed to have catered plenty for the flight.

Bread and nuts were warm, and the short rib and mash were decent. Broccolini was a bit strange. I have no idea what that salad thing was supposed to be. The sundae was pretty good but was still no substitute for the sundae cart. I decided to skip the pre-arrival burger sodium bomb. No menus, but the purser took orders and did a great job at describing each option (except for the salad thing lol).

The crew was excellent and really showed that great service can make up for less than stellar ingredients. The purser greeted each passenger by name, and took time to talk to each person during orders. The rest of the crew was professional and proactive with service.

Aloomatar

DUB-EWR
PTB was water or sparkling wine.
lunch was a choice of the short rib or chicken.
I chose the chicken.
I chose wrong.

As bad as the TV dinner short rib is, at least it isn't as bad as chewing the sawdust that has been pressure formed to look like a chicken breast. Good seasoning, but so dry that boy scouts could use it for kindling.

rkaradi

way better description then mine. Since I had no menu to work from I took creative license. 😂

Nothematic

IAH - LHR 17th June

No drink on boarding, but they did come round and offer drinks after takeoff.



"Choice" of:

Beef rib

Fish (turbot)

Fennel croquette


I was fifth or sixth to have my choice taken in a full Polaris cabin and they'd already run out of the beef. Not impressed, since I imagine most people would want the meat option...

Even more unbelievably people on the other side of the plane ended up with a choice of fennel or nothing.

Ended up with the fish, which was okay. The fritter things it came with were odd and soggy, no clue what they were and the flight attendant wasn't forthcoming.

The salad it came with was.. something. Bread stale.

Snacks consisted of a basket with about 5 bags of cheese puffs and some gummy bears. Unsurprisingly the baskets were still full as we got off.

Genuinely astounds me that this is what United are offering passengers paying thousands of dollars for the privilege. Comparing it to the meal, snacks and service I had a week ago the other way on a Virgin flight it's not even remotely close.

BlueSky72

United has access to the British airways lounge, if I remember correctly - not the luxurious SAA lounges that I remember - and, it was packed when we first got there. Fortunately one or two departing flights helped clear it out significantly. The staff were wonderful, and there is a printed menu of food you can order from, in addition to free flowing bubbles of all kinds and a good bar selection.

BlueSky72

Yeah, that was pretty much the food available on my June 9 CPT-IAD flight, but no printed menu then. So disappointing that already there is significant inconsistency in what shows up under the heading “frittata”

Far Siren

I lurk in different forums from time to time, and even though I fly UA on occasion in NA I never fly them internationally...and seeing these horror show of photos makes me thankful for that.

eng3

UA Logic
means, "no need to spend another penny, let's see what else we can cut"

Kmxu

I did not eat during the meal service. I rang the service bell several times. A FA finally came to me after 30 min. During this 30-min, several FAs passed through my seat, but I could not flag them down. This meal was just a make-up one. I was supposed to have warm salmon and rice. Instead, I got cold salmon salad plus leftover snacks. My wife totally skipped the meal.

The worst part of this flight was that no Polaris blankets were provided. Instead, we got a thin domestic FC blanket (dark blue). They did not have enough blankets for everyone (okay, okay, I blamed the supply chain problem.). Also, no bottle water was provided, let along slippers, and mattress pad. I got those for EWR-LIS in January, which had a similar block time.

9elf S

Last week - ORD-LHR and MUC-DEN.

I ordered short rib on both flights. The ORD-LHR flight was the worst meal I have had in 25 years of flying United internationally. The only thing accurate in the description of the short rib was the word "short." On the positive side, the service and crew were excellent. The MUC-DEN meal was slightly (emphasis on slightly) better. The meals I received during one hour inter-Europe flights on LuxAir and Lufthansa far exceeded those in Polaris.

I know I'm repeating what many others have already said. Still, the Polaris food quality is terrible.

sfvoyage

How does Polaris J food (& drinks) compare to UA's main American counterparts (i.e. AA, DL)?

gpp1

I am not a regular UA flyer at all, almost always flying BA/AA, but last week flew a business trip EWR LHR on UA in Polaris. All I can say is BA/AA, you are forgiven. The catering is just so poor, in presentation, quality and quantity of ingredients served that's its embarrassing for a business class product. I'd struggle to identify another carrier anywhere with catering to match what UA is offering.
Clearly UA believes passengers don't care and with full cabins, I suppose they have little to worry about. But a tightening of the belts is around the corner and if loads start to drop, perhaps there will be a renewed emphasis on the product. But for now it's incomparable to AA/BA/DL/VS all of whom I've flown between the US and UK in the last 3 months. I dread to think what UA were serving before these so-called June improvements. I won't repeat the photos. It's more of what's already been shared above. It's such a shame as the seat is decent enough and crews both ways were very pleasant.

BlooJoo

It's not even close. DL >> AA >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> UA right now.

uastarflyer

I’d wager the Illy coffee competes well. And they offer Coca Cola based products at least.

beyond that….yikes