limey1K

AMS-ORD

The tale of two FAs...My wife and I sat next to each other but each had different FAs on the flight (787-8). What a difference. Her FA was engaging, warm, stopped for conversation, thanked her for being GS. When the took drink orders, we both ordered a Buffalo Trace and ginger ale. Hers came with the drink poured full, the remaining can of ginger ale and a second bottle of Buffalo. Mine:



Both FAs took dinner orders. Mine was beef, chicken fish or vegetarian option.. My wife's FA explained each dish, how it was prepared, etc. She went for chicken and I tried the fish.

Fish, no idea what was in the sauce or the bowl to the left with the grapes.


Wife said that the chicken was "very, very chewy and dry".


Pre-landing meal was pizza or something else I cant remember. Best thing I ate the entire flight.

MatthewLAX

I love the use of a ramekin instead of foil. Presentation matters!

And FWIW, I think your drink was served properly @limey1K - I don't like it it when the can is left behind. Instead, the FA should monitor drink levels and refill it when it gets empty.

limey1K

Agreed that my FA followed protocol. I just found the difference between the two FA's, serving side by side so dramatic. Mine was sort of stand offish, not very warm, etc and they were often both there t the same time. I told my wife "Lucky you!"

I still don't know what was in the bowl, besides grapes and I think cauliflower. I found it very unpleasant but perhaps others enjoyed it..

Aussienarelle

I stated this further up the thread. I like cauliflower. I like grapes. Together in this dish it was dreadful. It is supposed to be a salad. I am an Australian and salads are very much a mixture of different fruits and vegetables and I generally really like them. This attempt at a salad is very bad. I tried two mouthfuls and left the rest.

FWIW - my chicken dish was very enjoyable last week but apparently the FA forgot to turn on the oven with the chicken dish at takeoff. Anyone else I have spoken to says their chicken was dry so the secret is to ask the FA to not turn on the oven until above 10,000 ft to ensure a delicious version of the chicken dish.

CApreppie

I always ask for the can because who knows when the FA will come through and give you a refill, better to have it be cluttered than thirsty.

Too bad the service so uneven as is shown on this thread. We all have set expectations low and are nearly giddy when we get someone who does the job they are being paid to do.

halls120

I suspect the only explanation for this horrid excuse for a salad is that UA got a really good deal on the cauliflower.

wrp96

I make a really good salad with roasted brussels, butternut squash, craisins, and pecans. I suspect somebody at UA had something similar but substituted items they could get for a lot less and thought "it's the same!"

goodeats21

This is my thought as well. United has chopped FA staffing to the point where personalized monitoring of drink levels is really difficult to get right.
Better to accommodate with the backup mini and leftover can then try to flag an FA down while they are doing other things to get a refill.

This weekend, I will be on my first Polaris flight in July. Doesn't look like their announced improvements are consistently implemented, so will be interested to see what I end up with.
And have a weird curiosity to experience the cauliflower/grape/nut first hand, just to confirm it is as bad as it looks.

milepig

I don't recall any meal on United being called "brunch" could this be the pre-arrival breakfast? Still no excuse for the fruit salad!

fumje

Nope, it's the new, skimp-ified morning departure meal.

CApreppie

That cauliflower salad is weird aesthetically at least. They should just went with some mixed green salad or some slaw-type salad. It looks like muesli.

dkc192

Pre-10am departures from Europe to the US have brunch instead of lunch as the first meal, e.g., UA71 AMS-EWR, UA984 CDG-SFO.

MatthewLAX

It's really not horrible in terms of taste, but it looks like birdseed and is very inferior to the green salads IMHO. Menus for July have not been posted yet, but I doubt there will be any changes.

Stopwatch430

It’s pretty bad. Better than BA’s one bite appetizer but not by much. The pandemic era green salad was better. Stay with what works.

The Hallibut was tasty though a starch side would have been nice.

What is the deal these days with on-request PDBs on Polaris flights? I used to be able to get a single mail pre departure from EWR pre-pandemic if I asked. Is this still permitted?

IAH-OIL-TRASH

I agree 100% it was served properly. In terms of practicality, though, I’ll take the can and 2nd mini to abate risk of refill need not being recognized in adequate timeframe.