This survey will not bring meaningful change - likely some VP told some Managing Director who then told a business analyst to do a survey who will eventually do a powerpoint of the results - make a presentation - get a pat on the back - and then they move on.

I will say... a year or so ago, United sent out a survey regarding pandemic policies, and the overall theme was, "should we be engaging in more theater, or less?" I commented blisteringly about my view, at the time, that the notion of "reducing touchpoints" and "for your health and safety..." was completely disingenuous, transparent and tiresome. I actually heard back from someone at United and their response was, "we hear you, you are by no means the only person who feels this way, and we want you to know that things are changing soon." A few weeks later, United was the first of the US3 to restore tray meal service in non-premium transcon markets, and made some other adjustments to the product that were well-received THEN.

Now, we are still at basically the same service level, and it's totally inadequate compared to AA/DL, who have recently surpassed United's offering. So, hopefully enough feedback to this end results from this survey, and we see some further return to normalcy.

Moral of the story... they don't listen to everything, but they do listen, and the survey results inform some change.

You nailed the process!!

I use a privacy screen on my laptop, although I was thinking the same thing with these seats - would it even make a difference given the almost-straight-on view the person behind you has. I have never understood how people, particularly in an aisle seat, think they're in some kind of bubble regarding their screens, papers, etc. But that's a wider conversation including people who talk (loudly) in the UC or gate area about confidential matters.

Back on point - the "granite" tray tables may feel solid when deployed, but I also don't like how careful you have to be when closing it back up. I'd say on 1 out of every 3 or 4 flights I end help helping the person next to me stow the tray table.

I think the current seats are pretty bad... The survey was interesting, slightly.. but it focused on wine.. what aspects were important... for starters not being awful.

I told them, lets get some decent wine, I don't expect $100 bottles in domestic F, but not $4 bottles of swill either. Even AC serves decent wine in J, and they're a cheap-skate airline.

I'm not suggesting to not take the survey - I'm more suggesting they already know (like in your example above) - they already know the issues. As in, I can't imagine a survey with blistering comments on food will be eye opening to UA.

do they need a survey to be told the window and aisle armrests are so cheaply made that I can't remember the last time I was on a plane in the new configuration and they weren't sagging downwards?

I level tray table that I don't need to use my AirPods case to support would be nice.

Sometimes in a corporation people may know what the problems are and what changes need to be made but they need hard data to help grease the wheels of change.

Real customer feedback can be invaluable to companies if they take the time to listen and implement change. I think over the years and all the surveys that United has ever put out, that UA, like most of you have said, have already made up their mind anyways. I recall a time within the last decade that United was having people spend 6+ hours sitting in some demo seats just to get feedback. Apparently all that effort never went anywhere because the new product is a disaster as we all know. I also want to point out that whoever designs or approves the seats obviously is clueless, why is it so bloody hard to put a power outlet or a DIRECTV controller or a headphone jack where it might be easily accessed? Some locations for the power plugs are so ridiculous.

The hot sandwiches in the brown plastic bags are just awful. We are going on month 22 of these. I can't even look at them. I do EWR Florida a lot, and this just has to go. When they started them in May of 2020, they were leaders, well, now they aren't. I just for the life of me don't understand why this can't change. It doesn't have to be elaborate at all, but something simple, fresh and imaginative would be appreciated.

This.

No need for an expensive survey. All they need to do is serve that slop they call food in the executive dining rooms at HQ. Boom. Done.

And while they are thinking about the product, perhaps they can train the FA's that their primary job is to provide service that includes safety. If I tell my executive management that I am going to pick and choose my assignments, keep your opinions to yourselves, thank you, I'll soon be picking up my final paycheck on the way out the door,

Let's all hope the Russian Army does not realize UA has such a stockpile of non-perishable "food"....
I don't like when they put their leg up and their foot is on your arm rest. Poor design.

This.
And regrettably, they can also use the surveys to track progress over time: e.g. if this latest survey has just 1% less overall complaints about the food (different wording of the questions notwithstanding), they can call it an improvement, and produce proof that whatever they implemented since the last survey is working.

Yes, corporate management in this country is often focused primarily on justifying its own existence and hitting internal performance metrics, rather than actually doing anything to improve the product or the customer experience.