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General discussion of UA's inflight service (Domestic / Int値, all cabins) {Archive}

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Old May 11, 2022, 1:38 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: WineCountryUA
This us an archive thread, the active thread is General discussion of UA's inflight service (Domestic / International, all cabins)
previous thread: COVID Era UA inflight service changes


Thread is for general discussion of the state of UA in-flight service / catering, comparison to other carriers, past UA offerings and concerns with management decisions.

For a specific post about a recent in-flight food, use the appropriate Let's Eat .... thread.

The current Onboard Service descriptions by UA.com

Long-haul international premium cabin dining
North America, Caribbean and Latin America premium cabin dining
United Economy dining

Since the UA website is extremely vague, I'm looking for a few volunteers to submit data, and I will summarize to complete the wiki. kind regards, phkc070408

Domestic Under 300 Miles

Sample 1
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 2
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 3
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 4
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 5
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?


Domestic Over 300 Miles Under 800 Miles

Sample 1
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 2
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 3
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 4
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Sample 5
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Bagged Snack? Yes/No
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?

Domestic Over 800 Miles

Sample 1
Route? Morning or Afternoon or Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket?

Sample 2
Route? Morning or Afternoon or Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket?

Sample 3
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening/. or Late Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket?

Sample 4
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Late Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket?

Sample 5
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Late Evening?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Served Snacked? Yes/No. Hot/Cold. What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket?

P-Tcon

Sample 1
Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket/Pre-Arrival?
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 2
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket/Pre-Arrival?
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 3
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket/Pre-Arrival?
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 4
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket/Pre-Arrival?
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 5
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Snack Basket/Pre-Arrival?
Any other notes of relevance?

Polaris USA - Europe

​​​​​​​Sample 1
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Menu?
Hot Towels?
First Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Appetizer / Desert Info:
Snack Basket/Mid-Flight Snack?
Arrival Meal? Short Description.
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 2
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Menu?
​​​​​​​Hot Towels?
First Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Appetizer / Desert Info:
Snack Basket/Mid-Flight Snack?
Arrival Meal? Short Description.
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 3
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Menu?
​​​​​​​Hot Towels?
First Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Appetizer / Desert Info:
Snack Basket/Mid-Flight Snack?
Arrival Meal? Short Description.
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 4
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Menu?
​​​​​​​Hot Towels?
First Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Appetizer / Desert Info:
Snack Basket/Mid-Flight Snack?
Arrival Meal? Short Description.
Any other notes of relevance?

​​​​​​​Sample 5
​​​​​​​Route? Morning or Afternoon/Evening or Red-Eye?
PDB - Yes/No? What was offered?
Menu?
​​​​​​​Hot Towels?
First Meal Served? Yes/No. Short description.
Appetizer / Desert Info:
Snack Basket/Mid-Flight Snack?
Arrival Meal? Short Description.
Any other notes of relevance?

Related thread: How bad does onboard catering need to get before UA invests in improving it?
​​​​​​​

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General discussion of UA's inflight service (Domestic / Int値, all cabins) {Archive}

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Old Oct 13, 2022, 6:50 pm
  #1636  
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Geography.
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Old Oct 13, 2022, 7:29 pm
  #1637  
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Originally Posted by uastarflyer
How do you rationalize still patronizing UA?
Easy, price.
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Old Oct 14, 2022, 6:20 am
  #1638  
 
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Easy. Buy economy to from mainland from HNL. Get upgraded to lie flat at cheap prices.
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Old Oct 14, 2022, 6:36 am
  #1639  
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Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
Easy. Buy economy to from mainland from HNL. Get upgraded to lie flat at cheap prices.
That was an option early this year. I don't see it happening currently, though.
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Old Oct 14, 2022, 6:42 am
  #1640  
 
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
Easy, price.
Prices for first class and business on other carriers are very competitive with UA J
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Old Oct 14, 2022, 7:24 am
  #1641  
 
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Originally Posted by fumje
That was an option early this year. I don't see it happening currently, though.
I fly midweek/off peak - on a 777-300 and while it comes down to the wire more often than not now they致e all cleared except 1 segment I decided to pull the trigger on buyup which was much cheaper than buying F outright.
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Old Oct 14, 2022, 8:32 am
  #1642  
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Originally Posted by uastarflyer
How do you rationalize still patronizing UA?
Ask myself this question all the time.

Because they have the best schedule in/out of SFO, the flights are reliable, the IT works very very well, and they don't fly out of T4 PHX.
Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
I fly midweek/off peak - on a 777-300 and while it comes down to the wire more often than not now they致e all cleared except 1 segment I decided to pull the trigger on buyup which was much cheaper than buying F outright.
GS also helps.
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Old Oct 14, 2022, 9:27 am
  #1643  
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Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
I fly midweek/off peak - on a 777-300 and while it comes down to the wire more often than not now they’ve all cleared except 1 segment I decided to pull the trigger on buyup which was much cheaper than buying F outright.
Originally Posted by Kacee
Ask myself this question all the time.

Because they have the best schedule in/out of SFO, the flights are reliable, the IT works very very well, and they don't fly out of T4 PHX.


GS also helps.
Yeah, that doesn't work without GS. Additionally/relatedly, while there were a decent handful of 773 and Polaris config 772 running HNL/California before the PW engines were recertified earlier this year (and even then it was a bit competitive for 1K to clear), now there is only a single 773 per day going SFO/HNL.

So a very narrow case for continuing to fly UA there.
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Old Oct 14, 2022, 9:56 am
  #1644  
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Originally Posted by manstein58
Prices for first class and business on other carriers are very competitive with UA J
I don't have the dough to buy first/business, given the number of flights I am flying each year (100 plus). I go with whoever cost the least. I do get upgraded as I have variety of status.
This year, I am 50/50 between UA and other carriers, so I do have a lot of data points on the differences between UA and others. Objectively speaking, UA is behind its domestic competitors like AA, AS, DL on soft product, never mind foreign competitors.
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Old Oct 14, 2022, 10:18 am
  #1645  
 
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
I don't have the dough to buy first/business, given the number of flights I am flying each year (100 plus). I go with whoever cost the least. I do get upgraded as I have variety of status.
This year, I am 50/50 between UA and other carriers, so I do have a lot of data points on the differences between UA and others. Objectively speaking, UA is behind its domestic competitors like AA, AS, DL on soft product, never mind foreign competitors.
i do a lot of international and UA is far behind every competitor on soft product and almost every competitor on the hard product. POLARIS in the Time of Oscar changed the dynamic but Kirby (using COVID as his pretext)put a swift end to that
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Old Oct 14, 2022, 12:21 pm
  #1646  
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
I don't have the dough to buy first/business, given the number of flights I am flying each year (100 plus). I go with whoever cost the least. I do get upgraded as I have variety of status.
This year, I am 50/50 between UA and other carriers, so I do have a lot of data points on the differences between UA and others. Objectively speaking, UA is behind its domestic competitors like AA, AS, DL on soft product, never mind foreign competitors.
But not a difference maker in deciding who to fly.

Yes the food should be better. there are offsetting aspects however.

Likewise, SQ should provide pajamas on Biz class long-haul and keepsake level amenity kits on all premium economy and biz class routes. They suck on PJs. There are offsetting aspects however.
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Old Oct 14, 2022, 12:23 pm
  #1647  
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Originally Posted by uastarflyer
But not a difference maker in deciding who to fly.

Yes the food should be better. there are offsetting aspects however.

Likewise, SQ should provide pajamas on Biz class long-haul and keepsake level amenity kits on all premium economy and biz class routes. They suck on PJs. There are offsetting aspects however.
Really, SQ? SQ offers better soft product in economy than UA's J. If you like $5 amenity bag, I guess go for UA.
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Old Oct 14, 2022, 12:26 pm
  #1648  
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Originally Posted by manstein58
i do a lot of international and UA is far behind every competitor on soft product
No PJs on SQ. Better gel pillow, duvet and mattress pad on UA too. No Polaris lounge access on the domestic connection in SFO, LAX or EWR (inbound from SIN) either if flying SQ. No full can of soda service in any class on SQ. No E+ on SQ (that is hard product).

Originally Posted by Repooc17
Really, SQ? SQ offers better soft product in economy than UA's J. If you like $5 amenity bag, I guess go for UA.
No pajamas in SQ Y. UA J SIN-USA has pajamas.

UA amenity kit co branded with Away is selling for $30+ on EBay. Not $5.

Soft product is a basket of offering, not just one item.

Last edited by uastarflyer; Oct 14, 2022 at 12:33 pm
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Old Oct 14, 2022, 1:16 pm
  #1649  
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
Objectively speaking, UA is behind its domestic competitors like AA, AS, DL on soft product, never mind foreign competitors.
UA's behind AA on meals but much better in many other respects. I'd honestly rather fly UA, except on the premium t-cons.

Originally Posted by manstein58
i do a lot of international and UA is far behind every competitor on soft product and almost every competitor on the hard product.
Light years behind on soft product. Unfortunately, its hard product is still considerably better than virtually all *A options TATL, which leads to some difficult choices.
Originally Posted by uastarflyer
No PJs on SQ.
I cannot think of a more trivial reason to prefer UA over SQ.

SQ is so much better than UA on soft product it is difficult to conceive if you haven't experienced recently.
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Old Oct 14, 2022, 1:51 pm
  #1650  
 
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
So how would you rationalize other US air carriers having better catering and soft product in general?

I would not; United has no excuse. I'm just saying that a domestic Indian carrier offering five-star meal service is possible in ways it's not really possible economically in the United States. That does not mean that United (and other US airlines) could not do A LOT better than they do. They can and they should.
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