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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
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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 Nov 10, 2022, 2:46 pm
  #1801  
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
As heard from the galley....

FA1: Crap, we need to serve breakfast to those people, I'm only half way through my People Magazine, and it's the good part with Meghan Markle
FA2: Who cares, just toss the heating containers on a tray a give it to them, it's not like any of these customers care what we serve them
Blaming of the FAs is getting tiresome. They had their staffing slashed, and are given crap to serve. If you think they had a choice in serving this meal, you are mistaken.

I am fine with calling out lazy crews when warranted, but that is not the root cause of the pathetic state of Polaris catering.
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Old Nov 10, 2022, 2:59 pm
  #1802  
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Originally Posted by goodeats21
Blaming of the FAs is getting tiresome. They had their staffing slashed, and are given crap to serve. If you think they had a choice in serving this meal, you are mistaken.

I am fine with calling out lazy crews when warranted, but that is not the root cause of the pathetic state of Polaris catering.
They don't have a choice about what to serve - they DO have a choice about HOW to serve it, aside from the lack of detailed training provided by United. If I was in that role, serving the Polaris cabin, you can bet that I would be doing my very best to present my product in the best light possible, as it reflects directly on me, being the one in front of the customer in the moment, not so much United's poor quality management team. If I lack the customer service experience, travel experience and life experience to know how a premium product should be presented, then I shouldn't be working in Polaris cabin in the first place.

If there was a mis-cater situation where I was not provided with dishes to serve the dish properly, I would apologize to the customer for the lack of a proper dish and explain the situation, so at least there was an explanation for the defect - it appears the OP in this case received no such explanation.
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Old Nov 10, 2022, 4:32 pm
  #1803  
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Originally Posted by goodeats21
Blaming of the FAs is getting tiresome. They had their staffing slashed, and are given crap to serve. If you think they had a choice in serving this meal, you are mistaken.

I am fine with calling out lazy crews when warranted, but that is not the root cause of the pathetic state of Polaris catering.
It's more than just lazy crew, which every company has (bad apples), it's a pattern with UA. What, you don't think other airlines are not down on headcount in FAs? You can clearly see the efforts and lack thereof.
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Old Nov 10, 2022, 7:28 pm
  #1804  
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
It's more than just lazy crew, which every company has (bad apples), it's a pattern with UA. What, you don't think other airlines are not down on headcount in FAs? You can clearly see the efforts and lack thereof.
I'm sure it's especially dispiriting for the UA crews, who are given slop to serve then must take the direct-from-passenger heat. There's also a long history of UA FA disgruntlement, dating all the way back to when UA terminated their pension plan in the 2001 bankruptcy.
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Old Nov 10, 2022, 7:49 pm
  #1805  
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Originally Posted by goodeats21
Blaming of the FAs is getting tiresome. They had their staffing slashed, and are given crap to serve. If you think they had a choice in serving this meal, you are mistaken.

I am fine with calling out lazy crews when warranted, but that is not the root cause of the pathetic state of Polaris catering.
I agree, I would not jump to put this on crew as root cause. As Kacee & Repooc17 noted, it starts with corporate, and FAs have to deal with it, which can be demoralizing.

However, I would have expected a crew with minimum level of interest in good service to at least apologise for the way it's served. Unclear if that didn't happen, or perhaps did, but if it was just plopped down with no explanation.
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Old Nov 10, 2022, 10:44 pm
  #1806  
 
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Originally Posted by fumje
Looks like they've also splashed a bit more money in to the Australia budget, but I've not flow there this year.
I can confirm this is *not* true, at least on SFO-SYD. I値l take photos of SYD-LAX tomorrow.
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Old Nov 10, 2022, 10:46 pm
  #1807  
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Originally Posted by livitup
I can confirm this is *not* true, at least on SFO-SYD. I値l take photos of SYD-LAX tomorrow.
What are you comparing to?
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Old Nov 10, 2022, 11:05 pm
  #1808  
 
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Originally Posted by fumje
What are you comparing to?
J service both pre-pandemic and this week. SFO-SYD had the same level of service (trayed, bad meals, drink service, etc.) as EWR-FRA. Apologies if that痴 not the point you were trying to make, I was just saying Australia seemed to have nothing distinctive from other Polaris service.
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Old Nov 10, 2022, 11:32 pm
  #1809  
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Originally Posted by livitup
J service both pre-pandemic and this week. SFO-SYD had the same level of service (trayed, bad meals, drink service, etc.) as EWR-FRA. Apologies if that痴 not the point you were trying to make, I was just saying Australia seemed to have nothing distinctive from other Polaris service.
Ah, I think relative to the Europe service the main difference is a small app in addition to salad and mid-flight hot snacks. (Minor in an absolute sense, just relatively more than others.)

Looking forward to the (presumably lacklustre) pics.
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Old Nov 11, 2022, 2:33 am
  #1810  
 
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Originally Posted by st530
Polaris Lounge in IAH has pulpo (octopus)? That's news to me unless a very recent menu change. Would be a pleasant surprise.

Also agree that 1L (and 9L on the two-cabin J aircraft) makes the awful catering and generally apathetic service tolerable.
Yes, they do, and it was excellent, as was the pan seared piri-piri chicken breast...

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Old Nov 12, 2022, 10:58 pm
  #1811  
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This is what the competition offers on a domestic F flight. Puts UA to shame from presentation, portion, and taste. UA is just lagging way behind its competitors.

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Old Nov 13, 2022, 12:28 am
  #1812  
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
This is what the competition offers on a domestic F flight. Puts UA to shame from presentation, portion, and taste. UA is just lagging way behind its competitors.

which airline and route?
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Old Nov 13, 2022, 1:23 am
  #1813  
 
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
which airline and route?
Airline on the left edge of the tray.
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Old Nov 13, 2022, 6:29 am
  #1814  
 
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
which airline and route?
That is DL non-transcon
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Old Nov 13, 2022, 7:12 am
  #1815  
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
which airline and route?
JFK-DEN Delta
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