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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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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 Jan 11, 2022, 10:58 am
  #61  
 
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DEN-HDN yesterday, 61 minute scheduled flight, no drink service or anything in first. FA never left her seat in the galley except her walk thru to pick up sanitary wipe trash. ッ\_(ツ)_/ッ
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Old Jan 11, 2022, 12:08 pm
  #62  
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Originally Posted by threecap
DEN-HDN yesterday, 61 minute scheduled flight, no drink service or anything in first. FA never left her seat in the galley except her walk thru to pick up sanitary wipe trash. ッ\_(ツ)_/ッ
SkyWest? IME, SkyWest has gone from first to worst in terms of regionals. Such lazy FAs and lame "short duration" excuses to avoid service.
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Old Jan 11, 2022, 12:13 pm
  #63  
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Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
SkyWest? IME, SkyWest has gone from first to worst in terms of regionals. Such lazy FAs and lame "short duration" excuses to avoid service.
That was my immediate thought as well. Just a question of which UX carrier.

David
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Old Jan 11, 2022, 12:22 pm
  #64  
 
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Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
SkyWest? IME, SkyWest has gone from first to worst in terms of regionals. Such lazy FAs and lame "short duration" excuses to avoid service.
Originally Posted by DELee
That was my immediate thought as well. Just a question of which UX carrier.

David
yep, Skywest. Terrible.
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Old Jan 11, 2022, 12:56 pm
  #65  
 
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Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
SkyWest? IME, SkyWest has gone from first to worst in terms of regionals. Such lazy FAs and lame "short duration" excuses to avoid service.
Short duration is an excellent reason for a lower level of service
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Old Jan 11, 2022, 5:16 pm
  #66  
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Originally Posted by dilanesp
Short duration is an excellent reason for a lower level of service
only on United perhaps but not other airlines around the world

here is my breakfast on a narrow body business class flight on Swiss with a 35 minute duration. You enjoy those excuses, I値l enjoy better service on more friendly skies.


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Old Jan 11, 2022, 5:46 pm
  #67  
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
here is my breakfast on a narrow body business class flight on Swiss with a 35 minute duration. You enjoy those excuses, I値l enjoy better service on more friendly skies.
I didn't realize Swiss was now flying DEN-HDN. Good to know!
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Old Jan 11, 2022, 6:33 pm
  #68  
 
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
only on United perhaps but not other airlines around the world

here is my breakfast on a narrow body business class flight on Swiss with a 35 minute duration. You enjoy those excuses, I値l enjoy better service on more friendly skies.


Show me the wide First Class seat you got on that 35 minute flight, and the extra legroom, and the personal device entertainment you got.
I can go to a restaurant after a 35 minute flight and get a nice breakfast, and not have to gulp it down in 20 minutes. What's the point of this? The symbolism of free food? Is this really of any importance?
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Old Jan 11, 2022, 6:50 pm
  #69  
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Originally Posted by dilanesp
Show me the wide First Class seat you got on that 35 minute flight, and the extra legroom, and the personal device entertainment you got.
I can go to a restaurant after a 35 minute flight and get a nice breakfast, and not have to gulp it down in 20 minutes. What's the point of this? The symbolism of free food? Is this really of any importance?
It takes 20 minutes to eat that meal? That's like a 5 minute meal, max.

United couldn't even offer this even if it had tried. Most lazy FAs would need at least an hour on average to heat up food. On a flight last year, I didn't get my meal until we were getting ready to descend (and no, we didn't have any material turbulence which required FAs to suspend services). A few minutes after being handed the tray, FAs came around multiple times to "check" on my progress.

Inflight services may not be of importance to you, but others may have different priorities. Some people pay premium to for differentiated/elevated services more than just transportation from A to B.
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Old Jan 11, 2022, 6:59 pm
  #70  
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Originally Posted by dilanesp
Show me the wide First Class seat you got on that 35 minute flight, and the extra legroom, and the personal device entertainment you got.
I can go to a restaurant after a 35 minute flight and get a nice breakfast, and not have to gulp it down in 20 minutes. What's the point of this? The symbolism of free food? Is this really of any importance?
I think the previous poster's point is that while United obviously won't serve a breakfast like that, they had no excuse not to offer First Class a round of drinks.
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Old Jan 11, 2022, 7:14 pm
  #71  
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Originally Posted by chrisny2
I think the previous poster's point is that while United obviously won't serve a breakfast like that, they had no excuse not to offer First Class a round of drinks.
Either a round of drinks, a round of waters or even a round of snack bags. Lot's of not trying and "maybe I'll get around to it" especially now on some of the UX routes.

At this point it's just excuses.

David
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Old Jan 11, 2022, 8:10 pm
  #72  
 
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
only on United perhaps but not other airlines around the world

here is my breakfast on a narrow body business class flight on Swiss with a 35 minute duration. You enjoy those excuses, I値l enjoy better service on more friendly skies.


Cant wait to check that out when SWISS flies from Honolulu. The fascination with foreign airlines when most of us fly domestically is - fascinating. SWISS is not a competitor to any US airline flying US domestic.
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Old Jan 12, 2022, 12:58 am
  #73  
 
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Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
SkyWest? IME, SkyWest has gone from first to worst in terms of regionals. Such lazy FAs and lame "short duration" excuses to avoid service.
Originally Posted by DELee
That was my immediate thought as well. Just a question of which UX carrier.
Originally Posted by threecap
yep, Skywest. Terrible.
They're pretty bad lately. And not just on their UA marketed flights either.
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Old Jan 12, 2022, 1:13 am
  #74  
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Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
Cant wait to check that out when SWISS flies from Honolulu. The fascination with foreign airlines when most of us fly domestically is - fascinating. SWISS is not a competitor to any US airline flying US domestic.
Unfortunately this is a straw man argument. This thread is about service standards, and the comparison is germane - two very short flights on narrow body aircraft with similar crew numbers. One airline, United, chooses more often than not to do nothing - or more specifically, their employees or regional contractors refuse to offer service and United refuses to hold them accountable to certain published standards - while another airline is able to serve beverages and a snack bag to everyone in coach, and a small nicely plated and presented breakfast to everyone in business in the same period of time.

International or domestic is irrelevant. The comparison of two regional aircraft, an A220 in this case, flying a short flight between business centers most certainly is relevant.
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Old Jan 12, 2022, 1:51 am
  #75  
 
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Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
Cant wait to check that out when SWISS flies from Honolulu. The fascination with foreign airlines when most of us fly domestically is - fascinating. SWISS is not a competitor to any US airline flying US domestic.
Indeed. Soft product and service differences between any domestic US or foreign carrier is a well documented and well flogged dead horse. I don't see how any of it relates to a UA domestic inflight service discussion.

Sitting there in your UA seat ORD-IND stewing about how you'd get a breakfast on a ZRH-FRA flight is pointless. A person will have a long wait if they expect UA (or any domestic) to start mirroring non-competitors on other continents on routes they don't fly.
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