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

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Old Dec 8, 2022, 8:49 pm
  #1951  
 
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Originally Posted by fumje
GS next to me on 2h40min EWR-ORD scheduled in dinner hours, during the "snack" service (consists of pretzel or stroopwafel): "Could I have two stroopwafels please?" FA: blank stare, "OK."

World-class offering.
Yikes. Flew DL MKE-ATL recently in F. 1h 55m block time, maybe 90 mins in the air. Nice snack basket with at least 5 offerings. DL typically doesn't cater Biscoff in F because they have nicer items for the basket, but I still love 'em. When the FA came around for refills, I asked if I might have a pack of Biscoff. She said no problem, but I'll have to go to the back. She returned and handed me three packs with a smile.

(That said, I'm over here now because of being more MKE-DEN focused, and UA tends to have flight times I want vs SWA or, yeah, not flying the airlines that charge to print a boarding pass).
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Old Dec 8, 2022, 9:08 pm
  #1952  
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
Did I comment anything about FA attitude?
I didn't mean to imply you did.

More context: asked for the remaining portion of the poured can, and being told they are needed for other passengers. I count such as refusal.
Did you think the FA was lying?

If Yes, I would say that is Attitude.

If No, I agree that is technically a "refusal," but what if airline's policy is to not honor second requests until everyone has had their first request? Still the F/As fault for following company policy?
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Old Dec 8, 2022, 9:42 pm
  #1953  
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Originally Posted by Bear96
I didn't mean to imply you did.


Did you think the FA was lying?

If Yes, I would say that is Attitude.

If No, I agree that is technically a "refusal," but what if airline's policy is to not honor second requests until everyone has had their first request? Still the F/As fault for following company policy?
The entire premise of my earlier posts: stingy. You are the one who had inserted FA attitude into the discussion.

I fly hundreds of flights/year across multiple carriers, yet United is the only one with issues of customers asking for the entire can of beverages. I had this happened to me in the last row of F, btw (not just coach). Even if United has some kind of being cheap policy, that doesn't make my point invalid, does it?
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Old Dec 8, 2022, 10:42 pm
  #1954  
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
The entire premise of my earlier posts: stingy. You are the one who had inserted FA attitude into the discussion.
I don't know how else to interpret this; apologies if I misunderstood:
Originally Posted by Repooc17
On the other hand, I do see UA has trained its FAs well on penny pinching so shareholders can be happy.
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Old Dec 8, 2022, 11:23 pm
  #1955  
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Originally Posted by Repooc17
I fly hundreds of flights/year across multiple carriers, yet United is the only one with issues of customers asking for the entire can of beverages. I had this happened to me in the last row of F, btw (not just coach). Even if United has some kind of being cheap policy, that doesn't make my point invalid, does it?
I'm pretty sure UA's FAs were instructed at some point not to give the full can unless the passenger requests. UA also uses smaller cups and glasses than the competition.
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Old Dec 9, 2022, 8:36 pm
  #1956  
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Originally Posted by Kacee
....UA also uses smaller cups and glasses than the competition.
And I see the majority are "foam pours" with the cup jammed full of ice, a splash from the can that fills it with soda foam, and by the time the fizz is gone leaving a mostly dry cup, so is the FA.

I always order "an unopened can of ...." and have never been denied on UA, but was denied with a snippy argument on AC.
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Old Dec 15, 2022, 12:34 pm
  #1957  
 
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Originally Posted by bocastephen
And I see the majority are "foam pours" with the cup jammed full of ice, a splash from the can that fills it with soda foam, and by the time the fizz is gone leaving a mostly dry cup, so is the FA.

I always order "an unopened can of ...." and have never been denied on UA, but was denied with a snippy argument on AC.
I asked for some butter to go with the cheese plate... GS on Polaris... nope, not happening.
Came back with butter-less cheese plate - I declined.
Yet Kirby has the gall to say they're the world's leading airline... not in service, they're not.
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Old Dec 16, 2022, 5:20 pm
  #1958  
 
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Originally Posted by Dyce
I asked for some butter to go with the cheese plate... GS on Polaris... nope, not happening.
Came back with butter-less cheese plate - I declined.
Yet Kirby has the gall to say they're the world's leading airline... not in service, they're not.
You were affirmatively refused a pad of butter???
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Old Dec 16, 2022, 5:23 pm
  #1959  
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Flew AMM-IAD the other day in Polaris. FA service was about as skimpy as one could get. It was as if they were ignoring me. They plopped down my "express" service meal as I asked, but didn't bring my beverage. They kept passing my seat and ignoring me (even when I tried to get their attention). Everything was done as if passengers were bothering them while they had other stuff to do.

Having flown NH up front on a few segments a few weeks ag the difference was like night & day. I wnder why I didn't get a survey about the service on this flight...
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Old Dec 16, 2022, 5:37 pm
  #1960  
 
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Originally Posted by st530
You were affirmatively refused a pad of butter???
yup… just ridiculous.
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Old Dec 16, 2022, 6:14 pm
  #1961  
 
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Originally Posted by Dyce
yup… just ridiculous.
Can you elaborate? They just outright said no?
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Old Dec 16, 2022, 6:41 pm
  #1962  
 
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Had a 2 hour flight from DCA to ORD today. Do they no longer hand out a snack basket on these short trips?
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Old Dec 16, 2022, 7:37 pm
  #1963  
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Originally Posted by tomtaylor23
Had a 2 hour flight from DCA to ORD today. Do they no longer hand out a snack basket on these short trips?
No, they maybe put pretzels/stroopwafels/biscoff on a tray, or maybe they do nothing for snacks.
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Old Dec 17, 2022, 6:08 am
  #1964  
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Originally Posted by tomtaylor23
Had a 2 hour flight from DCA to ORD today. Do they no longer hand out a snack basket on these short trips?
In F? Some Express operators have the snack basket (Cheez its, almonds, chips, etc), but I don't think Mainline offers anything. And not all Express have brought it back.
Wildly inconsistent.
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Old Dec 17, 2022, 7:16 am
  #1965  
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Originally Posted by HNLbasedFlyer
Can you elaborate? They just outright said no?
F/As can only provide what the flight has been provisioned for. I don't know what that flight was provisioned for, but if there was no butter boarded to serve with the cheese, that is not the F/A's fault.
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