May 11, 2022, 1:38 pm
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?
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?
General discussion of UA's inflight service (Domestic / Int’l, all cabins) {Archive}
Jan 22, 2022, 10:42 am
#241
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2019
Programs: AA: CK
Posts: 2,230
It's no better to call people wbose situations one knows nothing about "lazy" on a public message board than it is to say it to their face. As a matter of fact, it is worse. First, they can't defend themselves, and second, it spreads the message to far more people.
Especially if one has a platform, this sort of thing does a lot of harm. And for no reason- not getting a drink on a short flight is no loss at all.
Especially if one has a platform, this sort of thing does a lot of harm. And for no reason- not getting a drink on a short flight is no loss at all.
Jan 22, 2022, 11:14 am
#242
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 11,462
Originally Posted by wiki
The complex technical demands of a Van Halen tour ultimately had a notable side-effect on modern pop music tours, especially via the concert's technical contract-rider. The band used contract-riders to verify the venue's power availability, security, structural and weight distribution details. Their now-infamous riders specified that a bowl of M&M's candies was to be placed in their dressing room and, separately, in a different area of the contract, that all of the brown M&M's were to be removed.[121] According to both manager Noel Monk and Roth, this was listed in the technical portion of the contract not because the band wanted to make capricious demands of the venue location, but rather as a test to see if the electrical, structural, security, and safety requirements in the rider had been thoroughly observed.[122] If the bowl, sans brown M&Ms was present, then the band, management and crew could safely assume the other, more legitimate concerns in the technical rider were fulfilled; conversely, if the bowl was missing, or brown M&M's were present, then Van Halen management would be within their rights to have their crew or the venue inspect the work, redo it or even cancel the night's production at the venue's expense.[123][124]
To spell it out: the point is that when there is an established, published set of standards (UA's service outline, Van Halen's contract riders), and the person (flight attendant, concert venue) charged with implementing them deviates downward from that (i.e. is lazy) on some item, then at best the other items go off without a hitch, but quite possibly there are issues elsewhere too.
Jan 22, 2022, 11:28 am
#243
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: AS 75K, DL Silver, UA Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Platinum + LT Gold
Posts: 10,509
Part of my job is similar to that of FA's. If I cannot deliver a quality product, and if I cannot deliver in a timely manner, the client/customer will call me out, and worse, disengage with me and/or the company I work for.
Customer feedback, good or bad, is an useful tool for the company to assess employee performance. FAs busting their chops should have higher merit pay than those doing the bare minimum. Accountability makes everyone strive to be better, and weed out the bad apples.
Customer feedback, good or bad, is an useful tool for the company to assess employee performance. FAs busting their chops should have higher merit pay than those doing the bare minimum. Accountability makes everyone strive to be better, and weed out the bad apples.
Jan 22, 2022, 11:42 am
#244
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: HNL
Programs: UA GS4MM, MR LT Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 6,447
As ISTFlyer has shown - UA advertises beverages are upon request for flights shorter than 1 hour.
Jan 22, 2022, 12:33 pm
#245
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Los Angeles / Basel
Programs: UA 1K MM, AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 26,926
Especially if one has a platform, this sort of thing does a lot of harm. And for no reason- not getting a drink on a short flight is no loss at all.
I recall you were flying in a different cabin...
Last edited by MatthewLAX; Jan 25, 2022 at 9:36 am
Jan 22, 2022, 1:18 pm
#246
Moderator: United Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Plat 1.995MM, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Plat/LT Gold, Hilton Silver, IHG Plat
Posts: 66,854
Will reopen the thread with a few comments
- One does not "win" arguments on a forum like FT. We express our opinions, and perhaps discuss points of views. But if the goal is to win or be proven correct, this is not the place for that. There is no referee, scorekeeper or judge to declare a victory.
- Sometime it best just to decide it is time to agree to disagree.
- If you can not post within the rules and norms expected, best to stay away.
WineCountryUA
UA coModerator
Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jan 24, 2022 at 11:26 pm Reason: reopenning thread
Jan 24, 2022, 11:12 pm
#247
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Los Angeles / Basel
Programs: UA 1K MM, AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 26,926
Got this from a friend today. He pays for J tickets and decided to try UA after I told him how great the Polaris Lounge at IAD is (he's DC based):
Again, this is not a blogger, just a business traveler who buys his own tickets (in premium cabins).
One could charge he is being unreasonable, but that's not really fair to debate since he isn't here. I think it reveals a problem at the root of this thread that UA needs to fix ASAP. It's actually not so much...but it's oh so vital.
But food for thought, indeed...
What a waste of an opportunity by United. I had been thinking I might switch from AA/One World. Loved the Polaris lounge. Hard product was really comfortable. Crew was friendly and efficient. All was great until they brought out that disgusting retro coach dinner from 2005 they are offering in Intl business. Forget it. If that’s the crap they are serving on business…a packaged roll that could have injured someone was so stale and hard and plastic container of lemon gelato I’ll stick to One World. Even BA is leaps and bounds better.
One could charge he is being unreasonable, but that's not really fair to debate since he isn't here. I think it reveals a problem at the root of this thread that UA needs to fix ASAP. It's actually not so much...but it's oh so vital.
But food for thought, indeed...
Jan 25, 2022, 2:38 am
#248
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: united
Posts: 1,636
Got this from a friend today. He pays for J tickets and decided to try UA after I told him how great the Polaris Lounge at IAD is (he's DC based):
Again, this is not a blogger, just a business traveler who buys his own tickets (in premium cabins).
One could charge he is being unreasonable, but that's not really fair to debate since he isn't here. I think it reveals a problem at the root of this thread that UA needs to fix ASAP. It's actually not so much...but it's oh so vital.
But food for thought, indeed...
Again, this is not a blogger, just a business traveler who buys his own tickets (in premium cabins).
One could charge he is being unreasonable, but that's not really fair to debate since he isn't here. I think it reveals a problem at the root of this thread that UA needs to fix ASAP. It's actually not so much...but it's oh so vital.
But food for thought, indeed...
I trust United's market researchers and product people to have the actual numbers on this issue- especially since common sense is that most people paying a few thousand dollars for an air ticket can afford nice restaurants and don't need to eat faux-gourmet food on an airplane.
Jan 25, 2022, 7:34 am
#249
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: MSP
Programs: DL PM, UA Gold, WN, Global Entry; +others wherever miles/points are found
Posts: 14,416
Even pre-pandemic, I feel like "excellent hard product, nice lounge, disappointing food" was a good description of Polaris, but I am also comparing to the soft product on the rest of *A.
Jan 25, 2022, 7:37 am
#250
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: SNA (home), LAX, BOM/PNQ, LHR
Programs: UA 1K/*G, Marriott Gold Elite, IHG Platinum, HHonors Silver
Posts: 965
Jan 25, 2022, 7:50 am
#251
Join Date: May 2001
Location: RNO, NV, USA.
Programs: UA 2MM
Posts: 5,063
MatthewLAX - You have identified a segment of the international business class market that will just not accept UA’s poor Polaris soft product. Reopening the Polaris lounges is wonderful, but it only goes so far. 😊
Jan 25, 2022, 8:34 am
#252
Join Date: Feb 2015
Programs: united
Posts: 1,636
Indeed, even among the people who complain about this, I bet the percentage which would actually switch to American or Delta and give up their FF miles and deprive UA of revenue over this utterly trivial issue is a rounding error.
Jan 25, 2022, 9:25 am
#253
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: HNL
Programs: UA GS4MM, MR LT Plat, Hilton Gold
Posts: 6,447
UA has made a business decision that the incremental spend will not at least at this time bring the corresponding incremental revenue and profit - and from a numbers perspective - that appears to be true - at least compared to AA. And while the AA in biz class flyer might eat better than the UA flyer - they are otherwise doing something very wrong.
Jan 25, 2022, 10:44 am
#254
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Aug 2003
Programs: UA 1K 1MM (finally!), IHG AMB-Spire, HH Diamond
Posts: 60,174
Which is a great perspective for the Yahoo Finance board Re UAL stock.
For the frequent flyers on this board, it’s pretty clear the consensus is UA can and should do more. Some of their choices suggest lack of care**. So where else do they cut corners?
Its even more disappointing given UA has network, competitive hard product, great app, etc going for them
** vaccine mandate a laudable exception
For the frequent flyers on this board, it’s pretty clear the consensus is UA can and should do more. Some of their choices suggest lack of care**. So where else do they cut corners?
Its even more disappointing given UA has network, competitive hard product, great app, etc going for them
** vaccine mandate a laudable exception
Jan 25, 2022, 11:35 am
#255
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2017
Programs: AS 75K, DL Silver, UA Platinum, Hilton Gold, Hyatt Discoverist, Marriott Platinum + LT Gold
Posts: 10,509
New UA tagline is out: "P&L is our real passion".