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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 Mar 3, 2022, 9:55 am
  #616  
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Originally Posted by greenpau
Warm nuts with a beverage are now service flow on all Polaris flights effective March 1st, before the main tray service. I had this on my SFO-SYD ahead of the new deadline and then on the return. It is a small but welcome change.

The sad news is that the 789 staffing internationally is going to be reduced and one FA is going to be permanently removed due to the "new reduced service flow". That implies that some of these trims are here to stay / return in a highly modified format.

The FA battle was around the 76L high-density Polaris, where they reduced down to 3 FAs for 46 J passengers. Instead of restoring a position back to this aircraft type, they are instead reducing the 789 staffing to match the same ratio - which is going to really be something on 14-15h TPAC flights like SIN, MEL that use this AC type. For now, the 773/77X is staying with 6 FAs in J, but they fully expect this to drop to 5 in the coming months as well.
At least the 76L is up from two FAs...that was a travesty on premium transcons.

But this is a disappointing trend and it seems the desert cart will never come back. Slower service is ok on longhauls, but incredibly annoying on East Coast - Europe flights.
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 9:57 am
  #617  
 
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Originally Posted by MatthewLAX
Slower service is ok on longhauls, but incredibly annoying on East Coast - Europe flights.
Spot on
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 10:42 am
  #618  
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Originally Posted by flyingrohit
Actually you are right my EWR-MUC had the economy ice cream, but for the others
whaaaaaaat???

I’ve only had cookies

I want my ice cream sundae !!!
That cookie used to be the highlight of my dining experience... when it was twice the size and served with dinner on SkyWest dba UX

Sad they seem to have a UA-branded miniature one now. I think I've had them on mainline F and much less satisfying.

In seriousness, the catering is obviously not Economy, but is easily confused with domestic F.
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 11:19 am
  #619  
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It's funny, on AA COVID issues only hit domestic catering, international is fine. It's strange that it's the exact opposite on UA.
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 11:45 am
  #620  
 
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Originally Posted by halls120
Haven稚 you heard? UA management has decided that in giving its customers a seat that is arguably the best in class, they have decided you must pay for that privilege - thus, a soft Polaris product that trends between weak and awful.
They are correct. I'm happy to pay for the seat. I really don't care about the food - as long as it keeps me from being hungry, I'm fine.
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 1:47 pm
  #621  
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Originally Posted by Unitedloyalflyer
That chicken stir fry with rice seems to be a new choice for the Long Haul HI flights based upon the above photos.

Wonder if that gets rotated into the Polaris flights as well since the options have tended to be the same (the chicken, short rib, etc)
Yum. More. Cheap. Tasteless. Chicken.

David
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 3:01 pm
  #622  
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Originally Posted by Unitedloyalflyer
That chicken stir fry with rice seems to be a new choice for the Long Haul HI flights based upon the above photos.

Wonder if that gets rotated into the Polaris flights as well since the options have tended to be the same (the chicken, short rib, etc)
Originally Posted by DELee
Yum. More. Cheap. Tasteless. Chicken.

David
Anyone remember when we used to get beef or maybe even fish when flying within the US?
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 3:42 pm
  #623  
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Originally Posted by wrp96
It's funny, on AA COVID issues only hit domestic catering, international is fine. It's strange that it's the exact opposite on UA.
AA transcon in J and F have been on the spot throughout the last couple of years, without much modifications. Heck, even in AA economy transcon, you'd get edible food more than a bag of pretzel for 6 hrs+.

UA is so inconsistent I got a dinner roll on my plate for a clear breakfast transcon flight (6:35AM departure)
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 4:50 pm
  #624  
 
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Any word at all if the hot towels are ever coming back?
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 6:16 pm
  #625  
 
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Originally Posted by fumje
Anyone remember when we used to get beef or maybe even fish when flying within the US?
That's crazy talk!
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 6:48 pm
  #626  
 
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Originally Posted by jgreen1024
They are correct. I'm happy to pay for the seat. I really don't care about the food - as long as it keeps me from being hungry, I'm fine.
I'm with you on this, more comfortable seat + flowing drinks and I'm a happy camper. Now, if we could just upgrade the domestic F wine glass to an actual adult sized glass (a la Polaris style), I would be very happy.
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 7:17 pm
  #627  
 
Join Date: Oct 2021
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Originally Posted by tstauck
Any word at all if the hot towels are ever coming back?
Larry David can't wait for the hot towels to come back!

Originally Posted by Repooc17
AA transcon in J and F have been on the spot throughout the last couple of years, without much modifications. Heck, even in AA economy transcon, you'd get edible food more than a bag of pretzel for 6 hrs+.

UA is so inconsistent I got a dinner roll on my plate for a clear breakfast transcon flight (6:35AM departure)
I was very confused when I was served a shrimp rice pilaf(or whatever they called it) for breakfast in Polaris class across the Pacific. It also contained okra, carrots, and Brussel sprouts. Weirdest breakfast I've ever had in my life. Instead of bread, there was a brownie.(about 1.5-inch cube shape) If I was 10, I would have been happy to have brownies for breakfast, I guess?

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Mar 3, 2022 at 7:23 pm Reason: merged consecutive posts by same member
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 7:27 pm
  #628  
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Originally Posted by HibernateNow
Larry David can't wait for the hot towels to come back!



I was very confused when I was served a shrimp rice pilaf(or whatever they called it) for breakfast in Polaris class across the Pacific. It also contained okra, carrots, and Brussel sprouts. Weirdest breakfast I've ever had in my life. Instead of bread, there was a brownie.(about 1.5-inch cube shape) If I was 10, I would have been happy to have brownies for breakfast, I guess?
That sounds pretty good to me, actually. I'll hazard to guess this is ex-NRT?
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 7:36 pm
  #629  
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Originally Posted by UAalltheway
I'm with you on this, more comfortable seat + flowing drinks and I'm a happy camper. Now, if we could just upgrade the domestic F wine glass to an actual adult sized glass (a la Polaris style), I would be very happy.
"That's not a glass. Now, that's a glass!"



(from an earlier post in this thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/33742427-post2708.html)

David
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 8:11 pm
  #630  
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Originally Posted by fumje
Anyone remember when we used to get beef or maybe even fish when flying within the US?
Or the choice of either, plus pasta?
findark is offline  


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